University of Michigan High Energy Theory Group Student Journal Club

The student journal club meets regularly on Thursdays at 5:15 p.m. in the Oskar Klein Room (3481 Randall). The presentations are informal, and usually (though not always) blackboard talks on a subject intended to be of general interest to all students in the theory group, including both phenomenologists and string theorists. Each such talk is designed to be around one and a half hours in length. It is generally expected that those who regularly attend the journal club as "audience members" will also give presentations themselves.

If you have any questions about the journal club, or if you'd like to be added to the list, you can contact Tim Cohen at timcohen@umich.edu. Suggestions for additional references on any subject of discussion are always welcome.

A link to the High Energy Theory Seminar page is provided here.

A link to the High Energy Theory Brown Bag Seminar page is provided here.

Here is the schedule of upcoming journal club presentations:

Fall 2009

• 9/24/09 - Introduction to String theory and D-Branes
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  Abstract: This will be an introduction to String Theory and D-Branes. We will quantize the string, mode expand, and derive the field content for type II String Theories. I will then introduce D-Branes, T-Duality, Wilson Lines and Chan-Patton factors.
  
• 10/1/09 - Organizational Meeting
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  
• 10/8/09 - PHYSICS 610
  Presenter: James Wells
  
• 10/15/09 - PHYSICS 610
  Presenter: James Wells
  
• 10/22/09 - Dynamics of N=1 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories
  Presenter: Kentaro Hanaki and Cheng Peng and Alex Burgers
  Abstract: Understanding dynamics of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories is essential both in theoretical and phenomenological perspectives. Supersymmetric QCD can be seen as a toy model for real QCD and used to analyze strong coupling effects such as confinement. Also, realistic supersymmetric model building requires that supersymmetry is broken by dynamical effects. In this talk, we discuss various aspects of strongly coupled supersymmetric QCD, including nonrenormalization theorem, dynamically generated superpotential and electric-magnetic-type duality. Basics of supersymmetry is also reviewed in the talk.
  Reference: Wess and Bagger, "Supersymmetry and Supergravity"
  Reference: Intriligator and Seiberg "Lectures on supersymmetric gauge theories and electric-magnetic duality" arXiv:hep-th/9509066
  
• 10/29/09 - How Instantons Break Axial U(1) Symmetries
  Presenter: Tim Cohen and Ran Lu and Zhen Zhang
  Abstract:
  Reference: Coleman "Aspects of Symmetry"
  Reference: Vandoren and van Nieuwenhuizen "Lectures on Instantons" arXiv:0802.1862
  Reference: t'Hooft "How Instantons Solve the U(1) Problem" Physics Reports 142, No. 6 (1986) 357-387
  
• 11/5/09 - Branes
  Presenter: Ibou Bah and Ryo Saotome
  Abstract: I will discuss the spectrum of string theory. Then i will introduce T-Duality. Studying T-Duality for Open strings will help us introduce D-branes. Finally, i will discuss the low energy theory of D-Branes and Dirac Born Infeld Action.
  
• 11/12/09 - AdS/CFT
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi and Sam McDermott
  
• 11/19/09 - Superspace Formulation of SUSY and SUGRA
  Presenter: Zhichen Zhao and Joon Shin
  Abstract: Formulate SUSY by enlarging bosonic coordinates into Grassmann coordinates, introduce "fermionic translation" which generate SUSY transformation on fields. Fields of a supermultiplet on bosonic coordinates base is expansion components of a "superfield" on both bosonic and fermionic base. By writing Lagrangian including superpotential in terms of superfield, SUSY is automatically conserved. Adding tangent bundle or SU(N) bundle on this enlarged-base manifold, we get SUGRA and SYM respectively.
  Reference: West "Introduction to Supersymmetry and Supergravity" Chapters 14-17
  
• 11/26/09 - Thanksgiving Break
  Presenter: Gobbles the turkey
  Abstract: Yum!
  Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
  
• 12/3/09 - PHYSICS 610
  Presenter: James Wells
  
• 12/10/09 - Black Holes
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski and Chris Barot
  Abstract:
  Reference:
  

Summer 2009

Please fill out the survey by clicking on "survey" so we can schedule the summer talks.

• 
  Here is how the summer session is going to go:
  
  Everyone will bring a paper or concept/idea that they have been interested in and think will have broad appeal. We will then eat pizza and go around the table discussing whatever people bring. There are no restrictions on what we can discuss. It can be basic to advanced, although you should keep in mind that your audience is quite varied so if you want to discuss something complicated please take some time to organize your thoughts before the club.

Winter 2009

• 1/22/09 - General Gauge Mediation
  Presenter: Kentaro Hanaki
  Abstract: Gauge mediation is a nice way to mediate supersymmetry breaking in a hidden sector to the visible sector without violating flavor universality. I'll explain a general framework to discuss gauge mediation models proposed in Meade-Seiberg-Shih and relevant works.
  Reference: Meade, Seiberg and Shih, "General Gauge Mediation" arXiv:0801.3278 [hep-ph]
  
• 1/29/09 - Renormalization in Effective Field Theory
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  Abstract: The goal of this talk is to review the key ideas of effective field theory with an emphasis on renormalization group flow. In particular I will attempt to illuminate the pros and cons of mass dependent and independent schemes. Key ideas such as heavy particle decoupling, threshold effects and the dreaded "large logarithms" will be addressed.
  Reference: Manohar, "Effective Field Theories" arXiv:hep-ph/9606222
  Reference: Ovrut and Schnitzer, "The Decoupling Theorem and Minimal Subtraction" Phys. Lett. Vol 100B, No. 5 page 403 (1981).
  Reference: Weinberg, "Effective Gauge Theories" Phys. Lett. Vol. 91B, No. 1, page 51 (1980).
  
