Quantum Field Theory of Many-body Systems: From the Origin of Sound to an Origin of Light and Electrons

For most of the last century, condensed matter physics has been dominated by band theory and Landau's symmetry breaking theory. In the last twenty years, however, there has been the emergence of a new paradigm associated with fractionalization, topological order, emergent gauge bosons and fermions, and string condensation. These new physical concepts are so fundamental that they may even influence our understanding of the origin of light and electrons in the universe. This book is a pedagog...