Reference Material

The Standard Model and Beyond

To work on Beyond Standard Model physics, you need a solid grasp of Quantum Field Theory and gauge theories. There are numerous books in this area, so I won't list all of them, but Peskin and Schroeder stands out for its detailed approach to calculations. "QFT in a nutshell" by Anthony Zee provides a quick look at a number of topics but is short on details. The recent textbook by Matthew Schwartz is excellent and comprehensive, with a modern flavor. The classic textbook by Halzen and Martin provides a good introduction to particle physics.

Dark Matter

Dark Matter is a highly interdisciplinary area of research and draws from particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics. Quantum Field Theory is necessary if you are looking at particle aspects of dark matter.

Cosmology

Some useful books in this area are "The Early Universe" by Kolb and Turner which discusses particle physics in the early universe, "Modern Cosmology" by Scott Dodelson which discusses cosmological perturbation theory and the classic "Principles of Physical Cosmology" by Peebles.

General Theory of Relativity is the necessary background to work in this area. The books by Wald and Caroll are good references for General Relativity. Also see my lectures on special and general relativity which are accessible on youtube.


Astrophysics

I am not well-versed with astrophysics at a research level outside of the area of dark matter. The references that I list below are textbooks.

    • Astrophysics and Astronomy: Pankaj Jain

    • High Energy Astrophysics: Longair

    • Stellar Structure: Francis LeBlanc

    • Stars as Laboratories for Fundamental Physics: Raffelt

    • Galactic Dynamics: Binney

    • Galaxy Formation: Longair

Mathematics

To understand nature, we must learn the language she speaks. That language is mathematics. In particular, beyond the basic undergraduate curriculum, there are two important areas of mathematics that one needs: Lie Algebras and Differential Geometry.

Lie Algebras are essential to go beyond a simple understanding of Quantum Field Theory to a deeper understanding of the role of symmetries. Differential Geometry and Topology are necessary for a deeper geometric picture of Lie Groups, Gauge theories and General Relativity. They are also crucial for understanding non-perturbative aspects of quantum field theory.

I list below some textbooks which serve as good references.

Lie Algebras and Lie Groups

    • Georgi (Discusses representation theory well)

    • Das and Okubo (Gives a better introduction to Lie Groups)

Differential Geometry

    • Nakahara

    • Nash and Sen