• 2/5/09 - Axion
  Presenter: Sunghoon Jung
  Abstract: Standard Model do not explain Strong CP problem. One of the popular solutions of this problem introduces a pseudoscalar called axion. Several axion models and their phenomenological/cosmological implications will be discussed.
  Reference: J.E.Kim, Phys Rev Lett 43 (1979) 103
  Reference: Dine, Fischler, Srednicki, Phys Lett 104B, 199 (1981)
  
• 2/12/09 - Branes and the Things They Do
  Presenter: Ibou Bah
  Abstract: In this discussion, i will review the properties of D-Branes and Polchinski's realization of their existance. Then i will discuss when they are BPS and non-BPS, Tachyonic and not Tachyonic. I will discuss their dynamics when they are at angles or facing their anti-self. I will end the duscussion by review Sen's Conjectures and recent methods used in understanding their dynamics.
  Reference: Polchinski, "Tasi Lectures on D-Branes" arxiv:hep-th/9611050
  Reference: Taylor and Zwiebach, "D-branes, Tachyons, and String Field theory" arXiv:hep-th/0311017
  Reference: Schwarz, "Tasi Lectures on non-BPS D-Branes Systems" arXiv:hep-th/9908144
  Reference: Sen, "Tachyon Dynamics in Open String Theory" arXiv:hep-th/0410103
  
• 2/19/09 - Wilson Loops in AdS/CFT
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  Abstract: Wilson loops are some of the most interesting observables in gauge theories. The expectation value of these non-local operators gives the effective action of a charged particle following a path in spacetime. Particularly important is the area-law of the Wilson loop in confining theories. The AdS/CFT correspondence gives a powerful tool to study Wilson loops, and in particular confinement. In this talk we will review some of the progress in this direction. References will be given during the talk.
  
• 2/26/09 - Winter Break
  
• 3/5/09 - Canceled
  
• 3/12/09 - Spinor approach to GR in D=4
  Presenter: Fredrick Zhao
  Abstract: In spinor formalism, eigenvalue and eigenvector problems for Electro-Magnetic tensor and Riemann tensor have manifest and elegant solutions. Therefore we can calculate invariants and classify solutions to Einstein equation based on spinor space. What's more, certain solutions correspond to interesting geometric structure in spinor spaces, which is believed to have some deep implications. This work is basically done by Louis Witten and Roger Penrose in 1960's, only in D=4, of course. I am currently working on generalization to higher dimensions.
  Reference: Penrose, "A Spinor Approach to General Relativity" 1960
  Reference: Witten (Louis), "Invariants of General Relativity and the Classification of Spaces" 1959
  Reference: Witten (Louis), "Geometry of Gravitation and Electromagnetism" 1959
  
• 3/19/09 - Dynamical SUSY Breaking
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  Abstract: We will start by discussing the reasons that dynamical SUSY breaking is the preferred mode of SUSY breaking. We will then discuss a few techiniques to know if SUSY is broken non-perturbatively. We will then go into specific models, such as the 3-2 model of Affleck, Dine, and Seiberg, retrofitted models of SUSY breaking, the SU(5) model, and the Intiligator, Thomas, Izawa, and Yanagida model. We will finally briefly touch on the ISS model and mediation.
  Reference: Terning, "Modern Supersymmetry"
  Reference: Guidice and Ratazzi, "Theories with Gauge mediated SUSY breaking" arXiv:hep-ph/9801271
  
• 3/26/09 - The ABCs of AdS/CFT
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski
  Abstract: An overview of the AdS/CFT correspondence, followed by a discussion of correlation function calculations in AdS/CFT. Time permitting a brief discussion on hydrodynamics and the shear viscosity calculation in AdS/CFT will follow.
  Reference: Aharony et. al., "Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity" arXiv:hep-th/9905111
  Reference: Son and Starinets, "Minkowski-space correlators in AdS/CFT correspondence: recipe and applications" arXiv:hep-th/0205051
  Reference: Policastro, Son and Starinets, "From AdS/CFT correspondence to hydrodynamics" arXiv:hep-th/0205052
  
• 4/2/09 - Absolutely not ADS-CFT
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  Abstract: This will be a formal discussion of QCD physics below Lambda QCD, using the ADS-CFT correspondence - but with a twist. We will not be discussing conformal field theories, but we will use the chiral Lagrangian to discuss hadronic physics. No, dual will be made to a ten dimensional string theory, but I will give a correspondence between the chiral Lagrangian and the Standard Model Lagrangian.
  Reference:
  
• 4/9/09 - The Sommerfeld Enhancement
  Presenter: Laura Colon-Melendez
  Abstract: In regions where DM is colder than usual, i.e. moving with even lower velocity, we might observe an increase in the annihilation cross section of DM due to the velocity dependent Sommerfeld enhancement. In fact, newer theories of DM (for example, Arkani-Hamed et al 0810.0713v3) rely on the Sommerfeld enhancement to boost the annihilation cross section of Dark Matter, in light of the PAMELA data, to make sense of their theory ... Since I had no idea about what the Sommerfeld enhancement was prior to reading about it, I decided that talking about it would make a good and simple Journal Club talk. Thus, I will discuss what the Sommerfeld enhancement is using very general, relatively easy quantum field theory and non-relativistic quantum mechanics arguments.
  Reference: Iengo, "Sommerfeld enhancement: general results from field theory diagrams" arXiv:0902.0688
  Reference: Iengo, "Sommerfeld enhancement for a Yukawa potential" arXiv:0903.0317
  Reference: Arkani-Hamed et al, "A Theory of Dark Matter" arXiv:0810.0713
  
