Instructor:  Michael Luke, MP1116, 8-2985, luke@physics

Grader:  TBD

Time & Place:  TBD

Piazza:  We will be using www.piazza.com for homework, updates, etc.  All registered students will receive an email inviting them to register.

Evaluation:  Problem Sets: 60%  (roughly every 2 weeks), Final Exam (take-away, 9 AM - 5 PM): 40%. 

References:  The primary reference for this course is the lecture notes.  There is no required text, but (particularly if you are interested in taking PHY2404S in the spring), I recommend you purchase Peskin & Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (available at the bookstore).  Some other references are given here.

Topics:

1. Introduction:  notation, conventions.  The need for a multiparticle formulation of relativistic QM.

2. Canonical quantization of free scalar field theory.

3. Symmetries and conservation laws.

4. Interacting fields:  Feynman diagrams and the S matrix; cross sections, decay widths and phase space.

5. Spin 1/2 fields:  Spinor representations, Dirac and Weyl spinors, Dirac equation.  Canonical quantization of the Dirac field.  Spin and statistics.

6. Vector fields and quantum electrodynamics.