Entry requirements

120 credits in science/engineering with Quantum Field Theory or Advanced Particle Physics.

Learning outcomes

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

• discuss the main aspects, assumptions and predictions of the theory of the strong interaction, in particular asymptotic freedom, confinement and chiral symmetry breaking
• explain the concepts of scale separation and effective degrees of freedom and relate them to the general framework of effective field theories
• analyse the symmetries of a system and account for their importance in the understanding of particle physics
• relate the properties of quarks and gluons to the properties of their composite objects, the hadrons
• calculate reaction and decay rates starting from a Lagrangian

Content

Lagrangians and symmetries, Noether currents, discrete symmetries; basics of quantum electrodynamics and weak theory, gauge symmetries; scattering theory, unitarity and analyticity, Feynman rules; concepts of perturbative and effective field theories; quantum chromodynamics (QCD), quarks and unitary groups, colour and gauge invariance, flavour symmetry, chiral symmetry, hadron classifications; introduction to lattice QCD; spontaneous symmetry breaking, Goldstone bosons; chiral perturbation theory.

Instruction

Lectures and classes.

Assessment

Hand-in problems during the course.

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.