Introduction to topological phases of matter
Module title: Introduction to topological phases of matter
Module convenors:
George McCardle( george.mcardle@nottingham.ac.uk) and Adam Gammon-Smith (adam.gammon-smith@nottingham.ac.uk)
Start date:
2/02/2026
Format:
5 weeks, 2x1hour sessions, online on Teams
Summary:
We introduce topological phases of matter that can arise in condensed matter systems. These phases cannot be simply characterised in terms of local symemtries, and exhibit exotic phenomena such as protected boundary-dependent edge modes and the emergence of anyonic point-like excitations, different to fermions or bosons. We split our introduction into two parts: 1) looking at topological insulators / superconductors, 2) introducing topological quantum field theories.
Assessment:
Weekly marked exercise sheets
Course website:
https://mpags-topological.github.io/intro.html
Teams Channel: