Spring 2024: PHYS 663
Tue-Thu 4:30 pm – 5:45 pm at PHYS331
The videos of the lectures are posted on YouTube here. If you have signed up for the course, or planning to sign up please send me an email so that I can invite you to the SLACK channel.
The lectures will also be live on Zoom.
Prerequisites: Quantum Field Theory Part I (PHYS 662).
Course Description:
This course is part II of a year-long course on Quantum Field Theory (QFT). We will continue with the Lagrangian formulation of QFT. The lecture notes will mostly follow
Rob Leigh’s lecture notes on QFT
however, they will include many discussions from other references:
“An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory” Peskin and Schroeder
In almost all lectures, we will use parts of other textbooks and online resources such as
“Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume 1” Weinberg
“Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume 2” Weinberg
“Quantum Field Theory” Mark Srednicki
David Tong’s lectures on Quantum Field Theory
David Tong’s lectures on Gauge Theories
“The Standard Model A Primer” Cliff Burgess and Guy Moore
McGreevy’s lecture notes on Particles and Fields
Sydney Coleman’s lecture notes on QFT
“Mathematical Theory of Quantum Fields” Huzihiro Araki
We will use the application Slack to post course announcements, and reports, discuss ideas, and share exciting papers we have come across. If you plan to attend the class please email me and I will add you to the course channel on Slack. All lectures are going to be recorded and posted on YouTube.
Homework:
The homework problems will be assigned in class and have to be submitted on Slack up to two weeks after the lecture. The TA for the course is Shoy Ouseph.
Syllabus:
Click on the lecture to download the lecture notes. The syllabus is subject to change as the course progresses.
- Renormalized Perturbation Theory
Lecture 1: Overview and power counting
Lecture 2: Renormalized perturbation theory I
Lecture 3: Renormalized perturbation theory II
Lecture 4: Effective Actions I
Lecture 5: Effective Actions II
Problem Set 1 - Renormalization Group Flow
Lecture 6: Wilsonian Renormalization
Lecture 7: Callan-Symanzik Equations
Problem Set 2
Lecture 8: Renormalization of Local Operators and Critical Exponents
Lecture 9: Wilson-Fisher fixed point
Lecture 10: Nonlinear Sigma model
Lecture 11: Exact RG
Problem Set 3 - Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
Lecture 12: Faddeev-Popov Lagrangian
Lecture 13: Non-Abelian Gauge Theory at One Loop
Lecture 14: Asymptotic freedom
Lecture 15: Confinement
Problem Set 4 - Spontaneous Symmetry-Breaking in Gauge Theories
Lecture 16: The Higgs mechanism
Lecture 17: Quantization of spontaneously broken gauge theories
Problem Set 5 - Standard Model of Particle Physics
Lecture 18: Particle Content of Standard Model
Lecture 19: Spectrum, Higgs and Strong Interactions
Lecture 20: Electroweak Interactions
Problem Set 6
Non-Perturbative Methods
- Anomalies
Lecture 21: Chiral Anomaly in two dimensions
Lecture 22: Anomaly Cancellation in Standard Model
Lecture 23: Scale Anomaly
Problem Set 7 - Operator Product Expansion
Lecture 24: Operator Product Expansion in QFT
Lecture 25: Operator Product Expansion in Conformal Field Theory
Problem set 8 - Theta-angle and Instantons
Lecture 26: Magnetic Monopoles and Theta-Angle
Lecture 27: Theta-Term and Instantons - Large N Expansion
Lecture 28: Large N part I
Lecture 29: Large N part II
Nima Lashkari 