Contenu
Objectives: Introduction to the relativistic theory of solitons.
Organization: CM: 15 h, TD: 10 h.
Necessary background: classical field theory
Topics of the course: Scalar field theories in one dimension, topological charge, the phi^4 and
sin-Gordon models, Bogomol'nyi bound. Derrick theorem, sigma-model, topological solitons. Abelian Higgs model, Higgs mechanism, Meissner effect, vortices. Skyrme model, Yang-Mills theory, magnetic monopoles of Dirac and of t'Hooft-Polyakov. Weinberg-Salam theory.
Skills to be achieved:
Understanding mechanisms giving rise to stable lumps of energy in field theory.
Grading plan:
Session 1: Written exam (ET) : 100%
Session 2: Written exam (ET) : 100%