• 4/16/09 - Stabilizing the Radion
  Presenter: Sandeep Gupta
  Abstract: I am going to talk about the Goldberger-Wise mechanism which stabilizes the radius of the compactified dimension in warped extra dimension theories.I will also discuss how this mechanism is required to ensure that standard cosmology is reproduced in warped extra dimension theories.
  Reference: Goldberger and Wise, "Modulus stabilization with bulk fields." arXiv:hep-ph/9907447
  Reference: Csaki, Graesser, Randall and Terning, "Cosmology of brane models with radion stabilization." arXiv:hep-ph/9911406
  

Here is the schedule for previous journal club presentations:

Fall 2008

• 8/28/08 - Penrose Diagrams and Conformal Structure of Spaces
  Presenter: Ibou Bah
  References: "Excerpt from The Large Scale Structure of Space-time" by S. Hawking
  
• 9/4/08 - Thermal vs. Non-thermal Production of Dark Matter; Winos
  Presenter: Laura Colon-Melendez
  
• 9/11/08 - One Loop Amplitudes thru Generalized Unitary Methods
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  
• 9/18/08 - 9/25/08
  Presenter: Strings and Gauge Theories Workshop
  
• 10/2/08 - Supergravity Basics
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  Reference: J. Zanelli, "Lecture notes on Chern-Simons (super-)gravities" arXiv:hep-th/0502193
  
• 10/9/08 - Baryon Number Violation in the Standard Model
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  Abstract: While baryon number (B) is exactly conserved in the Standard Model Lagrangian, it can be violated by non-perturbative processes, namely Instantons and Sphalerons. I will begin by reviewing the Sakharov criterion for Baryogenesis to remind one why they might care about B violation and will present an introduction to these two non-perturbative phenomena to compare and contrast their relevance to life, the Universe and everything.
  Reference: M. Trodden, "Electroweak Baryogenesis" arXiv:hep-ph/9803479
  Reference: F.R. Klinkhamer and N.S. Manton, "A Saddle-point Solution in the Weinberg-Salam Theory" Phys. Rev. D, Vol. 30, 2212
  Reference: P. Arnold and L. McLerran, "Sphalerons, Small Fluctuations, and Baryon-number Violation in Electroweak Theory" Phys. Rev. D, Vol. 36, 581
  Reference: S. Coleman, "Aspects of Symmetry"
  
• 10/16/08 - Gravitational Anomalies
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski
  Abstract: Much in the same way as in quantum gauge theories, quantum anomalies to classically conserved currents arise when matter is coupled to the gravitational field. In these cases the anomalies can signal a breakdown of general covariance, or coordinate transformation invariance. I will discuss the gravitational contribution to the Adler-Bell-Jackiw Anomaly and also purely gravitational anomalies arising in dimensions 4n+2.
  Reference: Alvarez-Gaume and Witten, "Gravitational Anomalies" Nuclear Phys B234 (1983) 269-330
  
• 10/23/08 - Dynamics of N=2 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories
  Presenter: Kentaro Hanaki
  Abstract: In 1994, the exact prepotential of N=2 super Yang-Mills theories was determined by Seiberg and Witten using holomorphy and electric-magnetic duality. After reviewing the necessary ingredients such as N=2 gauge theories, monopoles, electric-magnetic duality, I will discuss confinement and dynamically generated effective Lagrangians of the theories.
  Reference: Seiberg and Witten, "Electric-Magnetic Duality, Monopole Condensation, and Confinement in N=2 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory" arXiv:hep-th/9407087
  Reference: Seiberg and Witten, "Monopoles, Duality and Chiral Symmetry Breaking in N=2 Supersymmetric QCD" arXiv:hep-th/9408099
  Reference: Alvarez-Gaume and Hassan, "Introduction to S-Duality in N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories: A Pedagogical Review of the Work of Seiberg and Witten" arXiv:hep-th/9701069
  
• 10/30/08 - Supergravity
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  Abstract: First I will show how local supersymmetry implies supergravity. I will then present the supergravity Lagrangian. Discussion will include: the gravity multiplet, the conformal compensator, kahler invariance, and the goldstino. I will outline the requirements for spontanteous SUSY breaking. At the end, I will talk about the conformal compensator in the context of Anomaly mediation.
  Reference: Nilles, "Supergravity and Particle Physics."
  Reference: Cremmer et al, "Yang-Mills Theories with Local Supersymmetry: Lagrangian, Transformation Laws and SuperHiggs Effect."
  Reference: Balin and Love, "Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theory and String Theory."
  Reference: Randal and Sundrum, "Out of this World Supersymmetry Breaking" arXiv:hep-th/9810155.
  Reference: Wess and Bagger, "Supersymmetry and Supergravity."
  Reference: Pomarol and Rattazzi, "Sparticle masses from the superconformal anomaly" arXiv:hep-ph/9903448
  
• 11/6/08 - Simplified Gauge Mediation
  Presenter: Sunghoon Jung
  Abstract: Gauge mediation of SUSY breaking resolves many phenomenological problems, but requires quite complicated model building. Based on meta-stable SUSY breaking idea, there recently have been a large number of works trying to construct simple and generic gauge mediation model. Some early works in this direction such as simple coupling of messengers to SQCD sector and direct mediation ideas will be discussed.
  Reference: Murayama and Nomura, "Gauge Mediation Simplified" arXiv:hep-ph/0612186
  Reference: Intrilligator, Seiberg and Shih, "Dynamical SUSY breaking in meta-sable vacua" arXiv:hep-th/0602239
  
• 11/13/08 - Gauge Theory on Fibre Bundles
  Presenter: Fredrick (Zhichen) Zhao
  Abstract: A manifold is a topological space which looks locally like R^m, but not necessarily so globally. By introducing a chart, we give a local Euclidean structure to a manifold, which enables us to use the conventional calculus of several variables. A fibre bundle is, so to speak, a topological spaces which looks locally like a direct product of two topological spaces. Many theories in physics, such as general relativity and gauge theories, are described naturally in terms of fibre bundles. I will briefly go over concepts of manifold, Riemann geometry, fibre bundles, and emphasise on how to construct gauge theory on fibre bundles, and the corresponding geometry interpretation.
  Reference: Nakahara, "Geometry, Topology and Physics"
  
