Many persons have contributed in various ways to the genesis of this book.
Foremost, it should be gratefully acknowledged that the students attending the
original lectures did, to paraphrase J. A. Wheeler, a great job in educating their
lecturer. And particular thanks go to Vitali Averbukh, one of the students then, now
holding a faculty position at the Imperial College London, who encouraged—well,
more accurately—pressured me to make those lectures publicly available in the
form of a book. I am greatly indebted to Lukas Wirz for unremitting technical
assistance during the entire project, for translating the bulk of handwritten formulae
into LaTex, and for devising numerous diagrams and figures. Over time, quite a few
people participated in the critical reading of selected chapters, contributing helpful
suggestions and comments. I would like to thank all of them, and, in particular and
two for all, Tsveta Miteva, who intrepidly and skillfully shouldered the burden of
correcting the very first version of each chapter, and Bridgette Cooper for diligent
revisions in the earlier stages of the project. Sincere thanks are due to my former
collaborators Alexander B. Trofimov and Frank Mertins, who, perhaps in a less
direct but all the more profound way, have shaped various themes of the present
book. And finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Lorenz S. Cederbaum for
the initiation and longtime common commitment to the challenges of many-body
theory.
Heidelberg, Germany
Jochen Schirmer
viii
Preface
Foremost, it should be gratefully acknowledged that the students attending the
original lectures did, to paraphrase J. A. Wheeler, a great job in educating their
lecturer. And particular thanks go to Vitali Averbukh, one of the students then, now
holding a faculty position at the Imperial College London, who encouraged—well,
more accurately—pressured me to make those lectures publicly available in the
form of a book. I am greatly indebted to Lukas Wirz for unremitting technical
assistance during the entire project, for translating the bulk of handwritten formulae
into LaTex, and for devising numerous diagrams and figures. Over time, quite a few
people participated in the critical reading of selected chapters, contributing helpful
suggestions and comments. I would like to thank all of them, and, in particular and
two for all, Tsveta Miteva, who intrepidly and skillfully shouldered the burden of
correcting the very first version of each chapter, and Bridgette Cooper for diligent
revisions in the earlier stages of the project. Sincere thanks are due to my former
collaborators Alexander B. Trofimov and Frank Mertins, who, perhaps in a less
direct but all the more profound way, have shaped various themes of the present
book. And finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Lorenz S. Cederbaum for
the initiation and longtime common commitment to the challenges of many-body
theory.
Heidelberg, Germany
Jochen Schirmer
viii
Preface