Electrodynamics and Classical Theory of Fields and Particles

Book Description

The first comprehensive treatment of relativistic electrodynamics, and still essential reading in the field, deftly revealing the classical underpinnings of modern quantum field theory. Among the topics: space-time, Lorentz transformations, conservation laws, equations of motion, Green’s functions and action-at-a-distance electrodynamics.

Customer Reviews:

excellent.......2007-06-09

This is an excellent book if you want to understand Electrodynamics for what it really is-a relativistic field theory!

Very nice and concise book.......2006-04-26

Starts from the foundations of Special-Relativity, including Lorentz transformation, groups and spinors, then dynamics.
Formulation of Lagrangian fields and the conserved quantities is also very good, though I think Rohrlich's book is better.
Covers self-interaction and radiation reaction in a very clear way.
In short, for this price, it is truly a gem.

A beautiful little book.......2002-11-09

This is a concise, clear, friendly but unfussy little book on classical electrodynamics (CED), and relativistic fields. Simultaneously, it provides an easy introduction to the mathematical machinery of relativistic dynamics and fields. There is an agreeable emphasis on the Lagrangian formulations, a good-sized chapter devoted to radiation and radiation-reaction, and a (regrettably) short piece on action-at-a-distance CED. This book is about the structure of CED in general, and does not deal with particular arrangements of charges, currents, coils, etc. etc. in the manner of an undergraduate text on EM.

Learnin all about Classical Fields.......2000-03-23

On the subject of Classical fields, I have not read a better book than Barut's. It is clear and comprehensive. I discovered more about things like the Lorentz group and the Lagrangian formalism of fields than I thought existed. It is an excellent book by all standards. If you need to learn Quantum Field theory, start here first. Learn all about classical fields. The equations in this book are ready for quantization.

Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, Volume I: From Relativistic Quantum Mechanics to QED (Graduate Student Series in Physics)

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Very clear and readable
more understandable QFT for beginners
If you are having trouble with QFT - BUY THIS BOOK!
Amazingly clear introduction to the subject

Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, Volume I: From Relativistic Quantum Mechanics to QED (Graduate Student Series in Physics)
I.J.R. Aitchison , and A.J.G. Hey
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics
An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Frontiers in Physics)
Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Some of Their Applications
A First Book of Quantum Field Theory, Second Edition
Geometry, Topology and Physics, Second Edition (Graduate Student Series in Physics)

ASIN: 0750308648

Book Description

Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, Volume 1: From Relativistic Quantum Mechanics to QED, Third Edition introduces the three gauge theories of the standard model of particle physics: quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and the electroweak theory. For each of them, the authors provide a thorough discussion of the main conceptual points, a detailed exposition of many practical calculations of physical quantities, and a comparison of these quantitative predictions with experimental results. This edition includes new introductory chapters, expanded treatment of relativistic quantum mechanics, and a self-contained introduction to quantum field dynamics as described by Feynman graphs.

Customer Reviews:

Very clear and readable.......2007-03-21

Like the 2nd edition this 2 volume set is very readable. I like it's informal style, and the wealth of background material presented, as well as the hints about when to expect further discussions of a subject in succeding chapters. By far the best Quantum Field Theory book I've come across.

more understandable QFT for beginners.......2005-09-17

The 3rd edition of that book clarified to a degree the fog left in my mind by a two-semester QFT course. The book is better suited for beginners than Peskin & Shroeder, Mandl & Show or Lahiri & Pal simply because it senses better the difficult points for beginners and tries to explain them at lower level. It focuses on the main concepts and doesn't try to `cover broad material in shortest time' or get into extreme computational technicalities totally irrelevant to beginners. The correct historical perspective of many ideas is given and the important historical papers are cited. The theory is frequently compared to the experimental results. Violin string is used as a prototype of a continuous system described by a classical field which is the first field quantized later. The book develops physical intuition showing how a scattering process can be analyzed in full QED (all fields are operators), in semiclassical approximation (all fields are operators except the EM field) or using the lowest level wavefunction approximation (all fields are treated like wave functions just like scattering in nonrelativistic QM) often getting the same result (see chapter 8). Important concepts like Feynman diagrams and Renormalization of a theory are first explored in a simple theoretical playground - a hypothetical `ABC theory' of three massive scalar fields with an interaction ABC term - and later discussed again in the case of QED with all the complications like fermions and Electromagnetic gauge field.

