PHY-6668/6669: QUANTUM FIELD THEORY I/II Dr R Fiebig

Primary text book: W Greiner and J Reinhardt, Field Quantization, Springer, ISBN 3-540-59179-6

The outline below is meant for a two-semester course and should be considered tentative. As we proceed details will be filled in, and most likely a few other topics will be added.

COURSE OUTLINE

1. Classical and Quantum Mechanics of Particle Systems
2. Classical Field Theory
3. Nonrelativistic Quantum Field Theory
4. Spin-0 Fields: The Klein-Gordon Equation
5. Spin-1/2 Fields: The Dirac Equation
6. Spin-1 Fields: The Maxwell and Proca Equations
7. Quantization of the Photon Field

8. Interacting Quantum Fields
9. The Reduction Formalism
10. Discrete Symmetry Transformations
11. The Path Integral Method
12. Path Integrals in Field Theory

Homework Assignments

Exams and More

• Homework will be collected, but not graded. The fractional return on the homework will be assigned a score $H=0\ldots 100$. Homework is due two weeks after assignement (not counting spring break), or on the last day of finals week (whichever is first).
• There will be three exams including the final. The length of each exam is the usual class period. Each exam score $E_i=0\ldots 100$, $i=1,2,3$, carries equal weight. The class textbook only is allowed, and required. Other materials are a calculator, a ruler, paper and pen(cil).
• The overall score $X$ for the course is determined by combining homework and exams as
  $$X=\frac12 H +\frac12 \frac{E_1+E_2+E_3}{3}\,.$$

• Tentative exam schedule, Fall 2003
  

  Oct-01	(Wed)
  Nov-05	(Wed)
  Dec-08	(Mon)

• Announcements made in class may supersede syllabus rules!