GROUP THEORY
PHYS 7143 -
fall 2017
Tu,Th 12:00-1:15 Howey S106
birdtracks.eu/~predrag/courses/PHYS-7143-17
August 22
1. Linear algebra: vectors, matrices, eigenvalues
Feel free -at any time- to suggest topics that you would like to see covered in the course.
Lecture notes and problem set #1 (due Tuesday, August 29)
August 24
2. Projection operators
you got a new idea?
August 29
3. Don’t know group theory
Lecture notes and problem set #2 (due Tuesday, September 5)
August 31
4. Finite groups - definitions
September 5
5. Group representations
Lecture notes and problem set #3 (due Thursday, September 14)
September 7
6. Schur's Lemma
Our competition: MIT 18.085 Computational Science and Engineering I
September 12 Guest lecturer: Hurricane Irma
7. Wonderful Orthogonality Theorem
Lecture notes and problem set #4 (due Tuesday, September 19)
September 14
8. Hard work builds character
Optional fun reading: Penrose and no need to learn all these "Greek" words
September 19
9. Irreps decomposition
Lecture notes and problem set #5 (due Tuesday, September 26)
September 21
10. It takes class
September 23
A fun read on group theory
we definitely will not cover: Marcus du Sautoy Finding Moonshine: A Mathematician's Journey Through Symmetry
September 26
11. Symmetries and dynamics
Lecture notes and problem set #6 (due Tuesday, October 3)
September 28
12. Fundamental domain
October 3
13. Lorenz to Van Gogh
Lecture notes and problem set #7 (due Thursday, October 12)
October 5
14. Diffusion confusion
October 9-10
Fall Break
October 12
15. Space groups
Lecture notes and problem set #8 (due Tuesday, October 17)
October 17
16. Continuous groups
Lecture notes and problem set #9 (due Tuesday, October 24)
October 19
17. Lie groups
October 24
18. Lie groups, matrix representations
Lecture notes and problem set #10 (due Thursday, November 2)
October 26
19. Lie groups, algebras
October 31
20. SO(2) and O(2) symmetry reduction
Lecture notes and problem set #11 (due Tuesday, November 7)
November 2
21. SU(2) and SO(3)
November 7
22. SO(4) = SU(2) x SU(2), Lorentz group
Lecture notes and problem set #12 (due Tuesday, November 14)
November 9
23. SO(1,3) spinors
November 14
24. Representations of simple algebras
Lecture notes and problem set #13 (due Tuesday, November 21)
November 16
25. Cartan construction of SU(3) irreps
November 21
26. Flavor SU(3). Gell-Mann - Okubo formula
Lecture notes and problem set #14 (due Tuesday, November 28)
November 28
27. Many particle systems
Lecture notes and problem set #15 (due Tuesday, December 5)
November 30
28. Young tableaux
December 5
29. Wigner 3- and 6-j coefficients
Lecture notes and problem set #16 (optional, not graded)
December 6
Reading period
Fancy footwork
Course Instructor Opinion Survey
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Overview of the course
The full set of lecture notes for the course (as of November 17, 2017), including an overview of what might be included into the final.
December 8
final exam 11:30am - 2:20pm
instructions
December 18
Grades due at noon