Quantum Field Theory III

Physics 880.08, Spring 2011

Office: M2042 Physics Research Bldg

Office Hours: Tuesday 2:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday 10:00 - 11:00 am

Course Meets: Mondays Wednesdays 10:30 am - 12:18 pm, Smith Lab, room 2186.

Grader: Daniel White

*** First Class Meets March 28, 2010 ***

*** There will be no classes on Monday, Wednesday, May 23 and 25, and on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - I'll be out of town. (Note that Monday, May 30 is Memorial Day, there will be no class on that day either.) We will have a makeup class in our final exam time slot, Wednesday, June 8, 2011, 9:30 am - 11:18 am, in PRBM2015 (note different location from the usual room!). ***

Brief Syllabus:

• Spring quarter: After tying come loose ends from Renormalization topic left over from last quarter, I will try to cover the following material:
  • Functional integration
  • Non-Abelian gauge theories, their quantization, Faddeev-Popov ghosts
  • Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD): QCD Feynman rules, QCD beta-function, asymptotic freedom and Landau pole, e^+e^- annihilation, Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) and parton model
  • Some special topics on demand: possibly quantum anomalies, instantons and other topological objects in field theory, DGLAP evolution, small-x physics and parton saturation, Electroweak theory - the choice is up to you guys

Textbook:

• M. E. Peskin, D. V. Schroeder - An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory, Google Books

Recommended Reading :

• L. H. Ryder - Quantum Field Theory, Google Books
• C. Itzykson and J.-B. Zuber - Quantum Field Theory, Google Books
• P. Ramond - Field theory: a modern primer, Google Books
• S. Weinberg - The Quantum Theory of Fields, Google Books volume 1, volume 2, volume 3
• G. Sterman - An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Google Books

• H. Georgi - Lie Algebras in Particle Physics, Google Books

Lecture Notes:

• Regularization and Renormalization (continued from last quarter)
  • Lecture 1
  • Lecture 2
  • Lecture 3
  • Lecture 4
  • A note on obtaining the beta-function for phi^4 theory using Callan-Symanzik equation
• Functional Integral Quantization
  • Lecture 5
  • Lecture 6
  • A note on analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function
  • Lecture 7
  • Vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitude and path integrals
  • Lecture 8
  • Lecture 9
  • Lecture 10
  • Lecture 11 (part 1)
• Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
  • Lecture 11 (part 2)
  • Lecture 12
  • Lecture 13
  • Lecture 14
  • Lecture 15
  • Lecture 16
  • Lecture 17 (part 1)
• Instantons
  • Instantons Lecture

Homework Assignments:

Homeworks are due at 5 pm on the due date. Please put them in my or grader's mailboxes in PRB or give them to me in class (or slide them under my office door if other options are not available).
(Solutions are password protected, they are for the use of OSU students and faculty only: if you are an OSU student or a faculty member and are interested in accessing them please write to me.)

• HW 1 (due Wednesday, April 13)-- Solution 1
• HW 2 (due Wednesday, April 27 --> deadline changed to Monday, May 2) -- Solution 2
• HW 3 (due Wednesday, May 18) -- Solution 3 (problem numbering is a bit off)
• HW 4 (due Monday, June 6) -- Solution 4

Grading will be based on the HW's.