Prerequisites should include some familiarity with special relativity and quantum mechanics or a willingness to learn the material as needed. Background material and mathematical techniques (e.g., contour integration for propagators) will be reviewed or developed as needed, so the course should be reasonably self-contained.
The grade will be based mainly on homework problems and student presentations to be scheduled toward the end of the semester.
Some other texts, all availble in our library, may provide sources of material, problems, or presentations
In Fall 2009, I used the text "A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory", by Michele
Maggiore, Oxford (2005). We may take some material from this book.
Another somewhat more advanced presentation of this
material is given in Part I of the popular graduate-level text,
"An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory" by M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, Addison-Wesley (2005).
Part of my aim is to give some theoretical background for Physics 675, Nuclear and Particle Physics,
which will be offered in Spring 2012. Some particle physics texts which include introductions to calculations
using Feynman diagrams are "Introduction to Elementary Particles" (2nd ed.) by D. J. Griffiths,
Wiley (2008), "Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory
Course in Modern Particle Physics" by F. Halzen and A. D. Martin, Wiley (1984), and "An Introduction to
Particle Physics and the Standard Model" by Robert Mann, CRC (2010).