• 11/20/08 - The Little Hierarchy Problem
  Presenter: Sandeep Gupta
  Abstract: The LEP 2 experimental bounds on SUSY parameters mean that if MSSM is true there is already some fine tuning (at the level of a few percent). I would discuss the problem and some of the solutions that have been proposed. I will also briefly discuss the little hierarchy problem for strongly coupled theories of Electroweak symmetry breaking, the little Higgs model and the motivations for a supersymmetric little Higgs model.
  Reference: Casas, Espinosa and Hidalgo, "The MSSM fine tuning problem: a way out" arXiv:hep-ph/0310137
  Reference: Giudice and Rattazzi, "Living dangerously with Low-Energy Supersymmetry" arXiv:hep-ph/0606105
  Reference: Perelstein, "The Little Higgs models and their Phenomenology" arXiv:hep-ph/0512128
  Reference: Csaki, Marandella, Shirman and Strumia, "The Super-Little Higgs" arXiv:hep-ph/0510294
  
• 11/27/08 - Thanksgiving Break
  
• 12/4/08 - PHYSICS 541 Class Projects
  Presenter: PHYSICS 541 Students
  
• 12/11/08 - 1/15/09 - Winter Break
  

Summer 2008 - Special Topics in Phenomenology and String Theory

• 5/8/08 - Non-critical String Theory
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  
• 5/15/08 - Holographic Renormalization
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski
  
• 5/22/08 - Boundry State in String Theory
  Presenter: Ibou Bah
  
• 5/29/08 - Finite Temperature Field Theory and Phase Transitions in the Early Universe
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  Reference: Quiros: "Finite Temperature Field Theory and Phase Transitions" arXiv: hep-ph/9901312
  
• 6/5/08 - The Spinor Helicity Formalism and Tree Level Recursion Relations
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  Reference: Chachazo and Svrecek: "Lectures on Twistor Strings and Perturbative Yang-Mills Theory" arXiv: hep-th/0504194
  Reference: Pake and Taylor: "Amplitude for n-gluon scattering" PRL 56, 23
  Reference: Berends and Giele: "Recursive Calculations for processes with n Gluons" Nuc. Phys. B306, 759
  
• 6/12/08 - The AdS/CFT Duality
  Presenter: Fredrick (Zhichen) Zhao
  Reference: Nastase: "Introduction to AdS-CFT" arXiv: 0712.0689
  Reference: Aharony et. al.: "Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity" arXiv: hep-th/9905111
  
• 6/19/08 - Multiple M2-Branes
  Presenter: Kentaro Hanaki
  Reference: Polchinski, Chapter 14
  Reference: Bagger and Lambert: "Gauge Symmetry and Supersymmetry of Multiple M2-Branes" arXiv:0711.0955
  Reference: Bagger and Lambert: "Comments on Multiple M2-Branes" arXiv:0712.3738
  
• 6/26/08 - Non-Perturbitive N=1 Supersymmetry, Gaugino Condensation and Supersymmetry Breaking
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  Reference: Terning: arXiv:hep-th/0306119
  Reference: Peskin: arXiv:hep-th/9702094
  Reference: Binetruy: "Supersymmetry: Theory, Experiment and Cosmology"
  
• 7/3/08 - Some Ideas of EWSB (on the extra dimensions)
  Presenter: Sunghoon Jung
  Reference: "TASI Lectures on EWSB from Extra Dimensions" arXiv: hep-ph/0510275
  Reference: "TASI Lectures on Extra dimensions and branes" arXiv: hep-ph/0404096
  Reference: "SM Higgs from Higher Dimensional Gauge Fields" arXiv: hep-ph/0210133
  Reference: "Minimal Composite Higgs" arXiv: hep-ph/0412089
  
• 7/10/08 - Unparticles
  Presenter: Sandeep Gupta
  Reference: Georgi: "Unparticle Physics" arXiv: hep-ph/0703260
  Reference: Georgi: "Another Odd Thing About Unparticle Physics" arXiv: 0704.2457
  Reference: Stephanov: "Deconstruction of Unparticles" arXiv:0705.3049
  
• 7/17/08 - Heard it Through the Grapevine - Mediating Supersymmetry Breaking
  Presenter: David Morrissey
  Reference: Luty: "2004 TASI Lectures on Supersymmetry Breaking" arXiv: hep-th/0509029
  Reference: Giudice and Rattazzi: "Extracting Supersymmetry-Breaking Effects from Wave-Function Renormalization" arXiv: hep-ph/9706540
  
• 7/24/08 - 8/14/08
  Summer Break
  

Winter 2008 - Special Topics in Phenomenology and String Theory

• 1/24/08 - Young's Tableaux
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  
• 1/31/08 - Black Holes and Strings
  Presenter: Ibou Bah
  
• 2/7/08 - Dynamical SUSY Breaking in Meta-Stable Vacua
  Presenter: Kentaro Hanaki
  Reference: Intriligator, Seiberg, and Shih: "Dynamical SUSY Breaking in Meta-Stable Vacua" arXiv: hep-th/0703281
  Reference: Intriligator and Seiberg: "Lectures on Supersymmetry Breaking" arXiv: hep-ph/0702069
  
• 2/21/08 - The Little Higgs
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  Reference: hep-ph/0502182
  
• 3/6/08, 3/13/08 - Covariant Quantization using Pure Spinors
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  Reference: hep-th/0209059
  
