An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Frontiers in Physics)

Customer Reviews:

Perfect........2007-08-10

I received the book as it should be: knew. And it cames before the estimated time.

Wow, does this suck . . . get a different book!.......2007-06-13

Ok--I just need to help lower the overall rating for this book. I think the people who love it are professors and students who already are familiar with QFT--because it glosses over everything, does pertinent examples, etc. But that's just it, it GLOSSES over everything. Note that nearly all the higher reviews say things like: "oh, you wouldn't want to start with this book." or "Everyone knows that you're going to need more books than this one to understand it . . ." I couldn't even figure out how to create a Feynmann diagram from this book, let alone what one MEANT. FYI, my favorite QFT book so far is Weinberg's Quantum Theory of Fields.

This book is a very very very bad book which you never buy........2007-01-20

Absolutely no logic.
Perfectly nonclear.
No subject.
Mathematically poor.(very poor.)
Nonneccessary words.
No depth.
Not for self-study.
Just arrangement.
No physical insight.
No process.
No thinking.

This is indeed not a book.
This is a stuff for a vanity.
I wonder whether Peskin and Schroeder are genuine physicists.

Don't make the same fault I did!.......2006-12-16

Hi there!

The important information first: I'm a graduate student, mainly interested in theoretical physics. At the moment, I'm trying to get a deeper understanding of QFT.

Peskin's QFT book is NOT the one you should buy if you want to UNDERSTAND renormalization.

I learned the basics of QFT (\phi^4 and QED up to a first contact with renormalization - "trivial" subtraction of infinities) in a lecture and I finally felt like: "What does renormalization mean? What is it good for? Is there a deeper truth in it?" Well, the answer to the last question is definitely yes. It's about the Beta function. This function tells you how the coupling constants of a QFT behave at different momenta. E.g., we can learn from it why perturbation theory works for QED at low energies and for QCD at high energies (I think, this is amazing).

What I just said I learned from Huang's book. Peskin "deals" with it in chapters 10 to 12. In the middle of chapter 12 I finally said to myself: "Hey, don't feel stupid. This book is just completely incomprehensible here."

In my opinion, if you want to see behind renormalization (and therefore behind any QFT(!!)), don't buy Peskin's book. Any other book is better regarding this issue.

It is sad that we don't have a better book out there..........2006-05-28

The main problem of this book: what exactly is it supposed to be?

If it is an introduction, then the opening chapters are written at a level too sophisticated that an average first-time student can't handle.

If it aims to be a "bible" of the subject, then the later chapters are far too technical, loaded with only Feynman diagram calculations for standard model. Not being a phenomenologist, I personally have very little interest in all the technical detail, and apparently several other reviewers share my view here.

Now let me gives some examples to support my claim.

First, C, P and T symmetries are introduced very early on (right after Dirac spinor), and in a very formal way. Yes, they logically belong there, but in an "introduction" of the subject you don't throw out an isolated topic like this which you don't make use of in the following few hundred pages.

The part on cannonical quantization is written at a very fast pace. A complex scalar field is probably the first model you can construct with charged particles. And guess what kind of treatment it receives in this book? Not a single word in the main text. The problem 2 of that chapter essentially asks you to work out the content of this model with few hints given. If you have troble working it out, which is not uncommon for a first-timer, then you won't see the logic behind the decomposition of a complex Dirac field either. This is done in the following chapter, with no explaination.

Like the charged scalar field example, some important pieces of knowledge are hidden only in the exercises. So if you treat these high-power opening chapters as your bible-type reference, you will often end up in the frustrating situation that the book tells you to work out by yourself what you are seeking in the first place.

Now get to the later parts of the book. As I mentioned above, the second half of the book is almost conceptually too simple, overloaded with technical details.

This downfall begins around the renormalization group. On the back of this book, this Prof. Micheal Dine is qouted: "it is the only field theory text with a thoroughly modern, Wilsonian treatment of renormalization". The connection between the Wilsonian idea and dimensional regularization/renormalization scale is shaky at best. You read the text, and are left puzzled at the magic: how does a cut-off scale become some (much lower) arbitrary momentum scale? No explaination. The Wilsonian theory is completely isolated and have little connection with the rest of the renormalization section.

