Applications of Effective Lagrangians in Quantum Field Theory (WS 2018/19)

Contents

Effective Field Theories (EFTs) furnish an elegant means to take the first step towards the next quantum field theory of nature, because they allow to include physics beyond the standard model (SM) in a model-independent way via higher dimensional operators.

Beyond that, they are capable of tackling multi-scale problems, that arise in many areas of fundamental physics, since they consistently re-sum large logarithms of ratios of scales, that would otherwise spoil the perturbative expansion, and provide a modern notion of renormalization.

After a condensed review of quantum field theory, with a focus on the path integral formalism, this lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept of EFTs as appropriate descriptions of physics at a given length scale, including the modern bottom-up approach to physics beyond the SM.

The topics covered include:

- Review of QFT and path integral formalism
- General concept of EFTs and resummation
- EFT of weak interactions: Fermi-Theory and Flavor Physics
- EFT of QCD: Chiral Perturbation Theory and Soft Collinear Effective Theory
- EFTs and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking: the non-linear Sigma Model
- EFT of axions / axion-like particles
- EFTs and neutrino physics
- EFT for Dark Matter
- Bottom-up approach to a more fundamental theory of nature: SMEFT and eDMEFT

Target Audience

Students of Master of Science in Physics: Theoretical Physics / Particle Physics, PhD students

Useful knowledge

Quantum Field Theory I, Standard Model of Particle Physics

Time and Place

Mon, 11:15 - 13:00 [from 15.10.2018]
Philosophenweg 12 / kHS