Strongly Correlated Electrons in Solids

TL;DR

This paper introduces the fundamental physics of strongly correlated electrons in solids, highlighting their role in emergent properties like superconductivity and magnetism, aimed at undergraduate students.

Contribution

It provides a straightforward introduction to electron-electron interactions in solids, serving as an educational resource for beginners in the field.

Findings

Electron-electron interactions lead to complex phenomena like metal-insulator transitions.

Strong correlations are key to understanding exotic magnetic and superconducting properties.

Recent experimental and theoretical studies have advanced the comprehension of these phenomena.

Abstract

Most emergent properties of the materials discovered since the 1980s are related to the existence of electron-electron interactions which are large with respect to the kinetic energies and could not be thoroughly studied before. The occurrence of metal insulator transitions, of exotic magnetic and/or superconducting properties in many new compounds have stimulated a large series of ex- perimental and theoretical developments to grasp their physical significance. We present here a simple introduction to the elementary aspects of the physics of electron-electron interactions, which could be a starting point for typical undergraduate students.