507 (Fall 2018)

PHYS 507: Physical Applications of Group Theory  (Fall quarter, 2018)

TTH     1:00-2:20pm    PAA A114

Instructor:   Silas Beane           B457     OH:  Tuesday 2:30-4:00pm

TA:              John Spencer         spencj95 at uw.edu

Subject matter

The first part of the course will be on finite groups and the second part will be on continuous groups.

I cannot give the exact split with any certainty until we are several weeks into the course. Programmatically, 

the plan is to cover the material in the first twenty chapters of Georgi. However, I hope to vary the examples 

somewhat beyond the standard particle physics applications. Georgi's book is great and I recommend that 

you acquire a copy. However, I have placed it on reserve in the library.

Prerequisites

One year of undergraduate quantum mechanics is probably necessary. 

Readings, Homework and grades

Your grade for this course will be based on the homework, which will be assigned approximately once a week. I believe that 

most of what you’ll get out of this class will be from the homework. I encourage you to work on the homework in groups (presumably

finite). However, the work that you hand in must be your own, and you must list your collaborators on your manuscript as well as 

any references you have used (e.g. if you find a solution to a problem on the web, you must cite the url). The homework assignments

are due on Friday afternoons in graduate student John Spencer's mailbox in the physics department office. They will be picked up at 4pm

on the dot.

Useful References

On reserve:

Lie Algebras in Particle Physics,  by H. Georgi (2nd edition) --MAIN TEXT

Group Theory in Physics: An Introduction, by J.F. Cornwell 

Finite Groups and Quantum Theory, by D.B. Chesnut

Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics, by L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifschitz

Other:

Semi-Simple Lie Algebras and their Representations, by Robert Cahn

Group Theory and its application to physical problems, by M. Hamermesh

Group Theory and Quantum Mechanics, by M. Tinkham

Groups, Representations and Physics, by H.F. Jones

Group Theory: applications to the physics of condensed matter, by M. Dresselhaus, G. Dresselhaus and A. Jorio

Calendar