Topics discussed include gauge invariance principle; relativistic field equations describing free particles like Klein-Gordon and Dirac; Feynman interpretation of the negative energy solutions of Dirac eq. (no its not `antiparticle going back in time'); Dirac equation with EM field; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian densities for continuous systems; quantization of free fields like KG (real and complex scalar), Dirac and Electromagnetic field [the quantization is by postulating commutators/anticommutators, no path integrals]; Normal ordering of operators; Interaction picture for interacting fields, Time ordering of operators, Dyson expansion of the S matrix; Wick's theorem; scattering processes in QED at tree level; Ward identity; form factors for scattering from non point particle; parton model, Bjorken scaling; diagrams with loops, regularization and renormalization of ultraviolet divergences in QED.

It took me a month and a half to read the book and solve all problems (10 problems per chapter on average). The problems are exactly the ones every beginner should solve and usually revolve about filling in details from the text or proving statements in the text. Solving them is usually easy with a few exceptions and teaches you the typical computational tricks of the trade. You have to know quantum mechanics (at least have seen scattering theory) and special relativity. You have to at least have heard of Green function and contour integration in the complex plane. The book provides nice appendices about all these.

Not everything is crystal clear in that book, sometimes it took me a few days for an idea to sink in or I understood some paragraphs only after I read the whole book. Other ideas I did not understand at all. Sometimes it's hard to tell what they are trying to say although they say it several times from different angles ... The authors should work on expressing an idea in a direct succinct way once and for all instead of repeating several fuzzy versions of it. Overall that book made me understand MUCH more than a regular QFT course and I highly recommend it as a prep for such a course.

If you are having trouble with QFT - BUY THIS BOOK!.......2003-04-13

This book (2nd edition) has 15 chapters . I have just finished chapter 4 entitled QFT and I am compeled to write this review! After a year of studying of QFT informally I can report that this is the way to introduce yourself to the topic. I've been through Mandl & Shaw, Peskin & Schoeder, Ryder, Weinberg and a few others and this is heads and tails the BEST intro available. In 42 pages, Aitchison & Hey make the transistion from classical to QM and from QM to QFT as gracefully as I can conceive. For example, the transition from the discrete Lagrangian to the field Lagrangian is very explicit. One benfit of this is that the dependence of L on partial of phi wrt x is clearly motivated leading to the manifestly relativistically invariant form of L. They explicitly develop physical intuition at every step of the way - for example, this is the only book that I have found that explicitly asks the question where is QM's wavefunction in the QFT formalism? Answer - The vacuum to one-particle matrix elements of the field operators. The transistion from free fields to interacting fields is far clearer than any other treatment I've seen. I also appreciated that the problems were used to basically fill in details left out of the text. I was able to 'practice' the various kinds of manipulations that are required.

Amazingly clear introduction to the subject.......1998-08-03

This book is the best book I've seen on the subject. The qualitative description of qunatum field theory in particular are amazingly lucid for the subject. The only possible flaw in the book is that the problems at the end of each chapter are both few in number and for the most part do not challenge the student at all; for the most part they are just rote calculations.

Photons and Atoms - Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics (Wiley Professional)

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concise but inspiring
My only physics book

Photons and Atoms - Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics (Wiley Professional)
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji , Jacques Dupont-Roc , and Gilbert Grynberg
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Atom-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications (Wiley Science Paperback Series)
The Quantum Theory of Light (Oxford Science Publications)
Quantum Mechanics (2 vol. set)
Quantum Optics
Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics

ASIN: 0471184330

Book Description

Photons and Atoms
Photons and Atoms: Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics provides the necessary background to understand the various physical processes associated with photon-atom interactions. It starts with elementary quantum theory and classical electrodynamics and progresses to more advanced approaches. A critical comparison is made between these different, although equivalent, formulations of quantum electrodynamics.
Using this format, the reader is offered a gradual, yet flexible introduction to quantum electrodynamics, avoiding formal discussions and excessive shortcuts. Complementing each chapter are numerous examples and exercises that can be used independently from the rest of the book to extend each chapter in many disciplines depending on the interests and needs of the reader.

Customer Reviews:

concise but inspiring.......2007-01-18

The subjects are laied out according to logical progression with rich exercises which are quite helpful to review my own understanding. However some subjects treated as complinent shoud be a part of the main text in my opinion, since I must have left the main text some time to read through the compliment.

