Physics 7652: Relativistic Quantum Field Theory II

Announcements

• (05/19) JEFF'S NOTES: Jeff shared his TeX'ed lecture notes, covering the entire semester. The pdf file can be downloaded here. Thanks, Jeff!
• (05/08) SAMPLE FINAL EXAM: An old exam is posted here. Solutions are here.
• (05/07) LECTURE NOTES POSTED: L 19-22 now available, see below.
• (03/26) GROUP THEORY PRIMER: Some useful notes on Lie groups, algebras and representations are posted below under "Handouts".

Textbooks

• PRIMARY:
  • Quantum Field Theory, by Mark Srednicki ( book webpage )
  • An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, by Michael Peskin and Daniel Schroeder ( book webpage / errata webpage )
• SECONDARY:
  • Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, by Anthony Zee ( book webpage )
  • The Quantum Theory of Fields, by Steven Weinberg

Handouts

• Course Information: pdf
• Notes on Lie groups, by Y. Grossman and Y. Nir: pdf

Lecture Notes

• Lecture 1 (Jan 22: Field Theory as a Set of Oscillators)
• Lecture 2 (Jan 24: Path Integral for the SHO)
• Lecture 3 (Feb 5: Path Integral for an Anharmonic Oscillator)
• Lecture 4 (Feb 7: Path Integral Approach to Scalar Field Theory)
• Lecture 5 (Feb 12: Perturbation Theory from Path Integrals; Connection to Stat. Mech.; Classical E&M)
• Lecture 6 (Feb 14: Quantization of EM Field)
• Lecture 7 (Feb 19: Fermions and Path Integrals; QED Lagrangian)
• Lecture 8 (Feb 21: QED Feynman Rules; e+e- -> mu+mu-)
• Lecture 9 (Feb 26: Non-rel. limit of QED. Spin sums and Ward identity. UV Divergences in QED)
• Lecture 10 (Feb 28: Electron Self-Energy and Vacuum Polarization)
• Lecture 11 (Mar 05: Vertex Function and Anomalous Magnetic Moments. Renormalized Perturbation Theory in QED.)
• Lecture 12 (Mar 07: Running Couplings and Renormalization Group)
• Lecture 13 (Mar 26: Running Coupling in QED)
• Lecture 14 (Mar 28: Non-Abelian Gauge Theory: Introduction)
• Lecture 15 (Apr 09: Non-Abelian Gauge Theory: General Structure)
• Lecture 16 (Apr 11: Example: QCD. Quantization of Yang-Mills Theories)
• Lecture 17 (Apr 15: Faddeev-Popov Ghosts and Unitarity)
• Lecture 18 (Apr 16: Beta Function in YM Theories. Asymptotic Freedom.)
• Lecture 19 (Apr 23: Anti-Screening in Non-Abelian YM Theories. RG Flows.)
• Lecture 20 (Apr 25: Broken Global Symmetries: Discrete and Continuous.)
• Lecture 21 (Apr 30: Broken Gauge Symmetry: Abelian Higgs Mechanism.)
• Lecture 22 (May 2: Non-Abelian Higgs Mechanism. The Standard Model.)

Problem Sets

• Problem Set 1: Due Tuesday February 5
• Problem Set 2: Due Thursday February 14
• Problem Set 3: Due Thursday February 21
• Problem Set 4: Due Thursday February 28
• Problem Set 5: Due Thursday March 7
• Problem Set 6: Due Tuesday March 26
• Problem Set 7: Due Tuesday April 9
• Problem Set 8: Due Thursday April 25
• Problem Set 9: Due Thursday May 9

Contact Information

• Lecturer: Maxim Perelstein, PSB 436, (607) 255-4118 ( official webpage / personal webpage / email )
• Grader: Bibhushan Shakya, PSB 428, email