• Novel collective behavior emerges from interactions of simple degrees of freedom.
• Mathematical expression of collective behaviors, typically by scaling forms, is independent of microscopic details.
• Such universality is best described by Statistical Field Theories constructed on the basis of simple principles, such as symmetry.
• Perturbation theory and Renormalization group are some of the tools used for analyzing these field theories.
• The topics discussed in the course are listed in the syllabus.
• All information pertaining to this course will be posted to the web-site http://web.mit.edu/8.334/www

I. Liquid-gas condensation

1. van der Waals equation and stability constraint
2. Mean-field theory of condensation

• Notes for phonos & elasticity