Physics 570

Physics 570 - Quantum Field Theory I - Autumn 2025

Instructor:	Laurence G. Yaffe
Lectures:	Tues/Thurs 1:30-2:50pm, PAA A114
Office Hours:	Tues 11am, PAB B404
TA:	Andrea Paolini
TA Office Hours:	Tues 4pm, PAB B426
Homework Assignments:	Approximately biweekly
Website:	http://courses.washington.edu/ph570

Approximate Syllabus:

Free reletivistic bosons: Spinless particles and quantized scalar fields, Lorentz invariance, Feynman propagators, charged fields.
Interacting scalar fields: λφ⁴ theory, interacting particles, spectral representations, cross sections and scattering amplitudes, particle production, unstable particles.
Functional integrals: Euclidean theories, time-ordered correlation functions, saddle point expansions & diagrammatic perturbation theory, Feynman rules.
Symmetries and symmetry breaking: Discrete and continous symmetries, Goldstone bosons, large-N limits, phase transitions.
Basic renormalization: Ultraviolet and infrared cutoffs, physical vs. bare parameters, mass and coupling renormalization, renormalizable theories.
Relativistic fermions: Quantized spinor fields, Dirac equation, charge conjugation and antipar- ticles, massless fermions & neutrinos, Grassmann integration, four-fermi interactions.

Recommended Textbooks:
Lectures will define the course content. The following books are recommended supplements, but will not be followed in detail:

M. Srednicki, Quantum Field Theory. Pedagogically good, although emphasis on φ³₆ theory is unusual.
L. Brown, Quantum Field Theory. Excellent exposition, up to and including QED, but doesn't cover non-Abelian theories.
A. Zee, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell. Breezy presentation, broad but not overly detailed.
S. Coleman, Quantum Field Theory. Republished lectures of a master educator. Sadly, wrong metric convention.
M. Peskin and D. Schroeder, Introduction to Quantum Field Theory. Classic introduction to relativistic QFT, wrong metric convention.
C. Itzykson & J.-B. Zuber, Quantum Field Theory. Encyclopedic, authoritative, old-fashioned.

Homework Assignments:

Problem Set #1 (Due Thurs October 9).	Solution Set #1.
Problem Set #2 (Due Thurs October 23).	Solution Set #2.
Problem Set #3 (Due Thurs November 6).	Solution Set #3.
Problem Set #4 (Due Thurs November 20).	Solution Set #4.
Problem Set #5 (Due Thurs December 4).	Solution Set #5.