• 3/20/08 - Theories with Gauge-Mediated SUSY Breaking
  Presenter: Sunghoon Jung
  Reference: hep-ph/9801271 Rattazzi and Giudice 'Theories with Gauge-Mediated SUSY Breaking'
  Reference: hep-ph/9709356 Martin 'SUSY Primer'
  Reference: hep-th/0509029 Luty 'SUSY breaking'
  Reference: hep-th/9907225 Shadmi and Shirman 'Dynamical SUSY Breaking'
  Reference: hep-ph/0702069 Intrilligator and Seiberg 'SUSY Breaking'
  Reference: hep-ph/0702069 Intrilligator and Seiberg 'SUSY Breaking'
  Reference: hep-ph/9603238 Dvali, Giudice and Pomarol 'mu-problem in GMSB'
  
• 3/27/08 - Finding N=1 Supersymmetry in Heterotic String Theory
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  Reference: Chapter 15 in Superstring Theory Volume 2. Green, Schwarz and Witten
  Reference: Chapter 9 in String Theory and M-Theory. Becker, Becker and Schwarz
  Reference: Candelas, Horowitz, Strominger, and Witten "Vacuum Configurations for Superstrings" Nuclear Physics B258 (1985) 46-74
  Reference: Brian Greene, String Theory on Calabi-Yau Manifold hep-th/9702155
  (Eric's notes)
  
• 4/3/08 - Hamiltonian Formulation and Non-renormilizability of General Relativity
  Presenter: Ibou Bah
  Reference:
  
• 4/10/08 - Loop Quantum Gravity
  Presenter: Chris Gauthier
  Reference: Ashtekar, Abhay and Lewandowski: Background Independent Quantum Gravity - A Status Report. gr-qc/0404018
  Reference: Thiemann: Lectures on Loop Quantum Gravity. gr-qc/0210094
  Reference: Thiemann: Introduction to Modern Canonical Quantum General Relativity. gr-qc/0110034
  

Fall 2007 - Advanced Topics in Field Theory

• 9/13/07 - The Colman-Mandula Theorem and Extensions
  Presenter: Tim Cohen
  References:
  1. "All Possible Symmetries of the S-Matrix" by S. Coleman and J. Mandula
  2. "All Possible Generators of Supersymmetries of the S-Matrix" by R. Haag et all
  3. "Supersymmetry: Theory, Experiment, and Cosmology" by P. Binetruy, Oxford Graduate Texts, Section 2.1
  
• 9/20/07 - Geometry of Gauge Theories
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  References:
  1."Quantization of Gauge Systems" by M. Henneaux and C. Teitelboim, Princeton University Press. Chapters 1,2 and 3.
  2. "Aspects of Chern-Simons Theory" by G. Dunne
  3. "(Constrained) Quantization Without Tears" by R. Jackiw
  4. "Hamiltonian Reduction of Unconstrained and Constrained Systems" Phys. Rev. Lett. 1988, 60(17):1692-1694.
  
• 9/27/07 and 10/4/07 - Thermal Field Theory
  Presenters: Dave Morrissey (9/27) and Ross O'Connel (10/4)
  References:
  1. "Finite temperature field theory and phase transitions" by Mariano Quiros
  2. "Topics in Finite Temperature Field Theory" by Ashok Das
  
• 10/11/07 and 10/18/07 - Perturbation Theory Anomalies
  Presenters: Phil Szepietowski
  References: pending
  
• 10/18/07 - Non-perturbative Field Theory I: Solitons
  Presenter: Eric Kuflik
  References: pending
  
• 10/25/07 - Non-perturbative Field Theory II: Instantons
  Presenter: Sunghoon Jung
  References:
  1. Belavi, Polyakov, Schwartz, Tyupkin - Phys. Lett 59B, 85(1975)
  2. 't Hooft - PRL 37, 8 (1976) and Phys. Rev. D 14, 3432 (1976)
  3. Coleman - Uses of Instantons
  4. Shifman and Vainshtein - hep-th/9902018
  
• 11/1/07 - Universtal Extra Dimensions
  Presenter: Thomas Flake
  References:
  1. "TASI Lectures on Electroweak Symmetry Breaking from Extra Dimiensions" by C. Csaki, J. Hubisz and P. Meade
  2. "The Hierarchy Problem and New Dimensions at a Millimeter" by N. Arkani-Hamed, S. Dimopoulos and G. Dvali
  3. "TASI Lectures on Extra Dimensions and Branes" by C. Csaki
  4. "Quantum Gravity and Extra Dimensions at High-Energy Colliders" by G. Giudice, R. Rattazzi and J. Wells
  5. "A Large Mass Hierarchy from a Small Extra Dimension" by L. Randall and R. Sundrum
  6. "Modulus Stabilization with Bulk Fields" by W. Goldberger and M. Wise
  7. "Bulk Fields and Supersymmetry in a Silce of AdS" by T. Gherghetta and A. Pomarol
  
• 11/8/07 and 11/15/07 - Conformal Field Theory Part 1: Intro to 2-D CFT
  Presenters: Tim Cohen (11/8), Alberto Faraggi (11/15)
  References: Polchinski Ch 2 and the compactified boson from Ch 8.1 and 8.2
  
• 11/22/07 - Thanksgiving Break
  Presenter: Gobbles the Turkey
  References: A Brief History of Thanksgiving (in Canada and the US)
  
• 11/29/07 - Conformal Field Theory Part 1 (continued): Intro to 2-D CFT
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski
  References: Polchinski Ch 2 and the compactified boson from Ch 8.1 and 8.2
  
• 12/6/07 and 12/13/07 - Conformal Field Theory Part 2: Basic Calculations in String Theory
  Presenters: Alejandra Castro and Ross O'Connel
  References: pending
  
• Winter Term 2008 - Conformal Field Theory Part 3: N=4 SUSY Yang Mills and D-Dimension CFT
  Presenters: Dan Phalen and Ibou Bah
  References: Ginsberg (discussion and beginning) and Doker TASI Lectures (hep-th-0201253)
  

Summer 2007

• 5/24/07 - A Crash Course in Real Differential Geometry
  Presenters: Ross O'Connel
  References: Gilkey, Eguchi, and Hanson (available here), "Lectures on Complex Manifolds" by P. Candelas, "A Crash Course in P-Forms" by D. Kaplan (available here).
  
