I fortunately happened to live during the rise and development of the internet and other information technologies. Now I'm witnessing the proliferation of the so called MOOCS and open access to (under)graduate level courses, which is great. I'd say these type of courses and lectures are presumably the best option for those who want to self-teach themselves, those who want to change fields of study, or to those who want to deepen their understanding in some particular topic.
I've gone through the whole of David Tong's lectures on QFT (mentioned in earlier posts) and part of his lectures on String Theory too; these are great by themselves and the QFT ones have some advantage in that there are YouTube videos available (though -the videos, not the lectures- of poor quality). It seems that a lot of leading universities and their academics are (becoming?) aware of the relevance of making available good quality content to the general public, even if not specially by well organized MOOCs but just by access to online lecture notes.
Here I share two courses which I'm currently following.
First:
\begin{equation*}{N_\alpha}^\beta(x_\nu\sigma^\nu)_{\beta\dot\gamma}N_{\dot\alpha}^{*\,\dot\gamma}\stackrel{\color{blue}{?}}{=}{\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu\sigma^\mu\end{equation*} where the $\alpha\dot{\alpha}$ subindices on the RHS are missing; it could've been written simply as $Nx_\rho\sigma^{\rho}N^\dagger={\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu\sigma^\mu$ or, emphasizing the components, I guess the RHS should've been ${\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu(\sigma^\mu)_{\alpha\dot\alpha}$. Also, the procedure to get this equation isn't explicitly -or more carefully- written in the notes (it can be worked out knowing the $x_\mu\sigma^\mu$ transformations under both groups and using the fact that they are the same; the ${\Lambda_\mu}^\nu$ appears as something like ${\Lambda_\mu}^\alpha{\Lambda_\alpha}^\nu$).
I have to say I didn't really liked the video lectures and I didn't find them very helpful: minor issues like the one above don't get straightened and most of the time Prof. Quevedo (which is no insignificant name in the field) just transfer the notes to the blackboard. That's kind of understandable, but, as in the issue I mentioned, not seeing "balanced" indices at an equation should hurt one's eyes enough. However, some discussions may be useful and it is at least more dynamical to follow the notes along with the videos (I also confess that the accent of Prof. Quevedo became a little annoying to me after a while; I don't blame him though, because I might have a similar one).
Then, there's this beautiful course about the Higgs Boson by the University of Edinburgh on what they call Open Education:
So I guess that's pretty much enough ;-) I've seen a few videos and of course there's a lot of detail you won't see, but at least the big picture is there (I didn't truly realize some things, like how to read the plot of the data) and it is fantastic.
I also like to brag a little because most probably I'll be attending the MSc in Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh ;-)
I've gone through the whole of David Tong's lectures on QFT (mentioned in earlier posts) and part of his lectures on String Theory too; these are great by themselves and the QFT ones have some advantage in that there are YouTube videos available (though -the videos, not the lectures- of poor quality). It seems that a lot of leading universities and their academics are (becoming?) aware of the relevance of making available good quality content to the general public, even if not specially by well organized MOOCs but just by access to online lecture notes.
Here I share two courses which I'm currently following.
First:
Cambridge Lectures on Supersymmetry and Extra DimensionsI've gone until §2.2 and I find the lecture notes really easy to follow. The math notation has some weird spaces in the equations, (which are not numbered btw) and there are some occasional seemingly non-relevant errors, like on page 19,
Lectures by: Fernando Quevedo. Notes by: Sven Krippendorf and Oliver Schlotterer
These lectures on supersymmetry and extra dimensions are aimed at finishing undergraduate and beginning postgraduate students with a background in quantum field theory and group theory. Basic knowledge in general relativity might be advantageous for the discussion of extra dimensions. This course was taught as a 24+1 lecture course in Part III of the Mathematical Tripos in recent years. The first six chapters give an introduction to supersymmetry in four spacetime dimensions, they fill about two thirds of the lecture notes and are in principle self-contained. The remaining two chapters are devoted to extra spacetime dimensions which are in the end combined with the concept of supersymmetry. Videos from the course lectured in 2006 can be found online at this http URL.
\begin{equation*}{N_\alpha}^\beta(x_\nu\sigma^\nu)_{\beta\dot\gamma}N_{\dot\alpha}^{*\,\dot\gamma}\stackrel{\color{blue}{?}}{=}{\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu\sigma^\mu\end{equation*} where the $\alpha\dot{\alpha}$ subindices on the RHS are missing; it could've been written simply as $Nx_\rho\sigma^{\rho}N^\dagger={\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu\sigma^\mu$ or, emphasizing the components, I guess the RHS should've been ${\Lambda_\mu}^{\nu}x_\nu(\sigma^\mu)_{\alpha\dot\alpha}$. Also, the procedure to get this equation isn't explicitly -or more carefully- written in the notes (it can be worked out knowing the $x_\mu\sigma^\mu$ transformations under both groups and using the fact that they are the same; the ${\Lambda_\mu}^\nu$ appears as something like ${\Lambda_\mu}^\alpha{\Lambda_\alpha}^\nu$).
I have to say I didn't really liked the video lectures and I didn't find them very helpful: minor issues like the one above don't get straightened and most of the time Prof. Quevedo (which is no insignificant name in the field) just transfer the notes to the blackboard. That's kind of understandable, but, as in the issue I mentioned, not seeing "balanced" indices at an equation should hurt one's eyes enough. However, some discussions may be useful and it is at least more dynamical to follow the notes along with the videos (I also confess that the accent of Prof. Quevedo became a little annoying to me after a while; I don't blame him though, because I might have a similar one).
Then, there's this beautiful course about the Higgs Boson by the University of Edinburgh on what they call Open Education:
The Discovery of the Higgs BosonThe course is meant to be accessible to everyone with high school education. It's already too late to register formally, but there's also a YouTube playlist available from the previous year's course:
Should we be excited about the Higgs boson? Find out more about particle physics and understanding the universe.
Educators: Christos Leonidopoulos and Luigi Del Debbio.
(...)
This free online course introduces the theoretical tools needed to appreciate the discovery, and presents the elementary particles that have been discovered at the tiniest scales ever explored. Beginning with basic concepts in classical mechanics, the story unfolds through relativity and quantum mechanics, describing forces, matter and the unification of theories with an understanding driven by the tools of mathematics.
Narrating the journey through experimental results which led to the discovery in 2012, the course invites you to learn from a team of world-class physicists at Edinburgh University. Learners participate in discussion of the consequences of the Higgs boson, to physics and cosmology, and towards a stronger understanding and new description of the universe.
(...)
So I guess that's pretty much enough ;-) I've seen a few videos and of course there's a lot of detail you won't see, but at least the big picture is there (I didn't truly realize some things, like how to read the plot of the data) and it is fantastic.
I also like to brag a little because most probably I'll be attending the MSc in Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh ;-)
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| Visualization of the future building of the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics at Edinburgh (due to open in 2016) |
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