Course Identification

Quantum field theory 1
20211132

Lecturers and Teaching Assistants

Prof. Ofer Aharony
Erez Urbach, Dr. Ohad Mamroud, Netanel Barel, Tal Sheaffer, Nadav Brukner

Course Schedule and Location

2021
Second Semester
Sunday, 09:15 - 11:00, Weissman, Auditorium
Monday, 11:15 - 13:00, Weissman, Auditorium

Tutorials
Sunday, 16:00 - 18:00, Weissman, Auditorium
04/04/2021
12/07/2021

Field of Study, Course Type and Credit Points

Physical Sciences: Lecture; Elective; Regular; 5.00 points
Chemical Sciences: Lecture; Elective; Regular; 5.00 points

Comments

N/A

Prerequisites

  • Quantum Mechanics 1
  • Quantum Mechanics 2

Restrictions

40

Language of Instruction

English

Attendance and participation

Expected and Recommended

Grade Type

Numerical (out of 100)

Grade Breakdown (in %)

33%
67%

Evaluation Type

Examination

Scheduled date 1

15/07/2021
Weissman, Seminar Rm A,Weissman, Seminar Rm B
0930-1530
N/A

Scheduled date 2

12/08/2021
Drori Auditorium
0930-1530
N/A

Estimated Weekly Independent Workload (in hours)

6

Syllabus

1) Introduction. Conventions. Perturbation theory and Feynman diagrams from Path Integrals (scalars and fermions). Computation of tree-level diagrams. The S-matrix.

2) Computation of one-loop diagrams, regularization and renormalization (perturbative). Dimensional regularization. Renormalizable field theories. The optical theorem and the LSZ reduction formula.

3) (Time permitting) Fun with perturbation theory : Large N field theories and string theory.

4) Scale-dependence of coupling constants and beta functions, the renormalization group, the Wilsonian effective action, marginal and relevant operators, fixed points, universality.

5) QED – quantization of gauge fields, gauge fixing and the Faddeev-Popov procedure, Feynman diagrams, Ward identities. Computations at tree-level and at one-loop, renormalization.

6) (Time permitting) Symmetries in QFT, Goldstone’s theorem, renormalization and symmetry, the Higgs mechanism (classical and quantum).

7) Non-perturbative field theory – QCD (qualitative). 3d QED, instantons and confinement.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

  1. Perform perturbative computations, both at tree-level and at higher orders (loops), in any quantum field theory, including scalars, fermions, and gauge fields. This includes regularizing and renormalizing the theory if necessary, and computing the beta functions indicating how coupling constants vary with the scale. Students should be able to perform both computations of correlation functions, and of the S-matrix.
  2. Demonstrate understanding of the possible phases of quantum field theories, and various methods to analyze and to identify which phase a specific theory is in. Understand the renormalization group and flows between different quantum field theories.
  3. Take more advanced courses, including QFT2 and advanced courses in supersymmetry, string theory and other related topics.

Reading List

The main book that will be used in the first part of the course M. Peskin and J. Schroeder, "An introduction to quantum field theory", but there are many other good books on this topic, and it is recommended to look at several different books. A more complete reading list will be given at the beginning of the semester.
 

Website

N/A