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- Great book for learning quantum field theory
- Perhaps the best book on QFT
- QFT ; This is the way to teach to it
- Excellent textbook
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Quantum Field Theory
Mark Srednicki
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction
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Quantum Field Theory
ASIN: 0521864496 |
Book Description
Quantum field theory is the basic mathematical framework that is used to describe elementary particles. This textbook provides a complete and essential introduction to the subject. Assuming only an undergraduate knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity, this book is ideal for graduate students beginning the study of elementary particles. The step-by-step presentation begins with basic concepts illustrated by simple examples, and proceeds through historically important results to thorough treatments of modern topics such as the renormalization group, spinor-helicity methods for quark and gluon scattering, magnetic monopoles, instantons, supersymmetry, and the unification of forces. The book is written in a modular format, with each chapter as self-contained as possible, and with the necessary prerequisite material clearly identified. It is based on a year-long course given by the author and contains extensive problems, with password protected solutions available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521864497.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for learning quantum field theory.......2007-09-10
This book is a great resource for learning quantum field theory. People that have already taken QFT courses may also enjoy reading it. The emphasis is on learning the concepts of QFT and the techniques for doing calculations. A very nice feature of this book is that these concepts are often developed using simple examples. While many of these do not describe realistic field theories, they improve the leaning process by isolating specific ideas to be learned and removing many complicating details. The problems at the end of the chapters are instructive and doable. This is a matter of taste, but I liked the fact that most of the chapters were fairly short.
The book starts by considering scalar fields. This material includes: relativistic quantum mechanics, why relativistic quantum mechanics is inconsistent as a single particle theory and how this leads to QFT, Feynman diagrams, cross sections/decay rates, renormalization and spontaneous symmetry breaking. I think covering these topics without the complications of spin makes it much easier to learn them. It also helps that many of the calculations are done in great detail.
Things get more complicated in the next two parts as spin is added. First spin one-half theories are covered and then spin one is covered. As in the first part, the quality of the presentation is excellent. All the topics one would expect are covered such as anomalies, chiral symmetry breaking, Wilson loops and BRST symmetry.
There is also a fair amount of more advanced material. This includes the strong CP problem and various aspects of the standard model. Some of the other more advanced topics are supersymmetry, grand unified field theories, lattice theory and matrix models. I would have liked these sections to been bigger.
In short, this is a great introduction geared towards teaching and it also has a fair amount of coverage of some advanced topics.
Perhaps the best book on QFT.......2007-08-04
This book clarifies a lot of mysteries on QFT for me. The concept is explained so clearly. It may not give you a lot of experimental results. But the methodology of QFT is explained much more clearly than other QFT books in the market. Basically, every one of the chapter in this book is written very well. The calculations involved in different topics are displayed line by line without jumping steps. Reading it is just like attending a tutorial. But you may need some experience on QFT before you can appreciate this book.
If you want to buy one book on QFT, buy this.
QFT ; This is the way to teach to it.......2007-04-13
Aimed towards graduate students, the text is presented with pedagogical brilliance. This is the way one teaches QFT to students who intend to actually use it in their research endeavors. I highly recommend this textbook to any student of high energy particle physics.
DF - Northeastern Univ. Boston MA.
Excellent textbook.......2007-02-17
Srednicki's book provides a brilliantly organized exposition of the fundamental concepts and calculational tools of quantum field theory. The book is self-contained, and divided into many short chapters which makes it convenient to read. The writing style is very pedagogical, essentially avoiding the "black magic" and mystery that seem to be a necessary ingredient in many other QFT textbooks. The material is presented in a logical way, and the author makes sure to address all the necessary details. I won't be surprised if this new book soon becomes the leading book on the subject.
Classroom Tested, Student Approved.......2007-02-07
I have been taught field theory from this text (actually, while it was in the process of being written), and then been a teaching assistant for the course in which it was used a second time.
In my experience, this is the best single text to use to learn field theory that one can buy today. It is completely modern in its presentation, and covers all of the fundamentals of field theory from scalars to spinors to gauge theory, and even has a significant amount of coverage of the standard model, specifically the Electro-weak theory. Additionally, the book is broken up into very short chapters of 4-10 pages each, and clearly cross referenced so you know what chapters are prerequisite knowledge.
There are a very large number of exercises which range in difficulty from very straightforward to very difficult. The problems manage to be educational and help deepen the understanding of what's presented in the text while still being a challenge.
This is an extremely well-rounded text. It is easily readable, and provides good intuition about the theory, but also goes far more in depth then the other "easier-to-read" field theory texts out there. It also generally sticks to the most commonly used notation and in situations where new notation is needed, the ones that are used are clear and well thought out. A solid graduate quantum mechanics background is necessary to get the most out of this test, but much of the more advanced math is covered as the book needs it (or reviewed in the exercises).
One down side to being so thorough on the theoretical framework is the lack of any reference to experiment or historical development of field theory. If your goal is to learn field theory only from the experimental side, there are better books out there. But for a solid grounding in the fundamentals of field theory there is no better place to start then this.
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Table of Isotopes, 8th Edition
Richard B. Firestone ,
Coral M. Baglin , and
S. Y. Frank Chu
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
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Radiation Detection and Measurement
ASIN: 0471356336 |
Book Description
Nuclear structure and decay data for thousands of isotopes and isomers-a new update of the definitive reference.
The 1999 Table of Isotopes CD-ROM/booklet set features:
* Nuclear structure and radioactive decay data for approximately 3,700 isotopes and isomers-an increase of more than 100 since the 1998 Update.
* Up-to-date mass chain information, with more than 10% revised material.
* The latest versions as of December 1998 of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) and Nuclear Science Reference (NSR) file.
* Additional data from several evaluation sources, including The Table of Superdeformed Nuclear Bands and Fission Isomers.
* Updated isotope summary table as well as energy-ordered gamma ray and alpha particle tables-now included on the CD-ROM.