Furthermore, the book does not do a very good job on Lie algebra and non-abilien Lie groups. I mean, come on, if this is an "introduction" type of book, make it more readable. If this is a "bible" type of book, make it more comprehensive.

Having voiced all my bad opinions, I have to admit that the book has its merit. Bottom line is, this is a book written by phenomenologists for phenomenologists. If you view it from such an angle, it is not too badly written after all, and does cover most of the important topics a phnomenologist would want to know. But you may want to start from a more accessible text such as Ryder.

If you are a theorist, but not a phenomenologist, then, well, let's say the ability of getting through the first part perfectly is the minimum requirement for your research.

If you are an experimentalist, don't bother.

Lagrangian Interaction: Introduction To Relativistic Symmetry In Electrodynamics And Gravitation

Average customer rating:

Emphasis here is on symmetries.
A superb book
Very good introduction to Lagrangian mechanics.
An excellent readable introduction to Lagrangians in physics

Lagrangian Interaction: Introduction To Relativistic Symmetry In Electrodynamics And Gravitation
Doughty
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0201416255

Customer Reviews:

Emphasis here is on symmetries........2006-10-31

I was expecting something along the lines of an updated Lanczos (The Variational Principles of Mechanics). But the emphasis here is very much on relativistic symmetries. Actually the book reminds me somewhat of Penrose's _Road to Reality_ and -- perhaps a better comparison -- Longair's _Theoretical Concepts in Physics_, with a mix of popular and semi-popular exposition, historical background, and more detailed mathematical exposition, but with a focus on relativistic symmetry (which still allows for a pretty wide-ranging number of topics in physics).

One complaint: the paper, printing and artwork are rather poor for a $45 paperback. Oxford and Cambridge Press, for example, produce much higher quality paperbacks in this price range. I've knocked off a star for that.

A superb book.......2001-10-24

This is work is comprehensive, easy to follow, and well-formatted. It is an excellent introduction to the action principle. It also serves as a great primer for the mathematics of special relativity, 4-vectors, vector fields and tensors. It is a shame that it doesn't go very far into GR (from the least action perspective) though.

Very good introduction to Lagrangian mechanics........1998-06-19

I highly recommend this book to undergraduate and graduate students in physics and astrophysics. It's clearly written, with a very modern approach (and book design!).

An excellent readable introduction to Lagrangians in physics.......1998-05-27

This is an excellent book. It is an introduction to Lagrangian mechanics, starting with Newtonian physics and proceeding to topics such as relativistic Lagrangian fields and Lagrangians in General Relativity, electrodynamics, Gauge theory, and relativistic gravitation. The mathematical notation used is introduced and explained as the book progresses, so it can be understood by students at the undergraduate level in physics or applied mathmatics, yet it is rigorous enough to serve as an introduction to the mathematics and concepts required for courses in relativistic quantum field theory and general relativity.

Introduction to the Structure of Matter: A Course in Modern Physics

Average customer rating:

Good all-round text on modern physics
Good Value
Clear, detailed account of modern physics
Too many topics

Introduction to the Structure of Matter: A Course in Modern Physics
John J. Brehm , and William J. Mullin
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 047160531X

Book Description

A first course in two of the 20th century's most exciting contributions to physics: special relativity and quantum theory. Historical material is incorporated into the exposition. Coverage is broad and deep, offering the instructor flexibility in presentation. Nearly every section contains at least one illustrative example (with all calculations), and each chapter has a wide selection of problems. Topics covered include relativistic dynamics, quantum mechanics, parity, quantum statistical physics, the nuclear shell model, fission, fusion, color and the strong interaction, gauge symmetries, and grand unification.

