Tomáš Brauner earned his PhD in theoretical physics, astronomy, and astrophysics from Charles University in Prague in 2006. Following postdoctoral positions in Frankfurt, Bielefeld, Helsinki, and Vienna, he joined the University of Stavanger as an associate professor of physics in 2015 and was promoted to full professor in 2016. His research interests encompass various aspects of quantum field theory and its applications to particle, nuclear, and condensed-matter physics, with a particular emphasis on the role of symmetries and their spontaneous breaking.

• Introduction.- Our first model.- Generalizations of the model.- Spontaneous symmetry breaking.- Nambu–Goldstone bosons.- Effective field theory.- Nonlinear realization of symmetry.- Low-energy effective field theory.- Some examples and applications.- Scattering of Nambu–Goldstone bosons.- Differences between internal and spacetime symmetry.- Nonlinear realization of spacetime symmetry.- Broken spacetime symmetry in quantum matter.- Broken spacetime symmetry in classical matter.- Topics not covered in this book.- Some open questions. Appendix.