Physics 686 -- Gauge Theories (and Supersymmetry) -- SPRING 2004

Class meeting time/place: Tuesdays 3:00-4:50 and Wednesdays 12:30-1:25, Faraday West 227

Instructor: Associate Professor S. Martin
Office: Faraday West 214
Phone: (815) 753-6467
email: picture

Textbook: Lecture notes distributed instead of an official text. These will consist of my "A supersymmetry primer" , which I will be updating as we go. Each week, I will hand out the appropriate, freshly revised and updated section for that lecture, sometimes together with other handouts. (So, you probably DON'T want to print out the current version of "A supersymmetry primer", as it will be obsolete by the end of the course!) I will also hand out a hard copy of the revised lecture notes from PHYS 586. Two good textbooks on gauge theories, not required, are: "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory" by Michael E. Peskin, Daniel V. Schroeder and "Gauge Theory of elementary particle physics" by Ta-Pei Cheng, Ling-Fong Li, but they do not cover supersymmetry.

Grading: Based 100% on homework sets, assigned approximately weekly.

Course description: The Graduate catalog description is: Gauge principles, spontaneous symmetry breaking, Higgs mechanism, standard model of particle physics, application to electroweak interactions and quantum chromodynamics.

We will also cover supersymmetry, as it relates to the topics just mentioned.

Syllabus: in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 1 (due February 3, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 2 (due February 11, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 3 (due February 18, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 4 (due March 3, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 5 (due March 24, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 6 (due March 31, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 7 (due April 7, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.

Homework Set 8 (due May 4, 2004) in postscript or pdf form.