My only physics book.......2000-04-22

Although I am a physicist and possess many books, for a long time my collection contained only a single book related to physics: Photons and Atoms. It is the most pedagogical text to be found on the fundamental aspects of the quantized interaction of matter with light. It's concise, clear, and convincing. The reader is never left mystified about any technical detail: no assumptions or approximations are left unexplained or swept under the rug. Yet, in spite of the high technical level the text is full of insights and simple intuitive pictures as well. Worth mentioning are also the exercises in each Chapter, which are remarkably useful and rewarding, Moreover, the solutions are given and display the same clarity of style and insightful remarks as the main text. The main emphasis of the book is on the nonrelativistic formulation of QED, but, of course, there is also a chapter devoted to the relativistic version that includes a description of how to take in a proper fashion the non-relativistic limit. Also questions of gauge, such as concerning the often confusing choice between "p.A" and "r.E" are treated, and it is, e.g., explicitly shown how in numerical problems the two are not always equivalent, as approximations made are not necessarily gauge invariant. Is there anything bad to say about this book? Almost not: for a while I had the impression that this book was the only one without any typographical errors, but in the meantime I have discovered 2. To be a bit more serious, maybe there is something: the book focuses on fundamental issues and, hence, if you expect ---especially given the title of the book---to read about problems such as spontaneous emission or laser-induced ionization of atoms, then you will be disappointed. In that case, you will have to check out the companion volume: atom-photon interactions. But hey, that's not such a bad book either.

Average customer rating:

a very nobel author

Particles, Sources, and Fields: Vol. 2
Julian Seymour Schwinger
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Theory of Fundamental Processes (Advanced Book Classics)
Quantum Electrodynamics (Advanced Book Classics)
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ASIN: 0738200549

Customer Reviews:

a very nobel author.......2001-05-07

Most people these days are reading peskin and schroeder, weinberg, ryder...etc. They are hard. Schwinger's books (3 vols) departs from most treatments; except for some similarity I think with weinberg (who i havent read). Here is what I like: 1) he wrote it to include everything but kept students in mind. 2) he wrote to counteract ''frustration with mathematical ambiguities and physical remoteness...'' 3) it is 'written by sure hands'' I would not recommend this as a first book or you might not see what he's doing; so do sakurai/bjorken and drell/ryder first, then deepen your knowledge on your second pass at the subject. In that context is it superb.

Elementary Particles: Building Blocks of Matter

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Elementary Particles: Building Blocks of Matter
Harald Fritzsch
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics
The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
Hiding in the Mirror : The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond
An Equation That Changed the World: Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity
Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics

ASIN: 981256408X
Release Date: 2005-09-30

Product Description

This highly readable book uncovers the mysteries of the physics of elementary particles for a broad audience. From the familiar notions of atoms and molecules to the complex ideas of the grand unification of all the basic forces, this book allows the interested lay public to appreciate the fascinating building blocks of matter that make up our universe. Beginning with a description of the quantum nature of atoms and particles, readers are introduced to the elementary constituents of atomic nuclei: quarks. The book goes on to consider all of the important ideas in particle physics: quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics, the theory of strong interactions, the gauge theories of the weak and electromagnetic interactions, as well as the problem of mass generation. To conclude the book, the ideas of grand unification are described, and finally, some applications to astrophysics are discussed. Your guide to this exciting world is an author who, together with the originator of the idea of quarks, Murray Gell-Mann, has played an important role in the development of the theory of quantum chromodynamics and the concept of grand unification.

Quantum Electrodynamics (Frontiers in Physics)

Average customer rating:

feynmans way
The first great Feynman classic
Question
Once More
QED IN NUTSHELL !

Quantum Electrodynamics (Frontiers in Physics)
R. Feyman
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Statistical Mechanics: A Set of Lectures (Advanced Book Classics)
Theory of Fundamental Processes (Advanced Book Classics)
Feynman's Thesis: A New Approach to Quantum Theory
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
Quantum Electrodynamics, Second Edition: Volume 4

ASIN: 0805325018

Customer Reviews:

feynmans way.......2001-04-25

I think this is a good supplemental book. it's like his course on physics; you cant learn from it alone; but with a canonical text it adds wonderful insight on a subject. His theory of fundamental processes is out of date (way before tau neutrinos, and there are mistakes in parts); so i would avoid that one. this one I find to be about the level of sophistication of his lectures on gravitation, but explaining field theory. Feynman naturally has a slightly more functional approach than other books of this era. I think it's a good book to keep next to something like peskin and schroeder in ones personal library

The first great Feynman classic.......2001-02-13

This book collects a set of lectures by Feynman on quantum electrodynamics and a few reprints of his papers on the subject.Nowadays it would be a (hard) graduate course. At its time it was written for Feynman's peers. At that time the method developped by him, though he had total control of it, was not complete as far as derivations are concerned. However, each topic was solidly grounded on the basis of specific arguments. This is how things are done. Usually you have a hundred incomplete arguments which, put together, are, so to speak, stronger than a formal demonstration. And, what arguments! What insight this (then) young guy had already!This book is for pleasure! You probably should read it together with some modern text, like Veltman's "Diagrammatica", to get the modern perspective and also to see how little, after all, was changed. A companion book, called "Theory of Fundamental Processes" is also a sterling lecture, for the same reasons. Perhaps even more so.

