Quantum Field Theory
Postgraduate course
- ECTS credits
- 10
- Teaching semesters
- Spring
- Course code
- PHYS342
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Language
- English
- Resources
- Schedule
Course description
Objectives and Content
Objectives:The course is a continuation of PHYS203 and gives an understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes the elementary particles and their interactions.
Content:The course covers the theories describing the interactions of elementary particles: quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and electroweak theory. Together, these make up the Standard Model of particle physics. The course gives a basis for calculating and understanding simple cross sections for collisions and particle production. The course also gives a brief introduction to CP violation and neutrino physics.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course
the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge
The student
- Is able to explain Feynman rules
- Knows the basics of renormalization
- Understands the quark and gluon fields, the strong nuclear force, and the underlying symmetries
- Understands the symmetries of the electroweak theory, and their breaking via the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism
- Can explain CP violation involving K-mesons, and the origin of the CKM matrix
- Can explain neutrino oscillations
Skills
The student
- Masters the calculation of cross sections for simple processes
General competence
The student
- Knows how to model physical systems by using the Lagrange formalism
- Can use simple calculations to estimate the order of magnitude of physical quantities