UW PHYS-3103, Special Topics: String Theory
UM PHYS-7404, Gauge Fields and Strings
Course Information
Lectures at W 1:30-3:00PM in 3C33
| Dr. Andrew Frey 2L26 a dot frey at uwinnipeg dot ca 786-9215 |
|
| Office Hours by appointment |
UW PHYS-3103 Course Outline
UM PHYS-7440 Course Description
This is the course homepage for University of Winnipeg undergraduate course PHYS-3103, Special Topics: String Theory and for University of Manitoba graduate course PHYS-7440 Gauge Fields and Strings.
I welcome feedback and comments on the course. If you're more comfortable commenting anonymously, leave me a note in my mailbox in the department office (3L00A).
Texts
- Required: A First Course in String Theory by Barton Zwiebach, 2nd ed.
- Required (for PHYS-7440 only): Quantum Field Theory by Mark Srednicki (pre-publication version available here)
- Suggested: Joe's Little Book of String by Joseph Polchinski, here
- David Tong's lecture notes on String Theory and Quantum Field Theory
In addition, some extra reading (from other texts, journal articles, etc) may be assigned.
Important Dates for Fall Term
- Voluntary Withdrawal Date: Oct 24, 2013
- Final Assignment Due: Dec 13, 2013
Presentations 2PM Room 2L14
Reading Schedule
Reading assignments will be posted on the course web page each week. You are responsible for keeping up with the reading since the responsibility for learning in this class is your own. Reading assignments in italics are for PHYS-7440 only. Please see the assignments section below for information on readying summaries.
| Dates | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Sept | Motivation | No assignment (read Zwiebach chapter 1 if desired) review previous reading in Srednicki |
| 11 Sept | Relativity and Extra Dimensions Fermion and Photon Path Integrals |
Zwiebach §2.3,5-8,10; §3.1-10 Srednicki §53-57 |
| 18 Sept | Relativistic Particle & String Lagrangian QED with matter |
Zwiebach §4.5,6; §5.1-4; §6.1-5 Srednicki §58,59,61,62 |
| 25 Sept | Quantum Fields & Point Particle More QED with Matter |
Zwiebach §10.1-6; §11.1-4 Srednicki §63-65 |
| 2 Oct | Worldsheets & Gauge Fixing Renormalization & Ward Identities |
Zwiebach §6.6,7; §8.1-3,5,6; §9.1-3; optional:
Tong QFT
§1.3 Srednicki §66-68 |
| 9 Oct | Open String Quantization Nonabelian Symmetries |
Zwiebach §9.4,5 §12.1-4; optional: JLBS §2 Srednicki §24,69 |
| 16 Oct | Open & Closed String States Matter & Path Integrals of Gauge Theories |
Zwiebach §12.5,6 §13.1-4 Srednicki §70,71 |
| 23 Oct | D-branes Review |
Zwiebach §12.8 §15.1-3; §16.1,3 look at Srednicki §70,71 again |
| 30 Oct | Toroidal Compactification Yang Mills Feynman Rules |
Tong
String Notes §8.1; Zwiebach §17.2-6 Srednicki §72 |
| 6 Nov | T-duality (and Others) Yang-Mills Beta Function |
Zwiebach §17.7,8; § 18.1-4 (+comments in class) Srednicki §73 |
| 13 Nov | Landscape of Compactifications Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
Zwiebach §21.5,6; § 1 of
hep-th/0701050 Srednicki §30,32 |
| 20 Nov | Thermodynamics & Black Holes Spontaneous Breaking of Gauge Symmetry |
Zwiebach §22.1-7 Srednicki §84,85 |
| 27 Nov ROOM 3L00B | AdS/CFT Correspondence Spontaneous Breaking of Gauge Symmetry 2 |
Zwiebach §23.1-9 Srednicki §86 |
| 13 Dec | Final Presentations | 2PM 2L14 |
Assignments
Reading Summaries
You should prepare a reading summary each week based on the reading assignment. UW students, please see the course outline for the official policy. The following are guidelines:
- Summaries are due 9AM on the date of the corresponding class meeting to the dropbox outside room 2L26.
- They should be written neatly or typed and should be one to two pages.
- Explain what you've learned from the reading and indicate clearly your questions (either put them in a list at the end or mark them by font choice such as bolding or italics).
- PHYS-7440 students: prepare separate summaries for the Zwiebach and Srednicki readings.
Homework Sets
Homework solutions should be neat and legible. Collaboration is allowed, but each student should write up solutions independently. UW students should see the course outline for the official policy. How to turn in each assignment is explained below
| PHYS-3103 | PHYS-7440 |
|---|---|
|
|
Final Project
You will work in pairs to review an advanced or contemporary topic not covered in the main course reading. I will help you to choose a topic and find appropriate reading on it. Then you, as a pair, will give a short (about 10 minute) presentation to the class during the exam period. PHYS-3103 and PHYS-7440 students can collaborate on this. More details will come later in the term.
Last updated: 09:53 on 9 April 2014 to remove solutions