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I have taken only QM I, which is the 1st half of Griffiths including the chapter on identical particles, will that be enough to understand Kittel's solid state?

Should one have also taken a course in statistical mechanics before studying kittel?

I have seen in some universities in the states that the prerequisite of an introductory course in solid state physics sometimes are QM I, II, SM, and other times are QM I only (or with SM and QM II are corequisite)

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In university, we picked up Kittel in the same semester in which we did QM I --but we had covered a fair bit of QM along with Classical Mechanics. By the way, this is likely to get closed as it is a fairly subjective question. – Monster Truck Jun 14 '12 at 10:20
@MonsterTruck Why would it get closed? what is the use of the education tag then ? – Revo Jun 14 '12 at 10:26
not constructive As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance. – Monster Truck Jun 14 '12 at 10:28
@MonsterTruck I want simply to know about others experiences with the courses so I can benefit from and according to which I can decide whether to register for the course or not. Do you know of any other place on the net where I can gain that information? – Revo Jun 14 '12 at 10:35
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@Revo I agree with you. But it does not fit the SE guidelines. I too come up with such questions from time to time, only to shy away from posting them here because I know they do not belong here. Let's raise it on the meta. – Monster Truck Jun 14 '12 at 11:16
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closed as not constructive by Ron Maimon, Qmechanic♦, Sklivvz♦, Manishearth♦ Dec 28 '12 at 12:42

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

1 Answer

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If I recall correctly, most of the material in Kittel (or a solid state introductory lecture) is about new concepts, e.g. lattices, reciprocal space, band structure, and doesn't build heavily on quantum mechanics. Of course, there is QM beneath it, but you don't need much rigorous QM. Basically just the wave mechanics part - solving differential equations, finding a wave function for a given potential, etc., and a basic understanding of how quantum particles behave.

For the later chapters, the advanced maths of a QM II course could be helpful if you want to follow the derivations, e.g. calculating complex integrals, residue theorem and so on. But I'm not sure how much of that is actually in the book and how much was in the lectures I heard.

The best would be to just grab the book from a library (or an ebook) and browse through it - you'll notice pretty soon if there are any new concepts/notations you have to learn about first.

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