A Primer on Quantum and Statistical Field Theory
Speaker(s): Li Han (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Time: March 4 - March 7, 2019
Venue: Room 78201, Jingchunyuan 78, BICMR
Date:March 4,March 7
Time:14:00-16:00
Originally developed by particle physicists to build a theory unifying quantum mechanics and special relativity and to explain high-energy experiments, quantum field theory (QFT) often has the reputation of being a hard subject. I will start with simple statistical mechanics problems like 1-d and 2-d Ising models to illustrate the basic ideas of a quantum field theory (the Euclidean version), how it works, and its applications in quantum many-body theory, for example, the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. Concepts like path integral, time ordering, Green’s function, Wick's theorem, Feynman diagrams will be explained. No knowledge of quantum theory is required. Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome.