PHY6648: Quantum Field Theory I --- Fall, 2011

Time: MWF 4:05pm-4:55pm (9th pd)
Place: NPB 1216

General Information
Instructor: Prof. Zongan Qiu
Office: NPB 2039
Office hour:  MW 5:10pm-6:00pm
Email: qiu@phys.ufl.edu
Text Book: Peskin and Schroeder, "An Intro. to Quantum Field Theory".
Grading: Weekly homework (75%), take-home final exam (25%).

Other useful books: Ramond, "Field Theory: A Modern Primer"
                                Srednicki, "Introduction to Quantum Field Theory"
                                Itzykson and Zuber, "Quantum Field Theory"
Course Description
This course is the first semester of a two semester course on modern quantum field theory. Although the course is mandatory for students interested in high energy particle physics, it should also be valuable to students of other specialties including condensed matter physics and atomic and molecular physics. For example, in the first semester we shall develop, in our treatment of the Dirac equation, the technique of second quantization so useful in many body theory. Furthermore, the emphasis of the whole course is on Quantum Electrodynamics, which is essential to an understanding of all areas of physics. Quantum Field Theory I is the natural continuation of the graduate quantum mechanics courses PHY6645-46.


Course Outline

Why quantum field theory? Special Relativity, quantum mechanics, and locality

Building a multiparticle theory: the free scalar field

Canonical quantization

Interactions and scattering; Feynman diagrams

Symmetries and Nöther’s theorem

Representations of the Lorentz group

Quantizing spin 1/2 fermions

Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams

Elementary Processes of QED

Radiative Corrections

Announcements




Homework