Postgraduate Course: Topics in Scattering Amplitudes (PGPH12002)
Course Outline
| School | School of Physics and Astronomy |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 12 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | The course provides an introduction to modern approaches to scattering amplitudes, exposing the students to universal properties amplitudes and the profound connections between physics and mathematics concepts, which guide current research directions in this field. The course will build upon familiarity with the basics of QFT in general, and gauge theories in particular, as well as the properties of Feynman integrals taught in the first semester course, but it will not rely on any prior specialised knowledge on scattering amplitudes. To facilitate sufficient depth, the course will focus, in any given year, on just one or two areas of expertise, such as the IR structure of gauge theory amplitudes, on-shell methods, or applications of amplitudes to gravity. |
| Course description |
This second course provides an introduction to selected topic in the modern study of scattering amplitudes. It is designed primarily for first year PhD students in either Physics or Mathematics, who have already taken Quantum Field Theory (QFT) and are currently studying Gauge Theories in Particle Physics (or have studied these or equivalent courses before, as part of their masters degree).
The course also assumes basic knowledge of Feynman integrals and relies on the first semester Scattering Amplitudes I course.
The specific topics selected may vary between academic years.
Similarly to Scattering Amplitudes I, this course is based on two complementary methods of delivery: Ten 2-hour lectures given on a blackboard in which new concepts will be introduced (one 2-hour meeting per week) and in parallel 2-hour exercise classes in which specific problems will be explicitly solved (again one such session per week). The exercises will be given as part of the lecture and solved in the exercise class. Calculations in exercises will be mostly pen-and-paper work, and will occasionally be aided by computer algebra tools such as Mathematica and Maple.
A selected subset of exercises will be defined as hand-in work and will be used for assessment (formative as well as summative). The assessment will be based on the best 3 out of at least 4 hand ins.
Syllabus/Lecture List: 10 double lectures and 10 double exercise classes
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Quantum Field Theory (PHYS11065) or equivalent |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the aspects of locality, unitarity and causality in the study of scattering amplitudes
- Acquire basic working knowledge in at least one area of current research in scattering amplitudes
- Be able to apply modern mathematics concepts in the context on scattering amplitudes
|
Reading List
| A list will be provided separately every year, depending on the topics selected. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Quantum Field Theory,Scattering Amplitudes,Infrared singularities,on-shell methods |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Einan Gardi
Tel: (0131 6)50 6469
Email: Einan.Gardi@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Joyce Ternenge
Tel:
Email: joyce.ternenge@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage