Structure of MatterAn Introductory Course with Problems and Solutions

This text is intended for a course of about fifteen weeks at undergraduate students. It arises from the adaptation and the amendments of a text for a full-year course in Structure of Matter written by one of the authors about thirty years ago. At that time only a few (if any) textbooks having the suited form for an introduction to basic quantum properties of atoms, molecules and crystals in a comprehensive and interrelated way, were available. Along the last twenty years many excellent books pursuing the aforementioned aim have been published. Still there are reasons to attempt a further text devoted to the quantum roots of condensed matter properties. A practical aspect in this regard involves the organization of the studies in Physics, after the huge scientific outburst of the various topics of fundamental and technological character in recent decades. The present attempt towards a readable book essentially is based on a mixture of simplified institutional theory with solved problems. The hope, in this way, is to provide physical insights, basic culture and motivation, without deteriorating the possibility of fruitful more advanced subsequent learning.