Local Description of Solid-State Properties

Abstract

In describing theoretically the properties of a solid, one can adopt two points of view. First one can regard the solid as composed of individual atoms with given properties. One then considers phenomena which occur in the solid to be local processes taking place at individual atoms, but which are influenced by the fact that the atoms are embedded in a lattice. Local excitations in the solid can propagate through the solid by the interaction between these atoms. Secondly one can take the arrangement of atoms into a lattice of given structure to be the most important feature of the solid. Then the interpretation of solid-state phenomena is based on the collective properties of the solid.