Universität Wien

260026 VU Quantum Gravity (2023S)

5.00 ECTS (3.00 SWS), SPL 26 - Physik
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung
Moodle

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 15 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Attendance in the first class is mandatory. Please come to the first class, even if you are on the waiting list. I expect to manually enroll additional students to reach a maximum of about 30. If you are in the course and can not come to the first class (but do plan to attend afterwards) please reach out to me via email, to reserve your place.

  • Freitag 10.03. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 17.03. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 24.03. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 31.03. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 21.04. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 28.04. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 05.05. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 12.05. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 19.05. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 26.05. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 02.06. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 09.06. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 16.06. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien
  • Freitag 23.06. 10:45 - 13:15 Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stk., 1090 Wien

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

Quantum Gravity is one of the big open questions in physics.We understand Quantum Field theory, and General Relativity very well, if we look at each in their own domain. However once we reach scales of energy where these theories ought to both apply we are at a loss.

Trying to answer this question has lead to many different proposed solutions, and the field of Quantum Gravity currently consists of an entire zoo of different approaches. This lecture will try to introduce this varied field.

This is a survey course, which presents different approaches to Quantum Gravity in one or two lectures each and the material will be reinforced through exercise classes.
The lecture is planned to introduce the naive approach to quantizing general relativity, Regge calculus, loop quantum gravity, spinfoam models, dynamical triangulations, Matrix models, asymptotic safety, and causal set theory.

Since the subjects covered are currently active areas of research the content of the lectures should be understood as the best current understanding and not as a definite opinion on the subjects covered.

The course aims to provide students with an overview over different approaches to Quantum Gravity. After the course the students should be able to:
• Understand why quantizing gravity is a difficult problem
• Apply the mathematical tools of a variety of approaches to simple cases
• Compare the different approaches and formulate a well argued position about which approaches they consider promising.

The lectures will be accompanied by exercise sheets for the students .
Instruction will be held in English.

Students are expected to have some knowledge of general relativity and quantum field theory. There will be a status quiz to understand their backgrounds, and these topics will be covered as a quick review at the beginning of the lectures, however students without prior exposure can expect to need to spend some extra time on familiarizing themselves with these theories.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Peer discussed problem sets (10-12 problem sets in total)

The lectures will be accompanied by problem sets to apply the knowledge.
The solutions to these problem sets will have to be uploaded before the lecture the following week.

They will then be discussed in small peer groups (example solutions will be made available for this, and I will be available for questions and discussions). After these discussions the students have two weeks to hand in their annotated problems to me, which I will grade. A perfect grade is then either a perfectly solved problem, or a problem with mistakes in the solution, which were understood and annotated well.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

Grading of each problem set will happen according to a 100% scale, with 50% required to pass, 62,5% for a 3, 75% for a 2 and 87.5% for a 1.

For students that participate in the pre-term multiple choice evaluation to assess prior knowledge the worst individual grade from the problem sets will be dropped.

Prüfungsstoff

This course will not have a final exam. The students will instead be evaluated on the exercises.

Literatur

A full literature list will be available on the course Moodle page.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

M-VAF A 2, M-VAF B

Letzte Änderung: Di 31.01.2023 12:49