* Updated appendices for elemental data, nuclear charts, and gamma ray energy standards.
* Adoption of the 1997 IUPAC recommended heavy element names.
* More than 25,000 references.
* Convenient links to additional atomic mass, nuclear astrophysics rates, spontaneous fission, thermal neutron capture, and more.
Plus, the Isotope Explorer 2.22 software lets you search the entire database by level scheme drawings, annotated tables, data plots, nuclear structure charts and keywords as well as download the latest data directly from the Table of Isotopes Web site. An updated User Manual is also included on the CD-ROM.
The 1999 Update booklet features a new comprehensive isotope nuclear structure table. In addition, it provides clear, step-by-step instructions on navigating the Table of Isotopes CD-ROM and accessing its Web site.
System Requirements: PC, Macintosh(r), or UNIX(r) systems with double speed or faster CD-ROM drive and sufficient RAM to run Adobe(TM) Acrobat(r) (see Adobe Acrobat Reader information in the book for specific system requirements). Included on the CD-ROM: Adobe Acrobat Reader(r) 3.02 for Windows(r) 95, 98, and NT and Linux 1.2.13 or higher; Acrobat Reader 3.01 for Windows 3.1; Isotope Explorer 2.22 for Windows 95, 98, and NT.
Book Description
The past decade has witnessed dramatic developments in the field of theoretical physics. This book is a comprehensive introduction to these recent developments. It contains a review of the Standard Model, covering non-perturbative topics, and a discussion of grand unified theories and magnetic monopoles. It introduces the basics of supersymmetry and its phenomenology, and includes dynamics, dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and electric-magnetic duality. The book then covers general relativity and the big bang theory, and the basic issues in inflationary cosmologies before discussing the spectra of known string theories and the features of their interactions. The book also includes brief introductions to technicolor, large extra dimensions, and the Randall-Sundrum theory of warped spaces. This will be of great interest to graduates and researchers in the fields of particle theory, string theory, astrophysics and cosmology. The book contains several problems, and password protected solutions will be available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521858410.
Customer Reviews:
Not a place to learn subject for first time.......2007-07-22
The book by Dine attempts to cover a huge assortment of topics. As a result, the detail needed to learn the subject is sorely lacking. If you don't know it already, it will be extremely difficult to learn the subject here for the first time.
In a lot of sections, the author writes down the relevant equations, but it would take a page or two of detail to explain how they arise, and that sort of detail is lacking, so you pretty much have to accept things on faith.
Further, the author switches metric half way through the book,
so the first half is not consistent with the second half. And as to the cover, there is no explanation of what that is in the text, except in the most remote terms. He mentions LHC in the first paragraph of Preface, and then the first paragraph of the epilogue, so to my mind the cover is mis-leading. He should have probably used some sort of string diagram.
Clear.......2007-06-30
Dine is that kind of guy who can explain complicated thing super clear.
If you are not a physicist, this book also has something for you: the introduction covers history not familiar with everyone, and I am sure some detail you can find nowhere in other textbook.
A wonderful book, beautiful stoies.
Fills a much needed gap in the literature........2007-01-23
This volume will serve as a Rosetta Stone for future historians trying to make sense of the pre-LHC era of speculative physics literature. The author has accomplished a heroic task, preserving these elegant yet soon to be forgotten theories for future generations.
Book Description
Developing a theory that seamlessly combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics, has proved to be a difficult and ongoing challenge. This book details how two distinguished physicists and Nobel laureates have explored this theme in two lectures given in Cambridge, England, in 1986 to commemorate the famous British physicist Paul Dirac. Given for nonspecialists and undergraduates, the talks transcribed in Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics focus on the fundamental problems of physics and the present state of our knowledge. Professor Feynman examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. Professor Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final law of physics. Highly accessible, deeply thought provoking, this book will appeal to all those interested in the development of modern physics.
Customer Reviews:
Tougher than the Lectures on Physics.......2007-03-21
When I read the lectures on physics, I was hoping to understand the reasoning behind the exclusion principle, and was disappointed to find that RPF felt that this was too complex for undergraduates, so he asked them to take it on faith for the moment.
Here he is talking to a more advanced audience, and explains it - he was right, it's tough. I'm still struggling to understand it, but I have confidence that this is a good book to help.
Recommended.......2007-01-17
From Richard Feynman, with love. Need more to be said? Read it, and read it again. This one can be read all over again once in a while and does not get boring.
Great Lectures. Requires Math Background........2006-02-19
This short book, Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics, offers two lectures: Richard Feynman's The Reason for Antiparticles and Steven Weinberg's Toward the Final Laws of Physics. These two talks comprise the 1986 Dirac Memorial lectures at Cambridge University. Both presentations are cogently structured and make fascinating reading.
The talks were directed at an advanced audience, one that was familiar with quantum mechanics. Unlike many popular presentations by Feynman and Weinberg, these lectures are not suitable for the general layman.
However, these lectures are accessible to a persistent (perhaps, stubborn) layman with a calculus background and a deep interest in particle physics. I am not a physicist, but I did take my share of physics, chemistry, and math courses several decades ago. I encountered Schrodinger's equation in more than one class, but not relativistic quantum mechanics. However, having recently read Bruce Schumm's wonderful review of particle physics (titled Deep Down Things), I was sufficiently motivated to work my way through both Dirac memorial lectures.
Richard Feynman's lecture, The Reason for Antiparticles, is decidedly the more difficult. Feynman first demonstrates that quantum mechanics and relativity together require the existence of antiparticles, and then shows that they also establish the spin-statistics connection. Within a few pages advanced mathematical expressions appear and then persistently stay in the foreground for nearly the entire talk.
Although understanding Feynman's mathematics is critical for a full and deep appreciation of his exposition, with careful, repeated readings the stubborn layman will have sudden moments of enlightenment and can come away with a deeper understanding of antiparticles and spin statistics. For readers engaged in some self-tutorial readings, it may prove helpful to return occasionally to this classic Feynman lecture to qualitatively measure progress. I have no doubt that, on a deeper level, Feynman's lecture will similarly challenge and enlighten physics majors as well.
