"Demystifying" Quantum Field Theory
Classes: Lectures Tu-Thu 2:00-3:30pm, Leconte 385. Discussion Session (by announcement).
Office Hours: (to appear).
This is a special topics course aimed at graduate students interested either in modern condensed matter theory or high energy physics. The central
theme of this course will be to demonstrate how field theory is often the natural tool to describe a wide range of quantum systems, and the bag of
tricks that can be employed to study them.
We will discuss a number of different lattice models and show how the long distance physics is naturally described in terms of a field theory.
Techniques such as low and high temperature expansion, large-N techniques, as well as the renormalization group, dualities and exact solutions will be discussed.
These will be applied to models of spontaneous symmetry breaking describing superfluidity and magnetism.
We will also discuss exotic phases with topological order, such as fractional quantum Hall states and spin liquids and how they can be naturally described by gauge theories.
1. Gauge Fields and Strings: A. Polyakov
2. Quantum Field Theory of Many Body Systems: X. G. Wen
3. Quantum Phase Transitions. Subir Sachdev.
Evaluation 35% Assignments, 10% Class participation, 55% Final Project [for 2 credits, no final project]
Problem Set 1:[Due Oct 31]
Solutions: Problems 1,2 [Sol. Part 1]
Remaining problems [Sol. Part 2]
Problem Set 2: [Due Dec 9]
Solutions: [Soln PS2]
Pick up graded problem sets from Itamar Kimchi in Birge 521 on Wednesday, Dec 18
Lecture Notes (FALL 2013)
Topics and Class Schedule from a previous offering of this course (Spring 2012)