Effective Field Theories II
Prerequisites
The course is aimed at 4th year master students.
Prerequisite: an introductory course on Quantum Field Theory, Effective Field Theories part I
Programme
General Relativity as an Effective Field Theory
Renormalization Group flows, fixed points and critical surfaces
The naturalness of the electroweak scale
Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and the Goldstone Theorem
Non-linear realization of space-time symmetries
The Effective Field Theory of Inflation
Educational aims
The aim is to introduce the modern approach to quantum Effective Field Theories (EFTs). By the end of the course, students will know how to construct and use them. Moreover, they will learn why EFTs today play an ubiquitous role in theoretical physics by inspecting several examples ranging from the Standard Model of particle physics to gravity and the cosmology of the early universe.
Bibliographical references
Steven Weinberg - The Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume 1, 2
Matthew Schwartz - Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
Riccardo Barbieri - Lectures on the Electroweak Interactions
Daniel Baumann, Liam McAllister - Inflation and String Theory