Phys 600C - Quantum Field Theory, Fall 2009, 2 credit hour seminar, Mondays, 3:00 to 5:00 PM, Physics Dept. seminar room, Jabara Hall

The text is "A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory", by Michele Maggiore, Oxford (2005).

This is brief introduction to quantum field theory. I hope to cover roughly material from Chapters 2 through 6 on relativistic fields and their quantization. Another somewhat more advanced presentation of this material is given in Chapters 2 through 5 of the popular graduate-level text, "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory" by M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, Addison-Wesley (2005). My aim is to derive (some of) the Feynman rules for calculating scattering cross sections and decay rates for elementary particle interactions and perform some introductory calculations with these rules as a lead-in to Physics 675, Nuclear and Particle Physics, which will be offered in Spring 2010 (likely text: "Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics" by F. Halzen and A. D. Martin, Wiley (1984)). Time permitting, I will try to say a little about renormalization, gauge theories, and other matters.