• 5/31/07 - Differential Geometry and Complex Manifolds Part I
  Presenters: Tim Cohen and Alberton Faraggi
  References: "Lectures on Complex Manifolds" by P. Candelas.
  
• 6/7/07 - Differential Geometry and Complex Manifolds Part II
  Presenters: Tim Cohen and Alberton Faraggi
  References: "Lectures on Complex Manifolds" by P. Candelas.
  
• 6/14/07 - The Kahler Condition and the Definition the Calabi-Yau Manifolds Part I
  Presenters: Andy Morten and Phil Szepietowski
  References: "String Theory on Calabi-Yau Manifolds" by Brian R. Greene (hep-th/9702155).
  
• 6/21/07 - The Kahler Condition and the Definition the Calabi-Yau Manifolds Part II
  Presenters: Andy Morten and Phil Szepietowski
  References: "String Theory on Calabi-Yau Manifolds" by Brian R. Greene (hep-th/9702155).
  
• 6/28/07 - M-Theory On Calabi-Yau Manifolds
  Presenter: Alejandra Castro Anich
  References: pending.
  

Winter 2007

• 1/25/07 - Weyl, Majorana, and Dirac Spinors in N Dimensions (Ross's notes and Tim's notes)
  Presenters: Ross O'Connel and Tim Cohen
  References: Bailin & Love (Ch. 1), Martin's primer, Ch. 2 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Appendices A and B), Ortin's "Gravity and Strings" (Appendix B).
  
• 2/1/07 - Chiral Superfields and the N=1 SUSY Algebra Part I (Dan's notes Eric's notes)
  Presenters: Dan Phalen and Eric Kuflik
  References: Bailin & Love (Ch. 2), Martin's primer, Ch. 3 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 3-5)
  
• 2/8/07 - Chiral Superfields and the N=1 SUSY Algebra Part II (notes given above)
  Presenters: Dan Phalen and Eric Kuflik
  References: Bailin & Love (Ch. 2), Martin's primer, Ch. 3 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 3-5)
  
• 2/15/07 - Chiral Superfields and the N=1 SUSY Algebra Part III (Brooks's notes)
  Presenters: Dan Phalen and Brooks Thomas
  References: Bailin & Love (Ch. 2), Martin's primer, Ch. 3 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 3-5)
  
• 2/22/07 - General Superfields and Supersymmetric Gauge Invariance
  Presenters: David Mossissey and Andy Morten
  References: Bailin & Love (Ch. 3), Martin's primer, Ch. 3 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 6-7).
  
• 3/1/07 - Spring Break: No Meeting
  
• 3/8/07 - The Mechanics of Supersymmetry Breaking (Brooks's notes)
  Presenters: Brooks Thomas and Phil Szepietowski
  References: Bailin & Love, Ch. 2-3; Martin's primer, Ch. 6 (hep-ph/9709356), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 8) Luty's TASI lectures, Ch. 1-7 (hep-ph/0509029).
  
• 3/15/07 - A Crash Course in Supergraphs Part I
  Presenters: David Morrissey
  References: Wess & Bagger (Ch. 9-10).
  
• 3/22/07 - A Crash Course in Supergraphs Part II
  Presenters: David Morrissey
  References: Wess & Bagger (Ch. 9-10).
  
• 3/29/07 - Overview of the MSSM
  Presenters: Yanou Cui and Tim Cohen
  References: Martin's primer, Ch. 4-5, 7 (hep-ph/9709356).
  
• 4/5/07 - Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking
  Presenters: Brooks Thomas and Andy Morten
  References: Luty's TASI lectures, Ch. 8 (hep-ph/0509029).
  
• 4/12/07 - The Basics of Supergravity and the Super-Higgs Mechanism Part I
  Presenters: Alejandra Castro and Alberto Faraggi
  References: Bailin & Love, Ch. 4-5, Luty's TASI lectures, Ch. 9 (hep-ph/0509029), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 14-25).
  
• 4/19/07 - The Basics of Supergravity and the Super-Higgs Mechanism Part II
  Presenters: Alejandra Castro and Alberto Faraggi
  References: Bailin & Love, Ch. 4-5, Luty's TASI lectures, Ch. 9 (hep-ph/0509029), Wess & Bagger (Ch. 14-25).
  
• 4/26/07 - Anomaly-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking
  Presenters: Yanou Cui and Phil Szepietowski
  References: Luty's TASI lectures, Ch. 10 (hep-ph/0509029).
  
• 5/3/07 - Extended Supersymmetry and Higher-Dimensional Supergravity Part I
  Presenters: Ross O'Connel and John Murphy
  References: pending
  
• 5/10/07 - Extended Supersymmetry and Higher-Dimensional Supergravity Part II
  Presenters: Ross O'Connel and John Murphy
  References: pending
  

Fall 2006

• 9/14/06 - Attractor Mechanisms
  Presenter: Alejandra Castro
  References: "N=2 Extremal Black Holes" by Ferrara, Kallosh, and Strominger (hep-th/9508072), "Macroscopic Entropy of N=2 Extremal Black Holes" by A. Strominger (hep-th/9602111), "Supersymmetry and Attractors" by S. Ferrara and R. Kallosh (hep-th/9602136), "The Non-BPS Black Hole Atttractor Equation" by Kallosh, Sivanandam, and Soroush (hep-th/0602005), and "The Attractor Mechanism in Five Dimensions" by F. Larsen (hep-th/0608191).
  
