Entry requirements

120 credits in science/engineering. Participation in Analytical Mechanics and Special Relativity. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• distinguish between gauge and global symmetries.
• ​analyse the role of groups for generating symmetry transformations.
• apply symmetry principles to quantum field theories.
• account for basic concepts of spontaneous symmetry breaking.
• find nontrivial solutions in quantum field theory.

Content

Gauge and global symmetries, group theory applications to symmetries, non-Abelian gauge theories, spontaneous symmetry breaking and Goldstone's theorem, the Breit-Englert-Higgs Effect. Nontrivial classical solutions: Kinks, vortices, Skyrmions and magnetic monopoles. Quantization of gauge fields, the Faddeev-Popov procedure and Ward identities, Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetry, supersymmetry.

Instruction

Lectures and seminars with active participation.

Assessment

Written examination at the end of the course combined with hand-in problems that give bonus points at the exam.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.