NATF002: Advanced Quantum Field Theory (Avancerad kvantfältteori) 7.5hp
This page can be found at
http://www.thep.lu.se/~bijnens/QFT2/.
PhD course in Theoretical Physics at Lund University
Course plan:
Official Swedish
version and
English translation
Course book: Michael E. Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder,
An Introduction
to Quantum Field Theory
Misprints in the book can be found via
Peskin's QFT page.
Note that there are three different lists of misprints which you might all need
depending on which edition you have.
Contents of the course
The aim of the course is to give deeper knowledge of field theory beyond the first course.
Subjects include:
- Radiative Corrections
- Charge and field-renormalization
- LSZ reduction formula
- Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics and Field Theory
(functional methods)
- Spontaneous symmetry breaking
- Renormalization group
- gauge theories
- QCD and parton distribution functions
- Higgs Mechanism and Standard Model
To read:
- Ch. 6
- Ch 7 sections 7.1, 7.2 7.5 and the gluon radiation discussion
- Ch 8
- Ch 9 (not 9.6)
- Ch 10. (not 10.5)
- Ch 11 only 11.1
- Ch 12 (not 12.4)
- Ch 15 (not 15.3, 15.4 cursory)
- Ch 17
- Ch 20 (only 20.1 and 20.2)
Required Problems
- 6.1
- 7.2
- 9.1
- 10.2
- 11.1
- 12.3
- 15.2
- 17.1
- 17.4
- 20.5
Problems to attempt (useful for understanding the later chapters)
- 6.2: Not needed to be solved for passing the course,
but useful in understanding
what happens for 17.4 and parton evolution in Chapter 17.
Hints and comments to some of the exercises
The use of algebraic manipulation programs like FORM, Maple or Mathematica
is allowed, even encouraged.
The full list of hints, also says if there are nonrequired parts, is available as a postscript file:
hints.pdf
The oral exam
Meant to test understanding, not reproducing detailed derivations. Here you can find some examples of oral exam questions.
Some comments
There are many books on quantum field theory varying from very elementary
to very mathematical, the list below are some I have looked at but there
are many more.
The course book tends to do calculations in more
detail than most other quantum field theory books. A good complement to the course book is
A. Zee, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell. It is strongly recommended to read this one at the same time as the course book, it explains why you do things better.
Here are some others
- Warren Siegel, Fields, freely available on arXiv
as hep-th/abs/9912205
- R. E. Borcherds, A. Barnard, Lectures on Quantum Field Theory,
freely available as
math-ph/0204014,
aimed at mathematicians
- Steven Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields, 3 volumes,
good on the
philosophy and reasons why field theory looks as it does.
Unusual sign conventions. A good complementary read for those who want to know
more.
- Itzykson and Zuber, Quantum Field Theory, the book I learned
a lot from.
- Ramond, Field Theory, a modern primer, a purely pathintegral
based approach.
- L. Alvarez-Gaume and M. Vazquez-Mozo, Introductory lectures
on quantum field theory,
hep-th/0510040, a recommended read.
- A. Zee, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, contains also
decent discussions about the conceptual backgrounds of the various parts.
- M. Schwartz, Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model contains
also a number of more recent developments
- Sidney Coleman, Notes from Sidney Coleman's Physics 253a: Quantum Field Theory, arXiv:1110.5013
Some of the more philosophical backgrounds of Field theory can be found
in the review article
Frank Wilczek, Quantum Field Theory published in
Rev.Mod.Phys. 71 (1999) S85-S95 or
hep-th/9803075.
A shorter discussion by Steven Weinberg is
hep-th/9702027.
These are both very much recommended.
Solutions on the web
I haven't found any yet but they do probably exist if you look hard enough.
http://www.thep.lu.se/~bijnens
This document was last modified Wednesday, 11-Nov-2020 14:19:49 CET