Lecture

Quantum Field Theory: Behind and Beyond the Standard Model

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture explores the principles of quantum field theory, focusing on the Standard Model and its limitations. Topics include the scope of high-energy theory, Poincaré symmetry, particle physics, gauge symmetry, and the building blocks of Hilbert space.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Quantum field theory: Topics in quantum field theory

Related concepts (32)

Symmetry (physics)

In physics, a symmetry of a physical system is a physical or mathematical feature of the system (observed or intrinsic) that is preserved or remains unchanged under some transformation. A family of particular transformations may be continuous (such as rotation of a circle) or discrete (e.g., reflection of a bilaterally symmetric figure, or rotation of a regular polygon). Continuous and discrete transformations give rise to corresponding types of symmetries.

Particle physics

Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and bosons (force-carrying particles). There are three generations of fermions, although ordinary matter is made only from the first fermion generation. The first generation consists of up and down quarks which form protons and neutrons, and electrons and electron neutrinos.

Gauge theory

In physics, a gauge theory is a field theory in which the Lagrangian is invariant under local transformations according to certain smooth families of operations (Lie groups). The term gauge refers to any specific mathematical formalism to regulate redundant degrees of freedom in the Lagrangian of a physical system. The transformations between possible gauges, called gauge transformations, form a Lie group—referred to as the symmetry group or the gauge group of the theory. Associated with any Lie group is the Lie algebra of group generators.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking

Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a spontaneous process of symmetry breaking, by which a physical system in a symmetric state spontaneously ends up in an asymmetric state. In particular, it can describe systems where the equations of motion or the Lagrangian obey symmetries, but the lowest-energy vacuum solutions do not exhibit that same symmetry. When the system goes to one of those vacuum solutions, the symmetry is broken for perturbations around that vacuum even though the entire Lagrangian retains that symmetry.

Gauge symmetry (mathematics)

In mathematics, any Lagrangian system generally admits gauge symmetries, though it may happen that they are trivial. In theoretical physics, the notion of gauge symmetries depending on parameter functions is a cornerstone of contemporary field theory. A gauge symmetry of a Lagrangian is defined as a differential operator on some vector bundle taking its values in the linear space of (variational or exact) symmetries of . Therefore, a gauge symmetry of depends on sections of and their partial derivatives.

Related lectures (64)

Particle Physics: Standard Model overview

Covers Particle Physics, elementary particles, fundamental forces, the Standard Model, and precision physics in late 20th-century physics.

The Higgs Mechanism

Explores the formal aspects of the Higgs mechanism, covering mass terms, symmetry breaking, and the standard model Higgs boson.

Quantum Field Theory I: Introduction to Relativistic Quantum Field Theory

Offers a basic introduction to Relativistic Quantum Field Theory with a focus on fundamental physics principles and the Standard Model.

Overview of Particle Physics and Rutherford Scattering

Covers the constituents of matter, fundamental forces, the Standard Model, natural units, and particle interaction experiments.

Pseudonambulgol from Bosons: Methane and Effective Field Theory