Steven Weinberg discusses his speculations on the shape of a final underlying theory of particle physics. Initially, his talk is deceptively easy as few mathematical expressions are used. However, about midway a Lagrangian density equation appears, ratcheting the difficulty several notches, as Weinberg considers a theoretical framework based on quantum mechanics and a few symmetry principles, that is also mathematically consistent with the Lagrangian dynamical principle. After discussion of some limitations of the Standard Model, Weinberg concludes his talk with a somewhat mathematical introduction to string theory.
Physics by two of the very best!.......1999-09-25
As usual, the best physics books are short and to the point, as is this one. The two Dirac lectures may serve as a perfectly good mini physics course all by themselves. I always enjoy a Feynman lecture, and this is no exception. He cuts to the chase without sacrificing the plot. But, I must say, in this case the Wienberg lecture is the better of the two. Weinberg's style has a particular grace & beauty about it that gently exposes the aesthetic meaning of the search for a picture of nature.
Two of the best give great insight into fundamentals........1998-11-18
Feynman yet again gives great insight into the laws of physics, this time exploring the reasons for existence of anti-particles, starting from the dirac equation etc.. Plus some really outstanding photographs, that fella Weinberg will be chuffed to have his name mentioned on the book cover!
Book Description
The two volumes that comprise String Theory provide an up-to-date, comprehensive account of string theory. Volume 1 provides a thorough introduction to the bosonic string, based on the Polyakov path integral and conformal field theory. The first four chapters introduce the central ideas of string theory, the tools of conformal field theory, the Polyakov path integral, and the covariant quantization of the string. The book then treats string interactions: the general formalism, and detailed treatments of the tree level and one loop amplitudes. Toroidal compactification and many important aspects of string physics, such as T-duality and D-branes are also covered, as are higher-order amplitudes, including an analysis of their finiteness and unitarity, and various nonperturbative ideas. The volume closes with an appendix giving a short course on path integral methods, followed by annotated references, and a detailed glossary.
Customer Reviews:
Do yourself a favour and use instead the book by Green Schwarz & Witten or the one by Theisen........2006-08-26
Dr. Polchinski may know a lot on string theory but he doesn't know that much on how to write a book. I have been struggling with this book trying to learn string theory and it has been a total failure. You may think it's me but is not. I have studied chapters 1 to 4. I will announce some of its bad features: 1-The notation is awful specially on chapter 2 when he defines the infinitesimal variation of a physical quantity in a very complicated way, all formulas are presented in terms of awful excesively complicated expresions that make you feel sick (and I'm not joking), also on chapter two he defines a way for applying Wicks theorem (eq.(2.2.7)) using exponential operators but I finally gave up and did it my way for calculating expression (2.2.13). 2-Many of the results are not derived and trying to understand what happen from line to line is, besides being a mystery, in my opinion hard to say the less.
3- On chapter 3 I liked the way he calculates de Faddeev Popov determinant in terms of ghosts and you begin to hope that the book is finally going to start getting better but is not, on page 102 and 'till the end of the chapter (page 118) he starts just throwing a lot of equations that you just can't understand where they came from, specially page 105 where he uses the geodesic distance to higher orders but never explains nor show what this expressions are nor what approximations he is doing, nor where they came from. Then again on page 107 he gives a relation between operators regularized by dimensional regularization and by 'polchinski' regularization, at least the second one is defined but the other is not (on curved space)and he just shows some awful equations that no one knows where they come from. This book has been written for someone who already knows a lot on string theory but it is not for someone who is trying to learn string theory for the first time. All in all try instead the classic book by Green Schwarz and Witten or the one by Theisen and this one use it only as a reference.
The string theory book.......2006-04-01
In short, I think volumes I and II of "String Theory" are the best books on string theory available. Presumably any serious student of string theory will study them both. The writing style is clear, physical considerations are at the forefront, the selection of topics is excellent and the treatment is as up-to-date as any I'm aware of.
Volume I covers the bosonic string. Of course this doesn't provide a realistic model for our universe, but understanding it forms the foundation of the study of more realistic string theories.
The first chapter provides the physical motivation for string theory. A brief description of some current unsolved problems in physics, and how string theory may resolve them, is given. Most notably this includes not only providing a quantum theory of gravity, but also providing a grand unified theory. A brief outline of techniques used throughout the book is given. These are covered in more detail as the book develops and include: the Polyakov action (how to get it from the Nambu-Goto form and why it's more useful), the Polyakov action symmetries, string theory as a two-dimensional quantum field theory, string boundary conditions, the string spectra, supersymmetry (worldsheet and spacetime) and the critical dimension. This is an excellent introduction and nicely sets the stage for the rest of the book.
The next chapter presents conformal field theory. It's also an excellent introduction. In particular covering conformal field theory with anticommuting fields. The Virasoro algebra is also derived. He could have covered these conformal field theory concepts as they came up, but I liked having them in one central location early in the book.
Strings take center stage again in the following chapter as the Polyakov path integral is examined in great detail. Among the results are a calculation of the critical dimension and the recovery of general relativity in the low energy limit of string theory. These are just a couple of the interesting results, there is much more in this chapter.
The following chapters quantize the string, calculate the string spectrum, derive the S-matrix, calculate tree level scattering amplitudes and calculate one-loop amplitudes (higher order amplitudes are covered in the final chapter). One of many things that stand out is his discussion of divergences. He describes the difference between infrared and ultraviolet divergences. After showing ultraviolet divergences are absent in string theory he comments on how the mechanisms that remove them is different for open and closed strings. This is just one example of how physical concepts are kept at the forefront.
