Elements of classical field theory, including tensor calculus, Lagrangians, Noether’s theorem, electromagnetism, gravity, gauge symmetry, Dirac equation.
This learning seminar will provide an opportunity for those with mathematical background to become acquainted with certain powerful key concepts in fundamental physics. It may also be of relevance to physics students that are interested in a mathematical perspective on these topics. The focus this semester will be on classical field theory, which is the study of vector and tensor fields, defined on Minkowski spacetime and other manifolds, and that are subject to equations of motion. We reserve the topic of quantum field theory for a possible future learning seminar. This means that any physics we discuss will be, at best, low-energy approximations of the real world.
The emphasis in the seminar is on the principles and ideas that (it turns out) give rise to physically relevant equations, rather than the techniques and methods for actually solving those equations and comparing with experiments.
There are no formal prerequisites besides basic calculus and linear algebra, but a certain “mathematical maturity”, or otherwise adventurous spirit, may be useful. For those interested in geometry, you can also take Manifolds, Tensors and Differential Geometry (MATH 6240, also runs Spring 2025). If you are more interested in algebra, the course Representation Theory (MATH 6180, Spring 2025) is recommended. Lastly, if you are interested in analysis, the course Partial Differential Equations II (MATH 6560, Spring 2025) is a good supplement to the seminar.
In addition to lecture notes (to be posted), I provide here a list of recommended books, in order of more mathematical to more physical:
This is the best book I have found that is written for mathematicians, but still tries to explain a lot of physics notation, conventions and terminology. It has careful treatments of manifolds and Lie groups, vector bundles and connections, and covers the key classical field theory topics needed to begin to understand the standard model of particle physics up to the most common attempts at grand unified theories. The downside is that general relativity is not discussed at all.
This is my favorite book on differential and pseudo-Riemannian geometry. Its final chapter contains an interesting treatment of variational principles for vector and metric lagrangians, which specialize to Maxwell and Einstein’s theories. It is mathematical, but also uses the tensor index notation commonly seen in physics.
A solid book that could be used as the main text on a course in classical field theory.
A lovely book that contains a lot of nice results, including the derivation (as it were) of the Einstein-Hilbert lagrangian, and other topics.
An older book that covers a lot of examples of theories that are helpful to understand general phenomena such as Higgs mechanism, symmetry breaking etc. It also touches on supersymmetry. The downside is it assumes certain basic familiarity with the subject, so might be best for physics students.
This wonderful book cleverly guides the reader from quantum electrodynamics through beta decay and early gauge theories, to electroweak unification, Higgs mechanism, and ultimately the complete standard model of particle physics. Though a physics book, it requires only a minimum of quantum field theory to follow. The downside (from the perspective of using it as our main text) is that it lacks any treatment of gravity.
There are many other text books that have an overlap with the planned course topics, for example Gauge Fields, Knots, and Gravity, by Baez and Muniain (World Scientific, 1994) but it is less detailed in certain aspects.
The seminar is pass/fail. To receive a passing grade, you need to be active in the class, which means handing in at least 50% of the homework or equivalent effort.
Homework sets will be posted here.
The following is a rough current outline. The material may move around and some topics might be moved to homework problems or self-study.
Iowa State University supports and upholds the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech and the principle of academic freedom in order to foster a learning environment where open inquiry and the vigorous debate of a diversity of ideas are encouraged. Students will not be penalized for the content or viewpoints of their speech as long as student expression in a class context is germane to the subject matter of the class and conveyed in an appropriate manner.
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