• 9/21/06 - Department Picnic: No Meeting
  
• 9/28/06 - Little Higgs Models
  Presenter: Jing Shao
  References: "Little Higgs Review" by M. Schmaltz and M. Tucker-Smith (hep-ph/0502182) and "Little Higgs Models and Their Phenomenology" by Maxim Perelstein (hep-ph/0512128).
  
• 10/5/06 - A Field Guide to Renormalization Schemes
  Presenter: David Morrissey
  References: "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory" (book) by Peskin & Schroder (chapters 7 and 10-12), "Weak Hamiltonian, CP Violation, and Rare Decays" by Andrzej Buras (hep-ph/9806471), "Effective Field Theory" by Howard Georgi (Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 43:209-252, 1993), "Supersymmetric Dimensional Regularization Via Dimensional Reduction" by Warren Siegel (Phys. Lett. B84:193, 1979), "Regularization by Dimensional Reduction of Supersymmetric and Nonsupersymmetric Gauge Theories" by D.M. Capper et al. (Nucl.Phys.B167:479! , 1980), I. Jack et al. (hep-ph/9407291). The Capper article is the main reference for SUSY renormalization.
  
• 10/12/06 - Fall Break: No Meeting
  
• 10/19/06 - Three-Dimensional Supergravity
  Presenter: Alberto Faraggi
  References: pending
  
• 10/26/06 - Homology Groups and de Rham Cohomology
  Presenter: Phil Szepietowski
  References: "Geometry, Topology, and Physics" (book) by Mikio Nakahara, chapters 3 and 6.
  
• 11/2/06 - Dualities in SuperYang-Mills and other Supersymmetric Theories
  Presenter: Yanou Cui
  References: "Non-Perturbative Dynamics in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories by Mikhail Shifman (hep-th/9704114), "Lectures on Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and Electric-Magnetic Duality" by K. Intriligator and N. Seberg (hep-th/9509066), "Introduction to S-Duality in N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories" by L. Alvarez-Gaume and S. Hassan (hep-th/9701069), "Duality in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory" by Michael Peskin ( hep-th/9702094), "The Power of Duality: Exact Results in 4-D SUSY" by Nathan Seiberg (hep-th/9506077), and "An Introduction to Global Supersymmetry" by Philip Argyres (available here). The primary reference among these is Peskin's "Duality in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Teory" and the talk will focus on the N=1 case.
  
• 11/9/06 - The Minimal Mass Scale Problem in Yang-Mills Theories
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  References: "Quantum Yang-Mills Theory" by A. Jaffe and E. Witten (CMI site), "Report of the Status of the Yang-Mills Millenium Prize Problem" by M. Douglas (CMI site), and "PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That" by R.F. Streater and A.S. Wightman (book).
  
• 11/16/06 - Technicolor and Composite Higgs Models
  Presenter: Brooks Thomas
  References: "Gauge Theory of Elementary Particle Physics" (book) by Cheng & Li (chapters 5 and 13), "Strong Dynamics and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking " by C. Hill and E. Simmons (hep-ph/0203079), "Top Quark Condensation" by G. Cvetic (hep-ph/9702381).
  
• 11/23/06 - Thankgiving: No Meeting
  
• 11/30/06 - Supergraphs, Supespace, and Supefield Calculations
  Presenter: Steven Flores
  References: "Supersymmetry and Supergravity" (book) by Wess & Bagger (chapters 4, 5, 9, and 10), "Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theory and String Theory" (book) by Bailin & Love (chapter 2), "A Supersymmetry Primer" by Stephen P. Martin (hep-ph/9709356), "Superspace, or One Thousand and One Lessons in Supersymmetry" by Gates, Grisaru, Rocek, and Siegel (hep-th/0108200).
  
• 12/7/06 - RHIC Phenomenology and AdS/CFT
  Presenter: John Murray
  References: "Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions and String Theory" by S. S. Gubser (PiTP Site) "Drag Force in AdS/CFT'' by S. S. Gubser (hep-th/0605182), "Dissipation from a Heavy Quark Moving Through N = 4 Super-Yang-Mills Plasma,'' by J. J. Friess, S. S. Gubser, and G. Michalogiorgakis (hep-th/0605292).
  
• 12/14/06 - Finals Week: No Meeting
  

Summer 2006

• 6/22/06 - Electroweak Precision Constraints
  Presenter: Brooks Thomas
  References: "Introduction to Precision Electroweak Analysis" (hep-ph/0512342) by James Wells, "Estimation of Oblique Electroweak Corrections" (Phys. Rev. D 46:1) by Peskin and Takeuchi, Ch. 21 of Quantum Field Theory by Peskin and Schroder.
  
• 6/29/06 - Neutrino Physics and Neutrino Masses
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  References: "TASI Lectures on Neutrino Physics" (hep-ph/0411274) by Andre de Gouvea, talks from Neutrino 2006 available here, "Two Lectures on Neutrinos" by Pierre Ramond in Perspectives on the Standard Model (Ellis, Hill, and Lykken, eds.).
  
• 7/6/06 - No Meeting
• 7/13/06 - No Meeting
• 7/20/06 - D-Brane Decay and Tachyon Condensation
  Presenter: Ross O'Connel
  References: "Lectures on Non-BPS Dirichlet branes" (hep-th/0005029) by Matthias Gaberdiel, "Rolling tachyons and decaying branes" (hep-th/0212248) by Larsen, Naqvi, and Terashima, "Closed strings from decaying D-branes" (hep-th/0303139) by Lambert, Liu, and Maldacena, "Tachyon dynamics in open string theory" (hep-th/0410103) by Ashoke Sen, "The Perils of 'soft' SUSY breaking" (hep-th/9904027) by Antonuccio, Lunin, and Pinsky.
  