The chapter on compactification covers more than just the basics such as (D - 4) dimensions must be compactified and this gives rise to some extra gauge fields. Orbifolds are introduced in this chapter. It also covers T-duality, one of the important (and unexpected) symmetries of string theories. D-branes are also introduced (D-branes are covered in more detail in volume II), obviously this is an important concept in string theory. I was happy to see such important concepts introduced so quickly.
In short, this is a great book. Even with only light coverage of supersymmetry (this is covered in detail in volume II) many interesting and up-to-date topics are presented. Clearly the author put a lot of time into thinking about how to make a difficult subject as approachable as possible. Throughout the book he anticipates questions the reader may have, or maybe should have, and addresses them.
Enlightening text on a murky topic.......2002-09-17
This book succeeds in what seems to be the impossible. It actually presents a clear, up to date, and entertaining version of a field that is still very much in a state of active research and is still, after all these years, on quite uncertain ground. By studying this, the reader who thinks intelligently about the material presented will be able to form his/her own opinions on this still somewhat controversial topic and will be able to converse intelligently with others who have opinions on the topic. I know that for me personally, this text opened up beautiful ideas which, to a large extent, are still unexplored. Before I read this book, my gut feelings about the topic were that it was rather dubious at best, but now that I understand (I think) the basic ideas of the field, I feel quite comfortable in it, indeed almost as if it is completely natural. What I think is one of the best things about this book is that it does not assume the pretense that string theory is on firm ground, that everything is quite certain and that string theory HAS to be the final theory of nature in all its glory. I find this attitude EXTREMELY pretensious and annoying. Instead, it simply covers what we know about string theory, and explains in detail just why it is consistent, and why it offers an explanation for what we see in nature. In short, it leaves just enough room for the imagination of an intelligent reader to philosophize as to the meaning of the theory and as to its ultimate place in nature
As for practical details, it seems to me that the reader should at the very least have a firm understanding of Quantum Field Theory (at least at the level of Weinberg's first volume, see my review on that modern masterpiece), and to a lesser extent of General Relativity, before even attempting to tackle this. I know that I myself, despite the fact that I have read several texts on QFT, had to reread several sizeable chunks of the book to fully digest it.
Good try, but too dense.......2002-04-12
Lets face it, string theory is a difficult subject. But the only reason this book is the best string theory text is because they are all lousy. What it comes down to is string theory is too new for a good textbook writer to have tackled the task. What has happened, is string theory is currently populated by a small group of elite geniuses. So some of these elite geniuses take to writing a book, which turns out to be clear to other geniuses, but maybe not so clear to others, who are nonetheless capable of learning the theory. This happens in all fields, you will find that modern quantum mechanics books are much more readable than volumes written by the founders of the theory. Polchinski has clear writing, but can you solve the problems? If it seems clear but solving the problems is a mystery, it isn't a good book. Why can't people put in lots of examples? Why can't they include solutions to at least odd numbered problems? If they went to all the trouble to write the book they could at least do that. After all the goal is to teach, not to be mysterious. What needs to happen is some physicist with a talent for writing needs to A)Write an undergraduate level text on field theory, and B)write a more accessible book about string theory aimed at people who aren't at the level of Weinberg intelligence wise.
very thorough and complete.......2000-08-22
Polochinski presents upto date developments (mostly in 2nd volume) in string theory such as D-branes and dualities that are not discussed in Green, Witten, Schwarz's Superstring theory text. However, I found GWS's arguments easier to follow because they were intuitively and physically motivated. Although Polchinski's books lack physical insights, he more than makes up for them by completeness of the material, mathematical rigor and helpful exercises. However, I highly recommend that you first get Di Francesco's conformal field theory and read chapters 3-7 , 10 and 12 to get a better feel for stuff like state-operator mappings, Virasoro algebra, OPE's, etc. Although Polchinski claims the books are pretty much self-contained, I would say QFT (probably around lvl of 1st vol. of Weinberg) and GR are min prereq and some knowledge of SUSY, rep. theory of Lie alg, alg. toplogy wouldn't hurt. Lastly, the first edition had many many typos but corrections are frequently updated and you can download them through a website whose address is given in the book (the address in the book has a typo and should read "ucsb").
Book Description
In recent years, superstring theory has emerged as a promising approach to reconciling general relativity with quantum mechanics and unifying the fundamental interactions. Problems that have seemed insuperable in previous approaches take on a totally new character in the context of superstring theory, and some of them have been overcome. Interest in the subject has greatly increased following a succession of exciting recent developments. This two-volume book attempts to meet the need for a systematic exposition of superstring theory and its applications accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
Customer Reviews:
Classic Introduction.......2006-03-27
At one time volumes I and II of "Superstring theory" would have been essential reading for serious students of string theory. However, the way we think of string theory today is very different from the way it was formulated in these classic texts. The core is still the same, but the advent of D-branes, various dualities and M-theory have radically changed the way we see string theory. This is not to mention all the other progress in string theory such as the extensive work on black hole physics. Still this book should not be missed.
Volume I stands on its own as an excellent introduction to superstring theory. However, other than showing general relativity appears in the low energy limit of string theory, potential observable consequences are mainly put off until volume II. Most of the arguments for the physical relevance of string theory are based on self-consistency and finiteness.
Following a historical tour of the origins of string theory as a dual model, the main topic is introduced, string theory as a candidate for the quantum theory of gravity and providing a grand unified field theory. The obvious question, what makes a theory based on one-dimensional objects is better than one based on zero-dimensional objects, is thoughtfully considered. Several arguments are given. The first chapter closes out with an overview of string interactions.
Starting with the simple physical idea that the action of a string is the area of the worldsheet, the authors develop bosonic string theory. Different approaches to quantizing strings in flat spacetime are presented with two of the main results being the calculation of the critical dimension and the central change.
The flat spacetime calculations are generalized to a curved spacetime. The low energy effective action is derived, with the amazing result that in this limit string theory reproduces general relativity. Conformal invariance clearly plays an important role throughout this, but general conformal field theory is never explicitly developed. I would have liked to seen is a more explicit treatment of general conformal field theory, but that's a matter of personal taste. All this is done in less than 200 pages!
The book then moves on to cover superstring theory. From this point on bosonic and superstrings are considered in parallel where appropriate. It starts off adding fermions onto the worldsheet. This theory is quantized in an approach that parallels that of the bosonic string (operator expansion, light-cone gauge, BRST). It then moves on to show the connection of worldsheet supersymmetry to spacetime supersymmetry.
The types of superstrings developed are Type I, Type IIA, Type IIB and heterotic (with various gauge symmetries). As a side note on perspective, these are described as different string theories, but the advent of M-theory they are currently seen as different solutions to one theory.
The book wraps up with very through calculations of tree level scattering amplitudes.
Undoubtedly this is an excellent book. The only questions are, "How well does it hold up, is it still essential reading"? It definitely holds up very well. I consider it essential reading, however I think the point could be argued. I doubt anybody would argue that people specializing in string theory would profit by reading it.
Should still be required reading.......2003-06-01
Anyone interested in learning string theory could perhaps start with the current formulation involving D-branes and M theories. This is certainly possible and will lead one to the frontiers of research. However, it would not perhaps give one an appreciation of string theory that would be obtained by persuing a study that explains how it arose in the study of the strong interaction . This book, written by three giants in string theory, will give the reader such a study, and was the first book to appear on the subject. The book is a monograph, and not a textbook, since no exercises appear, but it could still serve as a reference and "required reading" for courses in string theory.
The learning of string theory can be a formidable undertaking for those who lack the mathematical background. Indeed, a proper understanding of string theory, not just a forma one, will require a solid understanding of algebraic and differential geometry, algebraic topology, and complex manifolds. There are many books on these subjects, but I do not know of one what will give the student of string theory an in-depth understanding of the relevant mathematics. These two volumes include two rather lengthy chapters on mathematics, one on differential geometry and the other on algebraic geometry. The mastery of these two chapter will give readers a formal understanding of the mathematics, and will allow them to perform calculations in string theory efficiently, but do not give the insight needed for extending its frontiers. There have been a few books published on string theory since these two volumes appeared, but they too fail in this regard (and some even admit to doing so). To gain the necessary insight into the mathematics will entail a very time-consuming search of the early literature and many face-to-face conversations with mathematicians. The "oral tradition" in mathematics is real and one must embed onself in it if a real, in-depth understanding of mathematics is sought.
The physics of string theory though is brought out with incredible skill by the authors, and the historical motivation given in the introduction is the finest in the literature. Now legendary, the origin of string theories in the dual models of the strong interaction is discussed in detail. The Veneziano model, as discussed in this part, has recently become important in purely mathematical contexts, as has most every other construction in string theory. The mathematical results that have arisen from string theory involves some of the most fascinating constructions in all of mathematics, and mathematicians interested in these will themselves be interested in perusing these volumes, but will of course find the approach mathematically non-rigorous.
Some of the other discussions that stand out in the book include: 1. The global aspects of the string world sheet and the origin of the moduli space, along with its connection to Teichmuller space. 2. The world-sheet supersymmetry and the origin of the integers 10 and 26 as being a critical dimension. In this discussion, the authors give valuable insight on a number of matters, one in particular being why the introduction of an anticommuting field mapping bosons to bosons and fermions to fermions does not violate the spin-statistics theorem. 3. The light-cone gauge quantization for superstrings. The authors show that the manifestly covariant formalism is equivalent to the light-cone formalism and is ghost-free in dimension 10. The light-cone gauge is used to quantize a covariant world-sheet action with space-time supersymmetry, with this being Lorentz invariant in dimension 10. This allows, as the authors explain in lucid detail, the unification of bosonic and fermionic strings in a single Fock space. 4. Current algebra on the string world sheet and its origin in the need for distributing charge throughout the string, rather than just at the ends. The origin of heterotic string theory is explained in this context.
Still the best.......2001-06-13
Why I still recommend this book rather than Polchinski's book is because this book presents more motivation and physics of string theory. In the 90s, there was string duality revolution, a side-effect of which is that string theorists neglect experiments.
Average customer rating:
- Anyone who is curious about the horizons of theoretical physics will enjoy this book
- Almost 5 Stars
- First half zipped along with insight after insight.
- science or science fiction?
- Crackling and sizzling ! - This one requires some attention and tenacity though.
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The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
Brian Greene
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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ASIN: 0393058581 |
Amazon.com
There is an ill-concealed skeleton in the closet of physics: "As they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics cannot both be right." Each is exceedingly accurate in its field: general relativity explains the behavior of the universe at large scales, while quantum mechanics describes the behavior of subatomic particles. Yet the theories collide horribly under extreme conditions such as black holes or times close to the big bang. Brian Greene, a specialist in quantum field theory, believes that the two pillars of physics can be reconciled in superstring theory, a theory of everything.
Superstring theory has been called "a part of 21st-century physics that fell by chance into the 20th century." In other words, it isn't all worked out yet. Despite the uncertainties--"string theorists work to find approximate solutions to approximate equations"--Greene gives a tour of string theory solid enough to satisfy the scientifically literate.
Though Ed Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study is in many ways the human hero of The Elegant Universe, it is not a human-side-of-physics story. Greene's focus throughout is the science, and he gives the nonspecialist at least an illusion of understanding--or the sense of knowing what it is that you don't know. And that is traditionally the first step on the road to knowledge. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
A new edition of the New York Times bestseller—now a three-part Nova special on PBS-TV coming in Fall 2003: a fascinating and thought-provoking journey through the mysteries of space, time, and matter.
Now with a new preface (not in any other edition) that will review the enormous public reception of the relatively obscure string theory—made possible by this book and an increased number of adherents amongst physicists—The Elegant Universe "sets a standard that will be hard to beat" (New York Times Book Review). Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter—from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas—is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.
Today physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are feverishly working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. String theory, as it is often called, is the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than thirty years. Finally, the century-old antagonism between the large and the small-General Relativity and Quantum Theory-is resolved. String theory proclaims that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe, from the frantic dancing of subatomic quarks to the majestic swirling of heavenly galaxies, are reflections of one grand physical principle and manifestations of one single entity: microscopically tiny vibrating loops of energy, a billionth of a billionth the size of an atom. In this brilliantly articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind twentieth-century physics' search for a theory of everything.
Through the masterful use of metaphor and analogy, The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated viscerally accessible and thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.
Customer Reviews:
Anyone who is curious about the horizons of theoretical physics will enjoy this book.......2007-08-30
In this brilliantty articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene, a leading string theorist, relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind the search for the ultimate theory. String theory, as the author vividly and easily describes, reveals a vision of the universe that is sending shock waves through the world of physics. Thrilling and revolutionary ideas such as new dimensions hidden within the fabric of space, black holes transmuting into elementary particles, rips and puncutures in the space time continuum, gigantic universes interchangealbe with minusclule ones, and a wealth of others are playing a pivotal role as physicists use string theory to grapple with some of the deepest questions of the ages.
Almost 5 Stars.......2007-07-19
Although I felt this book was excellent and covered all the bases there were a few areas that lacked for me and I couldn't quite give it 5 stars. The book started out phenomenally and the section on quantum mechanics was the best that I've read. The analogies that Mr. Greene used made the concepts clear and comprehendable but there were a few chapters in the middle where he used no analogies and I found myself completely lost even after re-reading the chapters. I might be too much of a layman for this book and that would certainly not be Mr. Greene's fault. There were additional parts of the book where I found myself easily destracted and those chapters were almost a chore to finish. Over all I think parts of this book are great for readers who are just begining to study this subject but other whole chapters are definately not.
First half zipped along with insight after insight........2007-07-19
First half zipped along with insight after insight. Second half got a bit heavy and bogged down. Overall I'm glad I made it through.
science or science fiction? .......2007-07-08
"Theoretical physicist is the one whose experiments don't work".
So says my friend, an engineer by profession, and The Elegant Universe fully confirms this view - more, since we learn that the theories of modern physics are beyond our technological ability to test them experimentally.
The theories themselves are indeed very elegant, composed with great care for estetics and symmetry, and well illustrated by pictures. Nonetheless, we are left with an impression that most of it is the stuff of phantasy, and just as one calculation will "prove" some idea, another set of equations will "disprove" it with identical claim to "scientific truth". I've put all this terms in quotes because the maybe factor of all proofs is too strong to take the presented theories seriously. The author admits that all the calculations are based on approximations and numerous assumptions, raising from still more approximations and probabilities. And when the result is absurd, the theorists quickly solve the problem by inventing one more spatial dimention, not accessible to our perceptions because it never expanded from its initial state.
Actually, the whole string theory deals with aspects of reality not accessible to our perceptions, and not provable by any experiments. Is it still reality or already a fiction? We don't know, and chances are will never know.
With all this, it is indeed an extremely elegant text, beautifully written and holding our attention all the way to the end. I just wish the author did not say all of the time that string theory had been "discovered", since for all we know theories are not material reality, such as a continent of America or a rare species of a butterfly, and so they cannot be discovered, theories can only be conceived, invented, or created. This lexical misuse is eye-catching due to the prevalence of hypotheses over the facts so stronly visible in string theory.
Crackling and sizzling ! - This one requires some attention and tenacity though........2007-06-27
A good book which covers the below topics
1) Requirement of single physical law which brings together all the four fundamental forces: Electromagnetic, Strong nuclear, weak nuclear and gravity.
2) Disparity between theory of relatively (the world of the big) with quantum mechanics (world of the very small)
2) The need of a higher theory to explain the standard model (Explanation for the disparate mass and charges of the subatomic particles)
3) The concept of 11 dimensional space; Mass and charge of the numerous particles found in atom smashers being a result of frequency of vibrations of strings (closed or open) in different dimensions. Meaning a string vibrating with a certain frequency along one of the hidden 7 pinched up spatial dimensions (also termed calabi Yau spaces) will represent a subatomic particle
4) Membrane theory (2 branes, 3 branes etc)
5) M theory unifying the 5 known strings theories (by the addition of another spatial dimension)
6) Thus everything in this universe including the keyboard you are right now typing on is made up of tiny vibrating strings and below this level there is nothing. A string would be the last divisible entity beyond which it is not possible to divide anymore.
Basically everthing stripped down to strings. This is a book for the reader who doesn't know anything about string theory but wants to learn something. As a general reader, you are not in a position to take a stand for or against string theory, because the person picking up this book will be layman and hence rightly there are no equations, so you have to accept things at face value. If you were more deeply interested you would be a physicist doing his PHD and hence will read more dense and technical books as college courses.
But as a layman, you will also appreciate the paucity of physical evidence to support string theory. Particle physicists consider it the right theory because of its mathematical elegance in it's equations. As a layman, you and I are not able to see this elgance as we dont read equations. So I cant form a real opinion about this but I can say that this book will provide the uninitiated a quick cursory primer on string theory with the help of analogies. But this book wont make you believe or disbelieve string theory but you will become more aquainted with what this hype is all about.
regards, Vikram
Book Description
This collection of review lectures on topics in theoretical high energy physics has few rivals for clarity of exposition and depth of insight. Delivered over the past two decades at the International School of Subnuclear Physics in Erice, Sicily, the lectures help to organize and explain material that a the time existed in a confused state, scattered in the literature. At the time they were given they spread new ideas throughout the physics community and proved very popular as introductions to topics at the frontiers of research.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful book to supplement one's QFT knowledge.......2003-08-04
This 400-page book contains eight lectures of varying length (some are quite long). The first two are not very useful, but the remainder of the book is wonderful. It covers topics like scale invariance, Callan-Symanzik (RG) equations, renormalization theory (Hepp's theorem), spontaneously broken symmetries, classical and quantum solitons, instantons (in QM and in gauge theories), and 1/N expansion. These are all useful topics and must be understood by those in the field, and yet not all of them are covered by ordinary quantum field theory books like Peskin & Schroeder. The style is very friendly and readable and includes a lot of endnotes, appendices, and references. This book does not "read" like Peskin/Schroeder or Weinberg or Itzykson/Zuber; those books don't read. This one does. The equations are easy to follow and this book showcases the strength of Coleman's pedagogical style. In fact I can vouch that the tone and content of these lectures serves as a close substitue for Coleman's lectures themselves. The topics were all basically developed in the 1970s, and were themselves all quite hot research areas before supersymmetry and string theory revolutionized high-energy physics. However, the majority of this book is not an anachronism -- the renormalization group, spontaneously broken symmetries, solitons, instantons, and 1/N expansion all pervade modern physics.
A Classic.......2003-05-17
Coleman is one of the best field theorists and a great lecturer. His style in both research and lectures can be summarized as "turning obvious into trivial". Every topic is presented in the simplest possible way without loss of deep insights, which makes the book extremely comprehensible. The chapter on instantons is absolutely classic.
unconventional QFT book.......2000-04-13
Many physicists say that Coleman is one of the great field theoriest in time. This is the collection of what he had lectured. Each chapter has own its importance. The advantage of the book is that he avoided the mathematical complication to explain the real physics. It is very unique feature in the QFT books. So you can get the concept of field theory without mathematical jargon which most students hate.
Book Description
This volume provides a broad synthesis of conceptual developments of twentieth century field theories, from the general theory of relativity to quantum field theory and gauge theory. The book traces the foundations and evolution of these theories within a historio-critical context. Theoretical physicists and students of theoretical physics will find this a valuable account of the foundational problems of their discipline that will help them understand the internal logic and dynamics of theoretical physics. It will also provide professional historians and philosophers of science, particularly philosophers of physics, with a conceptual basis for further historical, cultural and sociological analysis of the theories discussed. Finally, the scientifically qualified general reader will find in this book a deeper analysis of contemporary conceptions of the physical world than can be found in popular accounts of the subject.
Customer Reviews:
Just over my head.......2007-01-09
On the basis of the publisher's review and those of other readers, I had hoped that I'd be able to follow the path of conceptual developments. True, as advertised, the mathematical rigor was not excessive. Nonetheless, maybe because the author divided the topic into a series of detailed "cuts" at multiple levels, I found myself unable to keep track. If someone replied that the problem was me, not the book, I wouldn't argue.
Thoughtful.......2002-10-25
Excellent (and virtually mathless, save for a few excurses) in-depth analysis of the way our physical thinking evolved. It covers thoroughly all conceptual signposts of the 20th century physics (stemming from distant past)- aether, space, time, space-time, field, gravitation, inertia, quantum concepts like quantization, anomalies and renormalizability. A gift of a bird's (better, eagle's) view for an undergraduate student (that's what you don't understand because you're busy solving the equations); a penetrating analysis for a patient layman (who can grasp circa 70% of the book). Highly recommended.
A rewarding challenge for the serious layman like myself.......2001-08-25
Following is a quote from the Preface: "The book is written primarily for students of theoretical physics who are interested in the foundational problems of their discipline and are struggling to grasp the internal logic and dynamics of their subject from a historical perspective. But I have also done my best to make the text accessible to general readers with a basic scientific education who feel that their cultural curiosity concerning the contemporary conception of nature cannot be satisfied by popular writings." I qualify as the "general reader" in the audience he addresses above who, "'cannot be satisfied by popular writings."
If you've been following my collection of physics books which I post at my 'Shared Purchases' and 'Listmania Lists' portion ..., then you can see that I tend to ambitiously bite off more than I can chew in my choice of intellectual reading. As I admitted in my profile, I am a guy with not much more than half a brain and a driving passion to know what the hell is really going on in this Universe. I have been eagerly searching for a book that will challenge me to grow beyond my comfort level of popular yet slightly technical introductory treatments of physics (specifically Quantum Electrodynamics). Well, I FINALLY FOUND IT! This is a special discovery! As I hope you can tell, I am very excited about my latest exposure to Tian Yu Cao's "Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories". Cao's wonderful book serves as a didactic bridge across the gapping void we serious laymen come up against when we've finished pussy-footing around with popular-introductory Quantum Physics books and are driven to explore further than our formal education (or lack thereof) will allow when delving deeper into the daunting world of QM. I'm trying to come up to a level where I can get some appreciation and comprehension of the principles in Quantum Field Theories. For example, I ambitiously procured my own copies of "Inward Bound" by Pais, "The Odd Quantum" by Treiman, Schweber's "QED and the Men Who Made it - Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga", and Mehera's, "The Beat of a Different Drummer - the life and science of Richard Feynman". I look at these books and think, "QM looks so beautiful! I want to get a comprehensive grip on this stuff'" Hopeless without University level courses in technical mathematics and physics right? I'm not convinced, I suppose I'll find out sooner or later. As it is, I just keep at it. Day after day, I immerse myself in QM literature with a passion driven by my obsessive curiosity of Nature and what we know of her physical reality. Light, Atoms, Electromagnetic Waves, Matter, Particles, and Fields; these are the things I feel compelled to investigate'
Cao's book is another stepping stone in my self-directed journey of intellectual adventure. The pedagogy of the book is at a relatively safe and sane level for the explorer who is moderately courageous and not afraid to be uncertain about his/her competency in the learning curve. As I said, Cao's book bridges the terrible gap between the easy stuff (i.e. non-technical/popular/introductory/historical level) across the abyss towards the tougher stuff (i.e. technical/rigorously mathematical University level Introduction QFT textbooks). This is a very technical book for someone at my level but I believe that if you are somewhat like me (scary thought!) you can benefit from the book's pages when armed with a serious sense curiosity and a sincere desire to grasp deep & fundamental principles of Quantum Field Theory.
There are some scary looking mathematical formulas but if you're courageous you can breeze over them and let the copious qualitative text speak to your understanding. The only subjects in this book that I don't find of particularly immediate interest to me are his sections on General Relativity as I'm not a Gravity (field) enthusiast yet. I've skimmed over those sections and suspect that I'll be back later to visit it with more interest in the future.
Be sure to carefully read the what the other reviewers have to say about their opinions of this book, look at the book description and 'Table of Contents' link above. I suggest looking at some of the following books as a prerequisite to this book if you are anywhere near my level of intellect: "Strange Beauty" by Johnson, "The Force of Symmetry" by Icke, "The Quantum World" by Polkingthorne, "The Second Creation" by Crease & Mann, "The Quantum Universe" by Hey & Walters, "Why Things Are the Way They Are" by Chandrasekhar, "QED (The Strange Theory of Light and Matter)" by Feynman, "The Great Design (Particles, Fields, and Creation)" by Adair, "Paul Dirac (The Man and His Work)" by Pais, Jacob, Olive & Atiyah, "What Makes Nature Tick?" and also "Thinking About Physics" both by Roger Newton
I hope you will forgive my enthusiasm in this review if I seem overly zealous. I'm just a curious cat. ...
Time to leave high school physics behind.......2000-11-26
Even discounting the complexity of the mathematics involved, the motivated reader who has read a number of the listed physics references here, may find the transition to modern quantum field theory conceptually difficult. This reference, will greatly aid in the transition. Explanation of how physical actions such as gravity and electromagnetism are transmitted at a distance has provoked intense debates over the centuries. The electromagnetic field and continuous ether of Thomson and Maxwell, provided a cause for actions at a distance. In Einstein's special theory of relativity the ether was removed. In Einstein's general theory of relativity, spacetime is shown to depend on the gravitational fields. Gravitational fields are considered to be a geometrical programme of field theory, and are discussed in the first part of this reference. The middle part of this reference then considers the quantum field programme. The last part of this reference then considers the gauge field programme whereby gauge potentials can explain fundamental interactions. The motivated reader will also find this reference useful for introduction to many concepts omitted in most introductory physics texts. For example, in describing how Maxwell derived his wave equations, the ability to reformulate Newtonian mechanics in terms of a Lagrangian approach is noted.
Cao's volume on 20th Century Quantum Field Theories.......2000-03-29
If you are not an expert in quantum field theory, or if you are such an expert, you should read this book from cover to cover about a dozen times at least. Cao of Boston University does for quantum theory what investigative reporters do for political or social/behavioral problems. As a renowned philosopher and quantum physicist, he gives the whole picture and nothing but the whole picture. It is even doubtful if many theoretical physicists know the whole story as it is elaborated by Cao. M. Jammer's 1974 volume gave the story of quantum mechanics and its philosophical basis from the beginning until 1974, and Cao continues this from 1974 until 1997. The astonishing changes in quantum theory from the mechanistic to the geometric to the field theory to the gauge field theory to the effective gauge field theory, as largely inspired by and created by Steven Weinberg (the Nobel Laureate), pass before you in these pages, together with the arguments with other physicists and the experimental and theoretical problems, anomalies, and philosophical difficulties. Einstein's field theory is shown to now be incorporated into quantum field theory, and we see Weinberg's final disgust with the problems that plague quantum field theory (even though he invented effective gauge quantum field theory, the latest theory) and his abandonment of field theory for string theory. Weinberg may have overstepped his intuition here, since string theory has difficult philosophical foundations as Cao points out, and in my opinion string theory is at most an approximation to reality. But Weinberg was probably correct in being fed up with quantum field theory and seeking some other direction, as he usually has been correct about everything else. The prolific roles of P. Dirac and P. Jordan, often overlooked, are well documented by Cao (Dirac seems to be at the Weinberg level of creativity and intuition, although he has gone in so many different directions that he even arouses the ire of Cao). The collapse of complementarity is thoroughly documented as well by Cao.
Book Description
This is an introduction to statistical mechanics, intended to be used either in an undergraduate physical chemistry course or by beginning graduate students with little undergraduate background in the subject. It assumes familiarity with thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, the kinetic theory of gases, quantum mechanics and spectroscopy, at the level at which these subjects are normally treated in undergraduate physical chemistry. Highly illustrated with numerous exercises and worked solutions, it provides a concise, up-to-date treatise of statistical mechanics and is ideally suited to use in one semester courses.
Download Description
Statistical mechanics is the theoretical apparatus used to study the properties of macroscopic systems - systems made up of many atoms or molecules - and relates those properties to the system's microscopic constitution. This book is an introduction to statistical mechanics, intended to be used either by advanced undergraduates or by beginning graduate students. The first chapter deals with statistical thermodynamics and aims to quickly derive the most commonly used formulas in the subject. The remainder of the book then illustrates the application of these formulas in traditional areas such as the ideal gas and less traditional areas such as the quantum ideal gas. Highly illustrated with numerous exercises and worked solutions, it provides a concise, up-to-date treatise of statistical mechanics ideal for use on an 8-12 lecture course.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introduction.......2006-09-01
While looking for a suitable textbook for a one-semester course on Statistical Mechanics, I found this little gem by Prof. Widom, a recognized authority in the field. It was a pleasure to read, clear, all the classical topics well explained, very understandable.
Several excellent textbook on the subject are available, but none conveys so much in so little space (THE SPACE you have available in an undergraduate lecture course), yet with no compromise on rigour or clarity. At the beginning, I was a little uneasy by the choice of skipping a discussion of the (difficult) foundations, jumping directly to the Boltzmann distribution as a starting point. Now I totally agree with it, it is the best for a first introduction, and if time is left (rarely) one can profitably add a discussion on fundations at the end of the course.
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