Solid State Best resources to learn topological condensed matter in 2022?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on finding beginner-friendly resources in topological condensed matter physics. Participants suggest several references, including the book "Condensed Matter Field Theory" by Altland and Simmons, particularly noting its relevant chapter for newcomers. A Nobel Prize review from 2016 is recommended as a solid starting point. Online courses are also mentioned, with links to a recent course on topological states of matter and an older one focused on the topic. There is some critique regarding the perceived lack of substantial applications of topology in current research, with a call for more advanced uses beyond foundational concepts. Others counter this by pointing to existing papers that employ K-theory in condensed matter physics, although some express disappointment in the depth of physics content in available materials.
Amentia
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Hello,

I was not sure whether this should belong to this section or the condensed matter section. I am wondering if after about 15 years in research in topological condensed matter, there exist well-recognized references for beginners in the topic. Books or courses but also review articles, videos, online courses, any format.

I call a beginner someone who knows nothing about topology but will make any necessary effort to understand the mathematics needed to get into the topic. So the mathematical level needed to understand the resources does not matter, but how comprehensive and well-explained the field of research is, that is what matters!

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
 
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Altland and Simmons book contains a chapter of it, you can start from there.
 
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Thank you both for your answers. I already have the book by Altland and Simmons called Condensed Matter Field Theory, so I assume it is the one you refer to. I only need to find the chapter now! And the Nobel review looks great to start learning about the topic.

For interested people I have also found this online course which is recent, so I don't know how good it is, but I will give it a try:
https://www.edx.org/course/topological-states-of-matter

And also an older one at this address:
https://topocondmat.org/
 
Amentia said:
I only need to find the chapter now!
in 2nd edition its chapter 9.
 
I bit off topic, but I have to say that I find all these topological applications very disappointing. It may be simply because I haven't seen enough, but everything that I have looked at has very little topology in it. I would like to see some applications where the topology needed is more than what Maxwell knew (implicitely) about topology, after all topolygy has been developed a lot since the mid 19th century.
 

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