Catalog

Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I

Physics MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 26 lectures

This course is a one-term self-contained subject in quantum field theory. Concepts and basic techniques are developed through applications in elementary particle physics and condensed matter physics.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Lecture 1: Classical Field Theories and Principle of Locality
  2. 2 Lecture 2: Symmetries and Conservation Laws
  3. 3 Lecture 3: Why Quantum Field Theory
  4. 4 Lecture 4: Canonical Quantization of a Free Scalar Field Theory
  5. 5 Lecture 5: Complex Scalar Field Theory and Anti-Particle
  6. 6 Lecture 6: Propagators and Green Functions
  7. 7 Lecture 7: Interacting Theories and S-Matrix
  8. 8 Lecture 8: Path Integral Formalism for Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
  9. 9 Lecture 9: Path Integral Formalism for QFT; Computation of Time-Ordered Correlation Functions
  10. 10 Lecture 10: Time-Ordered Correlation Functions in Field Theory
  11. 11 Lecture 11: Computation of Correlation Functions in Perturbation Theory and Feynman Diagrams
  12. 12 Lecture 12: More on Perturbation Theory and Feynman Diagrams
  13. 13 Lecture 13: Introducing the Dirac Equation
  14. 14 Lecture 14: Lorentz Covariance of the Dirac Equation
  15. 15 Lecture 15: Classical Solutions of Dirac Equations
  16. 16 Lecture 16: Quantization of the Dirac Theory
  17. 17 Lecture 17: Chiral and Majorana Spinors
  18. 18 Lecture 18: Discrete Symmetries
  19. 19 Lecture 19: Path Integrals of Fermions
  20. 20 Lecture 20: Maxwell Theory and its Canonical Quantization
  21. 21 Lecture 21: Quantum Maxwell Theory (continued)
  22. 22 Lecture 22: Quantum Electrodynamics
  23. 23 Lecture 23: Cross Section and Decay Rate
  24. 24 Lecture 24: Elementary Processes in QED (I)
  25. 25 Lecture 25: Elementary Processes in QED (II)
  26. 26 Lecture 26: Quantum Fluctuations and Renormalization

Course materials