Instructor: Achim Kempf, University of Waterloo
Type: Guelph Waterloo Physics Institute & University of Waterloo credit course
Dates: January 12 - April 12, 2010; Tuesdays, 4 - 5:20 pm and Thursdays, 5 - 6:20 pm, Bob Room

This course begins with a thorough introduction to quantum field theory. Unlike the usual quantum field theory courses which aim at applications to particle physics, this course then focuses on those quantum field theoretic techniques that are important in the presence of gravity. In particular, this course introduces the properties of quantum fluctuations of fields and how they are affected by curvature and by gravitational horizons. We will cover the highly successful inflationary explanation of the fluctuation spectrum of the cosmic microwave background - and therefore the modern understanding of the quantum origin of all inhomogeneities in the universe (see these amazing visualizations from the data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They display the inhomogeneous distribution of galaxies several billion light years into the universe: Sloan Digital Sky Survey).

For more information on this course, please click here.

NOTE: This course may be taken for credit by qualified students at any Ontario university with the permission of their departmental graduate advisor. The course is presently approved for credit at the University of Waterloo and GWPI. Students who wish to register for credit from another Ontario university should ask their graduate advisor to contact Debbie Guenther to make the necessary arrangements.