Symmetries and Group Theory

Welcome

Welcome to the canvas information page for the course 

FYTN13: Symmetries and Group Theory, 7.5 credits

given by the Department of Physics.

Note: this page contains general information about the course. If you are a student on the course you have to log in to the canvas portal to the left. The course calendar and course stream on this page are not active.

Contents​​

The general the aim of this course is to give understanding of the importance of symmetries in physics and how these can be described using group theory

The course will cover the following topics:

  • The definition of a group and a representation
  • The permutation group and other discrete groups, discrete symmetries in physics such as point groups
  • Continuous groups (Lie groups), such as O(N), SO(N), U(N), SU(N), in particular SU(2), SU(3) and their importance in particle physics
  • The Wigner-Eckart's theorem, Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and Young tableaux
  • Casimir operators, roots, weights and the Cartan subalgebra, classification of Lie algebras with finite dimension
  • The Lorentz group and the Poincaré group

General information

  • Semester: ​spring, odd years
  • Study period: ​1
  • Level: ​master
  • Language: English
  • Form of teaching: Lectures and exercises
  • Assessment: Written take-home exam
  • Grading scale: U-G-VG
  • Course plan: in English, in Swedish

Course literature

  • Discrete part:Lecture notes by Ferdi Aryasetiawan
  • Continuous part: Lecture notes by Hugo Seriodio and Malin Sjödahl. These notes will be frequently updated during the course. Please report typos.
  • Book: Groups, representations and Physics, 2nd edition: H.F. Jones. From within Lund university, this book can be downloaded here.

Teachers

Introductory Meetings

The upcoming introduction meeting can be found on fysik.lu.se.

Schedule

Lectures twice per week and exercise session once per week, preliminary, for 2025, lectures Monday 10-12, Wednesday 10-12, and exercises Fridays 10-12. Note that this may change.