Matematisk Fysik seal LTH



LIE GROUPS AND QUANTUM MECHANICS


Professor Thomas Guhr


Why do symmetries imply conservation laws? - Why moves the earth on a closed orbit around the sun, why are the levels of the Hydrogen atom so highly degenerate? - What are representations and Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, why are they needed to understand spectra? - What is SU(3), how is it used to classify elementary particles? - What is supersymmetry, why is it so powerful to model chaotic and disordered systems?

Group theory answers all these and many more questions. Groups, in particular Lie groups, are needed in almost all areas of modern theoretical physics. This course gives an introduction into this fascinating field. You will learn the necessary mathematical tools. The approach will always be physics-oriented, the emphasis will be on applications.

Tentative content (can be adjusted according to the students' interests): symmetries, invariances and conserved quantities - basic group theory - Lie groups and Lie algebras - particle physics and SU(3) - Cartan classification of Lie algebras - invariant measure, chaos and disordered systems - supersymmetry

Reference number: FMF001F - number of points: 5 - recommended background: all undergraduate mathematics courses, classical and quantum mechanics

This is how the course was organized in 2004: period: lp4 (March 15th to May 19th, 2004) - teaching scheme: twice a week two hours - first meeting for interested students (important!): Monday, March 15th, 2004, 12:00 o'clock in seminar room F, Matematisk Fysik, Sölvegatan 14A, Lund - responsible teacher: Professor Thomas Guhr (tel: 046 222 9087, e-mail: Thomas.Guhr@matfys.lth.se)



... looking forward to seeing you in the course!