| The course is focused on the concepts of order parameter, broken symmetry and scaling, with applications to solid state and soft condensed matter physics. General methods of theoretical physics such as path integrals and renormalization group are considered in a context of statistical physics. |
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• Landau theory of phase transitions and the concept of order parameter.
• Ising model
• Ginzburg-Landau theory; the role of fluctuations. Correlation length.
• Concepts of scaling for the second-order phase transitions and its qualitative justification
• Wilson theory of the phase transitions: renormalization group and ε-expansion.
• Scaling concepts in polymer physics. Scaling properties of a single polymer chain.
• Percolation.
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