There are many more states of matter than just solid, liquid, and gas. Examples include liquid crystal, magnet, glass, and superconductor. New states are continually, and unexpectedly, being discovered. Some states, such as superconductor, can act like Schrödinger's cat and exhibit the weirdness normally associated with the quantum theory of atoms, photons, and electrons. Condensed matter physics seeks to understand how states of matter and their distinct physical properties emerge from the atoms of which a material is composed.
A system of many interacting parts can have properties that the parts do not have. Water is wet, but a single water molecule is not. Your brain is conscious, but a single neuron is not. Such emergent phenomena are central to condensed matter physics and also occur in many fields, from biology to computer science to sociology, leading to rich intellectual connections. When do quantitative differences become qualitative differences? Can simple models describe rich and complex behaviour? What is the relationship between the particular and the universal? How is the abstract related to the concrete? Condensed matter physics is all about these big questions.
The materials in silicon chips, liquid crystal displays, and magnetic computer memories, may have transformed society, but understanding them has transformed how we think about complex systems.
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物質的狀態不僅僅是固體、液體和氣體，還有許多其他的狀態。例如，液晶、磁性材料、玻璃和超導體等。新的物質狀態不斷被發現，且往往是意外的。有些狀態，例如超導體，能像薛丁格的貓一樣，展現出通常與原子、光子和電子的量子理論相關的奇異性。凝聚態物理學旨在理解物質的狀態及其獨特的物理性質是如何從材料所組成的原子中產生的。
一個由許多相互作用的部分組成的系統，可能擁有這些部分所不具備的特性。水是濕的，但單一的水分子並不是。你的大腦是有意識的，但單一的神經元並不是。這種涌現現象是凝聚態物理學的核心，並且在許多領域中都會出現，從生物學到計算機科學再到社會學，這導致了豐富的智識聯繫。何時定量差異會變成質量差異？簡單的模型能否描述豐富而複雜的行為？特定與普遍之間的關係是什麼？抽象與具體之間的關係如何？凝聚態物理學正是圍繞這些重大問題展開的。
矽晶片、液晶顯示器和磁性計算機記憶體中的材料，可能已經改變了社會，但理解它們卻改變了我們對複雜系統的思考方式。
關於本系列：牛津大學出版社的《非常簡短的介紹》系列包含了幾乎每個學科領域的數百本書籍。這些口袋大小的書籍是快速掌握新主題的完美方式。我們的專家作者結合了事實、分析、觀點、新想法和熱情，使有趣且具挑戰性的主題變得易於閱讀。
Ross H. McKenzie
Ross H. McKenzie is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research in condensed matter physics focuses on using quantum theory to understand complex materials, ranging from organic superconductors to fluorescent proteins. He has given lectures to schools and to the public on this topic, as well as running a blog, Condensed Concepts, which was featured in an issue of
Physics World.
