The following text is required,
and will be used for
the part of the course on continuous groups:
"Lie Algebras in Particle Physics"
by H. Georgi
For the part of the course on finite groups, there will be no required
text, since there are many adequate texts that cover this material
and you may already have one. If you do not, the following is a
(certainly incomplete) list of good options, focusing on relatively
inexpensive texts:
"Finite Groups and Quantum Theory" by D.B. Chesnut
"Group Theory and its application to physical problems"
by M. Hamermesh
"Group Theory and Quantum Mechanics" by M. Tinkham
"Groups, Representations and Physics" by H.F. Jones
The first part of the course will concern finite groups,
the second continuous groups. The split will be
approximately 40:60.
I will assume no prior instruction in group theory, but will
move the course along quite quickly. I'll assume some knowledge
of QM, but I expect the course to be accessible to all
graduate students, including first years.
I will likely follow closely the syllabus I used when
teaching this class in 2009, which can be seen from
this link.
Notes, handouts and extra reading.
In the
daily coverage link
I will post my notes (usually before the lecture),
any handouts, and
topics that I expect you to read about before the next lecture.
Homework.
There will be weekly homework sets, probably 10 in all, with
the last being in lieu of a final exam.
These will be made available on the
homework and solutions link and are due on Thursdays in class.
You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with
classmates, but the solutions you turn in must be
your own work. Please write legibly!
Working on assignments in a timely fashion is an
important part of the learning process. Late work
will not be accepted,
unless prearranged due to exceptional circumstances.
Solutions will be posted after the due date on the
homework and solutions link.
A subset of the questions will be graded.
Exams. There will be no exams in this class.
The final HW may serve as an effective take-home exam.
Thanks to Lawrence Yeagley for the link to a (very long!) set of
lecture notes
on "Applications of group theory to the theory of solids"
by Mildred Dresselhaus, which is a precursor to her book
(with Gene Dresselhaus and Ada Jorio)
on "Group Theory: applications to the physics of condensed matter"
(2008, Springer).
This goes into great detail on applications to condensed matter.
Thanks to Isaac Crosson for the
link
to the download site for the "Group Explorer" software.
This software
catalogs and provides details of many of the smaller
(mostly order < 20) finite groups.
Thanks to Jonathan Diaz
this link
to the book "Semi-Simple Lie Algebras and their Representations",
by Robert Cahn,
which (as you can see if you look at the preface) was where
I learned this subject. I like the book, but thought that
it was out of print. Actually, it turns out that
it is now available from Dover Publications
at a very reasonable price.
Thanks to Jeremy Price for
this link
to
"Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Representations",
by Brian Hall.
This is a nice set of notes that gives a mathematical approach
to Lie groups that is written in a way that is accessible to
less mathematically inclined physicists.
It is a good source for filling in the gaps and substantiating
the claims in lectures.