Customer Reviews:

Good all-round text on modern physics.......2005-10-20

This hefty textbook provides a solid introduction to the major fields of modern physics; i.e. physics in the 20th century. These topics are relativity, the structure of atoms, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. The text is appropriate for physics majors in the 3rd or 4th year of college, and is also a good book for students of materials science who are learning modern physics as an elective. The book is comparatively low on math and high in verbosity compared to other physics texts of the same subject matter; hence making it more accessible to non-physicists like engineers, chemists, etc... Each chapter comes complete with homework problems, and in this reviewer's experience, they are well done and error-free. I do not recommend this book for a one-semester class, it covers enough subject matter for 2-3 classes in modern physics - quantum mechanics. Overall, a good book to learn about modern physics and its ties with materials science.

Good Value.......2003-01-27

This is a junior or senior level text on essentially all of modern physics. Every topic is well explained and at a high level. It is short of a graduate text, but very good in terms of physics rather than mathematics. The main difference being ,I think, is a graduate text uses more advanced math (calculus of variations, bras and kets,group theory, etc) whereas this book only uses partial differential equations . However, the PDEs do suffice to accurately derive the results, and the student should certainly know both approaches.
Numerical solutions are given to about half of the chapters problems.
Additionally, the authors have went to the trouble of tracing the origin and development of the subjects, and explaining the motivations and difficulties that the pioneers faced, when possible.
It is true there is too much material to be covered in a single year...but I think this just adds to the value since it can be used as a reference as well as text.

Clear, detailed account of modern physics.......2001-02-20

This book does cover a lot of information that it seems overwhelming. However, this is only because the authors explain the concepts "all the way". For example, the discussion on wave packets includes the explanation of phase (an excellent diagram for learning how to visualize phase and group velocity) plus some details on complex analysis. Basically I find the descriptions of experiments, concepts and math very clear and detailed.

I would say that the verbosity of this book is excellent for people who like to get all the details clear. Readers with much faster brain processors, those who can't wait to learn more of QM or those who understands much of the fundamental physics and math behind QM might be bored by this book.

Summary:

Pros: 1. Clear Explanations 2. attention to thorough and detailed explanation 3. some excellent diagrams!!!!

Cons: 1. Too verbose for some 2. rather heavy to carry around!!!

Too many topics.......2000-03-25

This book is meant for first or second year major student in physics. I am a second year student myself and I found this book quite frustrating. It covers many topics in modern physics, perhaps too many. The treatment of subject is not thorough enough and especially the real theoretical side is often omitted. The subject is difficult enough by itself and this book is not the greatest source of information.

Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction

Average customer rating:

This is an Introduction - Not an In-Depth Study...DUH
mediocre exposition
extensive problem sets are useful
Too superficial, but ok reference
Expectations unrewarded

Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction
Michio Kaku
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195076524

Book Description

The rise of quantum electrodynamics (QED) made possible a number of excellent textbooks on quantum field theory in the 1960s. However, the rise of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and the Standard Model has made it urgent to have a fully modern textbook for the 1990s and beyond. Building on the foundation of QED, Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction presents a clear and comprehensive discussion of the gauge revolution and the theoretical and experimental evidence which makes the Standard Model the leading theory of subatomic phenomena. The book is divided into three parts: Part I, Fields and Renormalization, lays a solid foundation by presenting canonical quantization, Feynman rules and scattering matrices, and renormalization theory. Part II, Gauge Theory and the Standard Model, focuses on the Standard Model and discusses path integrals, gauge theory, spontaneous symmetry breaking, the renormalization group, and BPHZ quantization. Part III, Non-perturbative Methods and Unification, discusses more advanced methods which now form an essential part of field theory, such as critical phenomena, lattice gauge theory, instantons, supersymmetry, quantum gravity, supergravity, and superstrings.

Customer Reviews:

This is an Introduction - Not an In-Depth Study...DUH.......2006-11-13

Some of these reviewers need to review the title of the book. This is a "modern introduction to quantum field theory", not some in-depth study with hearty breadth. Duh. For physicist's you people don't have much common sense to speak of.

mediocre exposition.......2006-08-25

This is all around a pretty mediocre, uninspired exposition of quantum field theory. More recent works by Weinberg and Peskin & Schroder, for example, are far more coherent and elegant.

extensive problem sets are useful.......2006-08-13

Several of the other reviewers may be correct, about the quality of the text, and the developments of some of its arguments. It does however go beyond such earlier standard texts, like Sakurai's "Advanced Quantum Mechanics", which was just an introductory treatment of relativistic quantum mechanics. Kaku takes you well into the depths of QCD and the [current] Standard Model.

If you are a grad student wanting expertise in this field, an attraction of the book is its extensive problem sets for each chapter. Perhaps more so than the textual exposition! Another reviewer bemoaned the lack of worked out problems or answers. Well, that lack is the norm for many advanced texts. You just have to get used to it. But a more positive way to look at this is to recognise that sometimes knowing that an answer to a problem exists can be valuable in itself.

Too superficial, but ok reference.......2006-03-21

In my opinion this book is just ok. The breadth of material it covers is good. You can find topics such as critical phenomena and lattice gauge theory among its twenty plus chapters. However, I don't think there is generally much depth. To me the book reads like a catalog of results, I don't see it providing students with any real mathematical or physical insights. The main use I see for it is as a reference.

Page counting isn't a perfect means to determine completeness, but hopefully it does give an impression of the style. A couple of brief examples would be BRST quantization being covered in two pages (almost all equations) and SU(5) in one page. These are just a couple of places where I thought the treatment was so superficial I wondered why it was included at all.

A more detailed example would be the treatment of quantum gravity. It goes from the equivalence principle to Christoffel symbols in five pages, the Robertson-Walker solution is covered in barely more than a page and inflation in two pages. Maybe it's me, but I just don't see people that don't already know this stuff learning it here. Another comment on this chapter concerns the approach to developing classical general relativity. It is based on the properties of covariant vectors and contravariant vectors under coordinate transformation, this is definitely not a modern approach.

The topics it covers are quite interesting, a student with an excellent instructor may find it a useful book. However, I find it hard to imagine many people learning quantum field theory by reading this book. Just off the top of my head I can think of four books that I think most people would find much more helpful in learning quantum field theory: Peskin and Schroeder, Ryder, Weinberg and Zee ("quantum field theory in a nutshell" this isn't so much a traditional text book, but it is very insightful).

Expectations unrewarded.......2003-03-09

My background is a Ph.D. (1963) in physics. My dissertation was based on the Mössbauer Effect, and my brief career in research was in areas of electron transport physics. I never had a strong background in high energy physics, and my quantum field theory exposure was mainly QED.

Now that I am retired, I read some physics and looked to Prof. Kaku's book for a survey of current QFT and an introduction to string theory. I have just finished reading Chapter 2, which the Preface states may be skipped by the student who "already understands the basics of group theory . . . or who does not want to delve that deeply into the intricacies of quantum field theory." I certainly did not place myself in that class of student and decided to delve.

The presentation of Chapter 2 leads to the "essential point" (p58) that the Lorentz and Poincaré groups are at the heart of quantum field theory, and "the results of this chapter will be used throughout the book". For that reason, the results should have been developed with great clarity, and I cannot say I found that true.

For example, equations 2.104 which state the Poincaré algebra, as described as showing that translations transform as a vector under the Lorentz group. But the transformation of a vector is defined by eq. 2.91. No connection is anywhere demonsrated between eq. 2.91 and 2.104; nor elsewhere between commutation relations and the transformation of vector fields.

In the discussion of the Casimir operator, the Pauli-Lubanski tensor (p.55), the evaluation in the rest-frame of the space part of the vector (tensor) based on eq. 2.106 leads to "the rotation matrix in three dimensions." But eq. 2.106 is an operator equation, whereas the result (eq. 2.108) is a matrix equation. What is the connection?

Book Description

This is the first introductory textbook on quantum field theory in gravitational backgrounds intended for undergraduate and beginning graduate students in the fields of theoretical astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and string theory. The book covers the basic (but essential) material of quantization of fields in an expanding universe and quantum fluctuations in inflationary spacetime. It also contains a detailed explanation of the Casimir, Unruh, and Hawking effects, and introduces the method of effective action used for calculating the back-reaction of quantum systems on a classical external gravitational field. The broad scope of the material covered will provide the reader with a thorough perspective of the subject. Every major result is derived from first principles and thoroughly explained. The book is self-contained and assumes only a basic knowledge of general relativity. Exercises with detailed solutions are provided throughout the book.

Customer Reviews:

at LAST understandable quantization in curved spacetime for BEGINNERS.......2007-07-11

The standard reference for quantum fields in curved spacetimes is Birrell & Davies which is totally incomprehensible for beginners at both conceptual and computational levels - just my 6 months experience with it. The present book is the only one I know that takes beginners to a level no other book can. It is conceptually clear and tailored to beginners in the field which already had courses in Complex analysis (you will need to have some idea what analytic continuation is), Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity and a little Quantum Field Theory (only free fields).

The first part of the book is devoted to specifying a relevant ground/vacuum state of a scalar field and calculations using Bogoljubov coefficients. The usual Unruh effect is given a detailed carefull consideration, Hawking radiation is derived by analogy and Casimir effect is briefly considered too. Most importantly, the book gives a very clear treatment of quantization of a scalar field in expanding universe. Later that is applied to the inflationary spacetime (de Sitter). The vaccum state of the scalar field is specified (Bunch-Davies) and the spectrum of the primordial field fluctuations calculated - that is a hot topic in Cosmology since a derivative of that spectrum is observed in CMB and Large scale structure.

The second part of the book deals with actions and path integral quantization of a system. The effective action of a quantum sub-system interacting with a classical sub-system (the background) is defined and shown how to use it to calculate matrix elements of operators. The effective action of a quantum scalar field in a gravitational classical background is considered. In order to calculate it, it's transformed to Euclidean action and then renormalized (thrown away infinities) using zeta function and heat kernel technique then analytically continued back to Lorentzian action. A whole chapter is devoted to showing how the zeta function renormalization (by analytical continuation of zeta function) throws away infinities that can be viewed as being absorbed in the bare coupling constants of the action. At the end it is shown how to use the renormalized effective action to calculate matrix elements of the energy-momentum tensor (in 2D).

The book is self-contained and derives everything from scratch (path integrals included). It can be read in about 2 months if you read 5 pages/day and solve the problems. The style is consize and straight to the point explaining the correct conceptual understanding. There are numerous problems interspersed around the text with solutions at the end of the book. There are nice appendices on functionals, functional derivatives, distributions (like delta function) and Green's functions which are pretty usefull.

It is amazing and exciting that in such a short time the reader will gain some basic understanding of advanced topics like effective action, zeta function, heat kernel, conformal anomaly, primordial quantum fluctuations etc. An example of textbook writing at the finest level ...

Average customer rating:

the book is self-contained but poor as a reference

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
George Sterman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521311322

Book Description

This is a systemic presentation of quantum field theory from first principles, emphasizing both theoretical concepts and experimental applications.

Customer Reviews:

the book is self-contained but poor as a reference.......1999-04-06

chapters 1 through 8 provide a good introduction to scalar field theory,path integrals,feynman diagrams and vector fields and gauge theories. the discussion on the standard model is not so good and the chapters on renormalization were not clear to me as a beginning student.the book requires one to go over the material very carefully,and should not, in my opinion, be used as a reference for a particular topic as every chapter draws heavily on the previous ones. however it is certainly suitable as a text for a 2 semester graduate course.

An Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

Average customer rating:

A fair introduction, but needs to be greatly expanded
a stepping stone, not a place to stop
Paperbound edition recommended for those new to the subject

An Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
Paul Teller
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691016275

Book Description

Quantum mechanics is a subject that has captured the imagination of a surprisingly broad range of thinkers, including many philosophers of science. Quantum field theory, however, is a subject that has been discussed mostly by physicists. This is the first book to present quantum field theory in a manner that makes it accessible to philosophers. Because it presents a lucid view of the theory and debates that surround the theory, An Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory will interest students of physics as well as students of philosophy.

Paul Teller presents the basic ideas of quantum field theory in a way that is understandable to readers who are familiar with non-relativistic quantum mechanics. He provides information about the physics of the theory without calculational detail, and he enlightens readers on how to think about the theory physically. Along the way, he dismantles some popular myths and clarifies the novel ways in which quantum field theory is both a theory about fields and about particles. His goal is to raise questions about the philosophical implications of the theory and to offer some tentative interpretive views of his own. This provocative and thoughtful book challenges philosophers to extend their thinking beyond the realm of quantum mechanics and it challenges physicists to consider the philosophical issues that their explorations have encouraged.

Customer Reviews:

A fair introduction, but needs to be greatly expanded.......2003-02-17

Philosophical debate on quantum mechanics was very intense and widespread in the twentieth century, and it continues without abatement in the twenty-first. Philosophical issues in quantum field theory (QFT) however are not as common, this being due possibly to the level of physics and mathematics needed to master the subject. This book is one of the few that has appeared that deal with these issues, and it serves as a fairly good introduction to them.

In the preface, the author describes quantum field as a subject that is "notoriously hard to learn". He admits having severe difficulty in the learning of it, which he blames on the lack of good presentations of the subject. One can easily find though superb explanations of QFT in the literature, both in preprint and textbook form. His presentation of QFT could loosely be described as the "older" quantum field theory, since he does not address guage theories and makes no use of modern mathematical formalism. By his own admission, all of the ideas in the book were known by 1950.

The title of the book reflects the author's view of an interpretation of a theory, namely that it gives a similarity relation that is hypothesize to hold between a model and the properties of things that the model is supposed to characterize. This notion of similarity is a purely qualitative one though, as is typical in most discourses on philosophy. For the author, the issue for interpretation is the phenomenon of "superposition" in QFT, and he also endeavors to show that the "particle" intepretation of QFT is at equal level with the "field" theoretic one. He believes that current views on QFT get the particle aspect wrong, nor show how the particle and field aspects fit together. It is the particle labeling he says, that causes problems, and his solution is via the Fock space formalism, which avoids what he calls the "surplus structure" of conventional quantum mechanics, and which avoids the temptation to ascribe properties to particles. Instead he uses a conception of "quanta", which gives information only on what patterns of properties are exhibited. The Fock space basis states, and consequently the operators are indexed by space-time points, entailing naturally an interpretation of the theory in terms of fields. However, the notion of "operator-valued fields" that is typically expoused by practioners is criticized by the author and he lays out a different interpretation (but again using the Fock formalism), using as examples coherent states and vacuum fluctuations. He recognizes, quite correctly, that an interpretation as a quantum field takes place in a loose analogical relation to classical physics.

No treatment of quantum field theory could be complete without including a discussion of renormalization. The author does not really add anything new in his discussion, as a reader can gain essentially the same content and insight (and more) in currrent papers, preprints, monographs, and textbooks on the subject. The use of cut-offs and dimensional regularization are briefly discussed, but no new insights are given into them. His solution to the problem of renormalization is what he calls a "mask-of-ignorance" approach, in which he asserts that a correct quantum field theory will be completely free of infinities. The correct theory is unknown, but this does not matter as long as attention is restricted to expressions that are independent of the cutoff and the regularization scheme. This has been said many times already though, by many different researchers and expositors of quantum field theory. A quantum field theory free from divergences has yet to be found, but another approach to the problem of infinities has taken over, that one going by the name of string theory.

a stepping stone, not a place to stop.......2000-03-08

My first exposure to QFT was Sunny Auyang's "How is Quantum Field Theory Possible?" I had hoped to find more details about the theory itself to supplement the parts of Auyang's presentation that I found difficult. I was disappointed to find Teller presenting QFT as it was in the 1960s, forty years ago, in contrast to Auyang's much more modern approach.

Five facts about QFT were brought home to me by Teller's book. (1) QFT is a metatheory, not a theory. It doesn't become a theory until critical parts are filled in by an actual model such as the Standard Model of particle physics. Teller gives no clue about how this works. (2) QFT is incomplete in many ways beyond its absence of gravity. (3) QFT is inconsistent, giving different answers to the same problem depending on what methods you use to solve it. Choosing the correct method is a key talent physicists must acquire. (4) QFT is sometimes very sound, giving extraordinarily accurate answers. These problems are all captured by observing that (5) QFT (at least as presented by Teller) is not rigorous; it's a toolkit of formalisms and techniques that have been developed with a perspective much more like engineering than like mathematics.

Teller's target audience is physicists who are able to treat nonrelativistic quantum mechanics and its interpretive problems as uninteresting background, and who want to know a little bit about some of the additonal interpretive issues that caused trouble during the development of QFT. If you want to know how those issues relate to the classic problems of philosophy, you need to go elsewhere. Auyang is a good place to start, providing significantly more sophistication in both philosophy and mathematics.

Paperbound edition recommended for those new to the subject.......1997-05-18

I should say first that I write as a mathematician who is not a physicist, but who is interested in the subject. For readers with some knowledge of nonrelativistic, single particle quantum mechanics, this is a good place to get an idea of what quantum field theory is about. The opening chapters are more philosophical than the later ones, which are more mathematical, but one should be willing to consider the topic from both these angles in order to get the most from this book. The development of the occupation-number formalism and Fock space is very clear and enjoyable, but matters get more difficult later on. The occasional excursions into relativistic field theory frankly lost me a couple of times. The last chapter, on renormalization, however, is again very lucid and accessible to someone with even a modest background. It seems to me that much of the interpretive work Teller undertakes is to understand the relationship and possible differences between quantum field-theory -- i.e., QFT as quantization of classical fields -- and quantum-field theory -- i.e., a field theory of 'quanta' which lack radical individuation, or as Teller says, "primitive thisness." Along these lines he gives some very good cautions against interpreting Feynman diagrams literally. Since the work is highly introductory in nature, being much less technical and extensive than books of similar titles by Sterman, Kaku, et al., it seems a little expensive at its full $35 hardcover price, but is certainly worth the $16.95 asked for paperbound

Introduction to Quantum Fields on a Lattice

Average customer rating:

An excellent book

Introduction to Quantum Fields on a Lattice
Jan Smit
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521890519

Book Description

This book provides a concrete introduction to quantum fields on a lattice: a precise and non-perturbative definition of quantum field theory obtained by replacing the space-time continuum by a lattice. Topics covered include quark confinement, chiral symmetry breaking in QCD, quantized non-abelian gauge fields, scaling and universality. The author also discusses the results of simulations on computers.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book.......2005-11-24

The book by Jan Smit "INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM FIELDS ON A LATTICE"
is an excellent book on Lattice Field Theory. There are very few
books on this subject and I think that it is the best because of
clarity, calculation details and the ability of explaining the
physical aspects of the problems in a clear way. I particularly
appreciated the presentation of the symmetries in QCD and the
introduction of fermion fields on the lattice as well as the
question of scalar theories.

Introduction to Symmetry and Supersymmetry in Quantum Field Theory

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Introduction to Symmetry and Supersymmetry in Quantum Field Theory
J. Lopuszanski
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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ASIN: 9971501619

Introduction to String Field Theory (Advanced Series in Mathematical Physics)

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Very dense but good for the time

Introduction to String Field Theory (Advanced Series in Mathematical Physics)
Warren Siegel
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9971507323

Customer Reviews:

Very dense but good for the time.......2003-05-14

The author introduces the subject of his book as "the newest approach" to string theory, which he defines in analogy to the point particle theory, as an approach to the calculation of relevant quantities using field theory Lagrangians, instead of "off-shell" S-matrix computations, and which is done in 10 dimensions. The first five chapters of the book is not concerned directly with strings at all, but with the quantization of gauge theories, both pure and with the presence of matter (fermions). The author considers first point particle fields in the light cone gauge. In this gauge the field theory appears nonrelativistic, satisfying a non-relativistic "Schrodinger equation" with an imaginary Hamiltonian. The author then discusses the Yang-Mills theory in the light cone gauge, and derives the free Lagrangian for this theory. This motivates a detailed discussion of the conformal algebra since (nonlinear) representations of the Poincare group model the kinetic term of a free light-cone field theory, and one can obtain these, as the author shows, using the conformal group. He later generalizes to the case where interactions are present, and derives the Feynman rules. The reader can readily see the tension between the demands for covariance and unitarity, that is characteristic of gauge theories. The light-cone gauge is manifestly covariant, but in two less dimensions than the dimension of spacetime the fields are formulated in. This is apparent in the use of the Poincare group ISO(D-1,1), the representations of which are constructed for arbitrary massless and massive theories. The representations are nonlinear in the coordinates, and are constructed from irreducible representations of the SO(D-2) rotation group of the SO(D-1,1) Lorentz group. The conformal group is then SO(D, 2).

In these initial five chapters the reader also gets a detailed overview of the BRST formalism, which is very important in the quantization of gauge theories. This formalism is first introduced in the context of the Hamiltonian formalism, which is manifestly covariant in D - 1 dimensions. This involves as expected a separation of coordinates into space and time with the time components of the gauge fields set to zero. The famous Faddeev-Popov ghosts make their appearance here, since the quantization problem is a problem with constraints. The author gives several reasons for using the BRST formalism, and the reader sees the origin of the Slavnov-Identities, which are generalizations of the amazing Ward identities and are a consequence of the side constraint of unitarity.

The actual consideration of strings first takes place in chapter 6. The large amount of work done by the author in the first five chapters to find a general Poincare- and gauge-invariant action for any collection of fields is finally applied in this chapter and the rest of the book. The idea of viewing strings as 2-dimensional field theories is the main point behind the author's approach. The author quantizes the bosonic string in the light-cone gauge and derives the Poincare algebra, which can be viewed as a specialization of what was done in the first two chapters. This is generalized immediately to the case to the fermionic case by introducing a 2D supersymmetry on the world sheet, in complete analogy with the point particle case in chapter five. In this discussion the reader can see clearly the origin of the requirement that D be equal to 10. A manifestly covariant formalism is then discussed, which is a generalization of the bosonic string and the superparticle of chapter 5. This discussion is interesting in that it shows the origin of the Kac-Moody algebra in the covariant derivatives, and the Virasoro algebra. The BRST formalism is discussed later in the context of the first-quantization of the bosonic string as a constrained problem in the conformal gauge. The Feynman rules for interacting strings are then derived using first the external field formalism, and then using functional integration.

The author gets down to studying string field theory in the context of what was done early in chapter 2 in chapters 10 and 11, namely the light-cone gauge and the BRST formalism, with the goal to include the contributions of the string interactions. As expected, in the free field case the bosonic open strings satisfy a Schroedinger-like equation, and interactions are described by splitting and joining of strings, and as expected from a field-theoretic point of view, the graphs are composed of vertices and propagators. The BRST formalism is done only for the closed string case.The author introduces the reader to how to construct gauge-invariant actions for interacting strings in the last chapter of the book. He is careful to note that a string field theory of interacting strings does not exist, and gives explanations to the difficulties involved in constructing such theories. I have not followed the research on this topic since this book was published, so cannot comment on the present state of atttempts to construct these theories, except for those attempts to give an interpretation of open and closed strings in terms of algebraic topology, C*-algebras, and K-theory. These however do not permit any kind of Feynman rules to be derived. No doubt a perusal of the preprint servers will reveal that this problem has been absorbed in the current emphasis on D-brane and M-theories.

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