ELEANOR MARCH
QFT² (quite fun things about QFT) is a reading group on the physics, mathematics, and philosophy of QFT, started by myself and James Read in February 2025. In Trinity/Spring 2026, we'll be meeting during term on a Monday from 15:00-16:00 UK time. The group is run in a hybrid format. Get in touch with me or James to be added to our mailing list and for the link to join online.
A provisional schedule of topics and readings for the current term is below (subject to change). There is some expectation to do some of the reading in advance, but the aim of this group is to develop (collective) understanding - so if you just want to focus on one item/sub-topic or get stuck on something, that's totally fine and you'll probably be helping the rest of us out! Everyone is welcome to suggest topics, readings, or to present if they would like - get in touch with me or James. A provisional schedule of topics for future terms is at the bottom of this page.
Trinity/Spring 2026 - The Hadamard condition
This term, we'll be looking at the Hadamard condition in QFT. We'll start by going through some high-level set up (get in touch with James or me to be added to the document containing the notes we're using), before discussing various approaches to motivating/justifying the Hadamard condition in QFT.
Week 1 (27th Apr.)
Locally covariant QFT notes, section 4
Week 2 (4th May)
Locally covariant QFT notes, section 5
Week 3 (11th May)
Locally covariant QFT notes, section 5-6
Week 4 (18th May)
TBC
Week 5 (35th May)
TBC
Week 6 (1st June) - no meeting due to QFT Foundations workshop
Week 7 (8th June)
TBC
Week 8 (15th June) - no meeting due to Irvine Foundations
Topic schedule for future terms
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Duncan's book
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Energy and energy conditions in QFT
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Seiberg-Witten theory
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BV/BFV formalism
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Measurement in QFT
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Spectrum conditions and the duality condition in QFT
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Locality and non-locality in QFT
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Causality in QFT