Course MA4445

Quantum Field Theory

Dr. Sergey Cherkis
Office: 19.31 Hamilton Building
Phone: 01 608 3453
E-mail: cherkis at maths.tcd.ie

Students will be expected to know all the material and to be able to solve any problem
in the following chapters of the textbook by Mark Sredniki

Michaelmas Term: 1-23, 33-35 (recommended 26-28)
Hilary Term: 33-43, 45-48, 51, 52, 54-59, 62-64, 66-68

Class Meetings

Lectures:

Tuesday

14:00-16:50

Salmon Lecture Theatre

Course Description

Elements of classical field theory: Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms, Noether theorem, Conservation laws,
The Klein-Grodon (KG) field in space-time,
quantization of KG field,
the Dirac field,
quantization of Dirac field,
interacting fields and Feynman diagrams
Feynman diagram formalism for scalar theory
Feynman rules for Quantum Electrodynamics (QED),
Elementary processes of QED,
S-matrix: Scattering and decay,
Trace technology,
Crossing symmetry,
Radiative corrections: Infrared and Ultraviolet divergencies, Loop computations, LSZ reduction formula, Optical theorem, Ward-Takahashi identities,
renormalization of electric charge.

Books

Textbook:

Mark Srednicki, "Quantum Field Theory," Cambridge University Press, (2007)
(you can download a pdf file of this book from http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~mark/qft.html)
Michael E. Peskin, Daniel V. Schroeder, "An introduction to quantum field theory," HarperCollins Publishers; Reissue edition (1995)
Paul A. M. Dirac, "Lectures on Quantum Mechanics," Dover Publications (2001)

Steven Weinberg, "The quantum theory of fields. Vol.1,; Foundations," Cambridge University Press (1995)
N.N. Bogoliubov and D.V. Shirkov, "Introduction to the theory of quantized fields," John Wiley & Sons (1959)
Francis Halzen and Alan D. Martin, "Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics," Wiley (1984)
James D. Bjorken, Sidney D. Drell, "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics" (International Series in Pure & Applied P) , Mcgraw-Hill College (1965)

For Your Enjoyment:

Richard Feynman, "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter," Princeton University Press; New Ed edition (1988)

To refresh your Complex Analysis you might use
George Cain, "Complex Analysis"
which can be downloaded at http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/winter99/complex.html

Exams

End of year Final exam: 3 hours

Grading

Final Exam

100%

Homework

problems given during the lectures.

Your Comments

You are welcome to submit any comments you have about this class here.