Quantum Field Theory

Prof. Hans Peter Büchler

Wednesday, April 8,  2026

• Wednesday, 08:00-09:30, Lecture hall V57.06, Pfaffenwaldring 57
• Friday, 09:45-11:15, Lecture hall V57.06, Pfaffenwaldring 57

• The lecture and the tutorials will be given in English.
• The problem sets will be handed in by the students, graded/corrected by the tutor and discussed in the tutorials the following week.
• Admission to the final exam requires 66% of the points on the problem sets.
• Please register for the exercise groups online. To do so, you need the Lecture Key given in the first lecture.
• If you assign a password at the registration, you can request your current scores here.

There will be an oral examination at the end of the course. Details will be given in the lecture.

• Weinberg: The Quantum Theory of Fields (Volume 1)
  Standard reference, very rigorous & mathematical, ratio #formulas/#text = high
• Itzykson/Zuber: Quantum Field Theory
  Standard reference, ratio #formulas/#text = high
• Peskin/Schroeder: An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
  Standard reference for courses on QFT, ratio #formulas/#text = medium
• Zee: Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell
  Compact and pedagogical introduction to the field, #formulas/#text = low

The goal is to gain a thorough understanding of relativistic quantum field theory, the concepts of Feynman diagrams, renormalisation for quantum electrodynamics, and to extend this knowledge to non-abelian gauge theories. In particular:

• Relativistic quantum mechanics and Dirac equation
• Path integral formalism
• Quantisation - Free fields
• Interacting fields and Feynman diagrams
• Elementary processes and first corrections
• Renormalisation
• Non-abelian gauge fields

These notes follow roughly the exposition by Peskin & Schroeder: