This course is the first semester of a two semester sequence in Quantum Field Theory. You may examine the syllabus for the course or the syllabus for the second semester of the last previous year I taught P622 by clicking on either hyperlink.
The textbook
We shall be learning a little bit about how to compute Feynman amplitudes via computer programs. As you will soon recognize after calculating a few cross sections, it can be pretty tedious to carry out the trace calculations. In class, we will discuss one Mathematica based program called FeynCalc. You can find a PostScript version of the Users Guide for FeynCalc here. Sections 1 and 2, i.e., pages 1-20 should give you enough information to get started with diagrams that don't have loops.
A tar (tape archive) file with the code for FeynCalc version 1.44 can be fetched by clicking here. This tar file can be used on a UNIX system where it can be unpacked with the command "tar -xvf FeynCalc1.44.tar". This will create a subdirectory FeynCalc with all the code necessary for FeynCalc.
Feel free to look at the problems assigned previously. There will certainly be some changes, but you will get a good idea of where the course is headed by looking at these assignments.
Homework 1 (due September 19)