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8.323 :: Quantum Field Theory I

Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I, Spring 2008
COURSE INFORMATION

 

INSTRUCTOR:

Alan H. Guth, Room 6-322, Ext. 3-6265, guth@ctp.mit.edu.
Office hour: Friday, 1:05 – 1:55 p.m., Room 6-322.

RECITATION INSTRUCTOR:

Edward Farhi, Room 6-300, Ext. 3-4871, farhi@mit.edu.
Office hour: Thursday, 10:05 – 10:55 a.m., Room 6-300.

TEACHING ASSISTANT: Serkan Cabi, Room 6-415, Ext. 3-5349, cabi@mit.edu. Office hour: Tuesday, 2:05 – 2:55 p.m., Room 6-415.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

LECTURE: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:05 a.m. – 12:25 p.m., in Room 4-237.

RECITATION: Monday 5:30 – 6:20 p.m., in Room 24-121.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Westview Press, 1995), by Michael E. Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder.

RECOMMENDED WEB DOCUMENT:

David Tong’s Lectures on Quantum Field Theory,
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/dt281/qft.html

OTHER USEFUL WEB DOCUMENTS:

Peskin and Schroeder Corrections Page,
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/∼mpeskin/QFT.html

Weak Interactions, by Howard Georgi. Available at
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/∼hgeorgi/283.html.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

Quantum Field Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2007), by Mark Srednicki.

Quantum Field Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1995), by Lowell S. Brown.

The Quantum Theory of Fields: Volume 1, Foundations (Cambridge University Press, 1995), by Steven Weinberg.

OTHER USEFUL BOOKS:

Quantum Field Theory: From Operators to Path Integrals (John Wiley & Sons 1998), by Kerson Huang.

Quantum Field Theory (McGraw Hill, 1990), by Claude Itzykson and Jean Bernard Zuber.

Field Theory: A Modern Primer, Frontiers in Physics Series, Vol 74 (2nd Edition, Westview Press, 2001), by Pierre Ramond.

Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell (Princeton University Press, 2003), by A. Zee.

HOMEWORK POLICY:

There will normally be one problem set each week, which will be posted on the web on Tuesday, and due the following Tuesday in lecture. Solutions to each problem set will be posted on the web shortly after it is due. Your final grade for the course will be based entirely on the homework.

After attempting each problem by yourself, we encourage you to discuss the problems with the teaching staff and with each other — this is an excellent way to learn physics! However, you must write up your solutions by yourself. Your solutions should not be a close copy of someone else’s work, or of a “bible” from a previous year. The graders will be instructed to give you a warning the first time they sense that this policy is being violated, and afterward to give only half-credit for such solutions.