• 7/27/06 - No Meeting
• 8/3/06 - KKLT and Brane Inflation
  Presenter: Jing Shao
  References: "Hierarchies from Fluxes in String Compactifications" (hep-th/0105097) by Giddings, Kachru, and Polchinski, "De Sitter Vacua in String Theory" (hep-th/0301240) by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, and Trevelli (KKLT), "Towards inflation in string theory" (hep-th/0308055) by Kachru et al.
  
• 8/10/06 - Moduli and Gravitino Cosmology
  Presenter: David Morrissey
  References: "Supersymmetry and Cosmology" by J. L. Feng (available on Spires), "Cosmological Gravitino Regeneration and Decay" by John R. Ellis, Jihn E. Kim, D.V. Nanopoulos, "Solving the Cosmological Moduli Problem with Weak Scale Inflation" by Lisa Randall and Scott Thomas (hep-ph/9407248), "Thermal Inflation and the Moduli Problem" by David Lyth and Ewan Stewart (hep-ph/9510204).
  
• 8/17/06 - Theories with Large Extra Dimensions
  Presenter: Yanou Cui
  References: "Extra Dimensions" (review article for PDG) by G. Giudice and J. Wells, "An Alternative to Compactification" by L. Randall and R. Sundrum (hep-th/9906064), "A Large Mass Hierarchy from a Small Extra Dimension" by L. Randall and R. Sundrum (hep-ph/9905221), "The Hierarchy Problem and New Dimensions at a Milimeter" by N. Arkani Hamed, S. Dimopoulos and G. Dvali (hep-ph/9803315), "TASI Lectures on Extra Dimensions and Branes" by Csaba Csaki (hep-ph/0404096), and "Cargese Lectures on Extra Dimensions" by Ricardo Rattazzi (hep-ph/0607055).
  
• 8/24/06 - Flavor Physics and CP Violation
  Presenter: Brooks Thomas
  References: pending.
  

Winter 2006

• 1/12/06- Fields In Curved Spacetime
  Presenter: Chris Gauthier
  References: Quantum Fields in Curved Space (book) by Birrell & Davies
  
• 1/19/06 - Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry-breaking
  Presenter: Brooks Thomas
  References: "Theories With Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking" (hep-ph/9801271) by Giudice and Rattazi, "Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking: Introduction, Review and Update" (hep-ph/9707450) by Chris Kolda, The Quantum Theory of Fields III by Steven Weinberg, "Gauge Mechanism of Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking" (hep-ph/9905466) by Dubovsky, Gorbunov, and Troitsky.
  
• 1/26/06 - Complex Geometry, Part I
  Presenter: Alejandra Castro
  References: "Gravitation, Gauge Theories, and Differential Geometry" by Eguchi, Gilkey, and Hansen (available on Prys. Repts. server: Phys.Rept.66:213,1980), "Lectures on Complex Manifolds" by P. Candelas, Geometry, Topology, and Physics by M. Nakahara.
  
• 2/2/06 - Complex Geometry, Part II
  Presenter: Ross O'Connel
  References: "Gravitation, Gauge Theories, and Differential Geometry" by Eguchi, Gilkey, and Hansen (available on Prys. Repts. server: Phys.Rept.66:213,1980), "Lectures on Complex Manifolds" by P. Candelas, Geometry, Topology, and Physics by M. Nakahara.
  
• 2/9/06 - Dark Energy and the Cosmological Constant
  Presenter: Yanou Cui
  References: "The Cosmological Constant Problems" by S. Weinberg (astro-ph/0005265), "The Cosmological Constant" by Sean Carroll (astro-ph/0004075), " Insights into Dank Energy: Interplay Between Theory and Observation" by R. Bean, S. Carroll, and M. Trodden (astro-ph/0510059), and "The Cosmological Constant from the Viewpoint of String Theory (hep-ph/0002297) by Ed Witten.
  
• 2/16/06 - Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Basic Representation Theory
  Presenter: Dan Phalen
  References: Lie Algebras in Particle Physics by Howard Georgi, Theory of Lie Groups by Claude Chevalley, and Lie Groups and Beyond: an Introduction by Anthony Knapp.
  
• 2/23/06 - Conformal Field Theory and Representations of the Virasoro Algebra
  Presenter: Jing Shao
  References: "Applied Conformal Field Theory" by P. Ginsparg (hep-th/9108028), Ch. 1-4; Conformal Field Theory by Di Francesco, Mathieu, and Senechal, Ch. 6-7; and "Introduction to Conformal Field Theory" by A. N. Schellekens (NIKHEF/96-011).
  
• 3/2/06 - Spring Break: No Meeting
  
• 3/9/06 - Anomaly Mediated Supersymmetry-breaking
  Presenter: David Morrissey
  References: "2004 TASI Lectures on Supersymmetry Breaking" by M. Luty (hep-th/0509029), "Out of this World Supersymmetry Breaking" by L. Randall and R. Sundrum (hep-th/9810155), and "Gaugino Mass Without Singlets" by Giudice, Luty, Maruyama, and Rattazi (hep-ph/9810442).
  
• 3/23/06 - The AdS-CFT Conjecture: Part I
  Presenter: Alejandra Castro
  References: "The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity" by Juan Maldacena (hep-th/9711200), "Anti de Sitter Space and Holography" by Edward Witten (hep-th/9802150), "TASI Lectures: Introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence" by Igor Klebanov (hep-th/0009139), "Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence" by Eric D'Hoker and Daniel Freedman (hep-th/0201253)
  
• 3/30/06 - The AdS-CFT Conjecture: Part II
  Presenter: Alejandra Castro
  References: "The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity" by Juan Maldacena (hep-th/9711200), "Anti de Sitter Space and Holography" by Edward Witten (hep-th/9802150), "TASI Lectures: Introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence" by Igor Klebanov (hep-th/0009139), "Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence" by Eric D'Hoker and Daniel Freedman (hep-th/0201253)