Question.......2000-08-24

I know two kinds of books on the Quantum Electrodynamics by Richard P. Feynman; "Q.E.D." and this title "Quantum Electrodynamics". Once I owned both. But by my mistake I lost "Quantum Elec...". Rubendoz's review looks like one for "Q.E.D.", a good book for the Physics Student who begins to learn Q.E.D., but also good for the laymen who wants to understand the perspect of the theory.
Now my question: Tell me - since Rubendoz's review confuses me - if this book is a renamed version of the easier - if it is - book, "Q.E.D.", or the formula-prone book, "Quantum Electrodynamics" , to say, the harder book. I wish there were the publisher's review which would make this point clear.
Thanks.

Once More.......2000-05-23

I only had the opportunity to browse around this book. However, I imediately realized that this one was worth reading calmly. Once more Fayman explains this generally abstract subject with his grace and knowledge, making it easier to digest the material. If you have read any of Fayman's book, you know his ways of explaining things are just superb. So, without further explanations, this book it is worth every penny, it worked for me, a Physics student, and it will work for anyone who's interested in this matter.

QED IN NUTSHELL !.......1999-01-05

People reading this book must be safely assumed to be physics oriented guys esp the ones in particle physics. The book is a good introduction for an amateur who is not necessarily a good mathematician cuz this book has surprisingly NO glamorous formulae associated with QED.It doesn't give you in-depth scrutiny of the high-energy world yet it gives you enough to keep you interested all the way. The title can be mis-leading cuz it doesn't really cover extensive knowledge about the field, should've been introductory QED or something on those lines. Anyways should be fun to read iff you want to know the nuances of matter !

Perturbative Quantum Electrodynamics and Axiomatic Field Theory (Texts and Monographs in Physics)

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Perturbative Quantum Electrodynamics and Axiomatic Field Theory (Texts and Monographs in Physics)
Othmar Steinmann
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540670246

Book Description

This book demonstrates that fundamental concepts and methods from phenomenological particle physics can be derived rigorously from well-defined general assumptions in a mathematically clean way. Starting with the Wightman formulation of relativistic quantum field theory, the perturbative formulation of quantum electrodynamics is derived avoiding the usual formalism based on the canonical commutation relations. A scattering formalism based on the local-observables approach is developed, directly yielding expressions for the observable inclusive cross-sections without having to introduce the S-matrix. Neither ultraviolet nor infrared regularizations are required in this approach. Although primarily intended for researchers working in this field, anyone with a basic working knowledge of relativistic quantum field theory can benefit from this book.

The Dirac Equation (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)

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The Dirac Equation (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)
Bernd Thaller
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540548831

Book Description

The Dirac Equation is a modern presentation of the relativistic quantum mechanics of electrons intended to make new mathematical results accessible to a wider audience. It treats in some depth the relativistic invariance of a quantum theory, self-adjointness and spectral theory, qualitative features of relativistic bound and scattering states, and the external field problem in quantum electrodynamics, without neglecting the interpretational difficulties and limitations of the theory. A novel feature is the extensive use of supersymmetric quantum mechanics in the discussions of, e.g. the nonrelativistic limit, Fredholm and Witten indices, the relativistic Coulomb problem, particles with anomalous moments, behaviour in the presence of magnetic fields, and soliton theory. The book is aimed at scientists and graduate students interested in quantum mechanics who want to learn about the mathematical foundations, the physical interpretation and important applications of Dirac's electron theory.

Dynamics of Charged Particles and their Radiation Field

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Dynamics of Charged Particles and their Radiation Field
Herbert Spohn
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521836972

Book Description

This self-contained and systematic introduction to classical electron theory and nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics covers the interaction between charges and the Maxwell field, with particular focus on the derivation of radiative friction. It provides a coherent presentation with emphasis on radiation phenomena and relaxation to the ground state, space-adiabatic limit, effective mass and g-factor, and removal of the ultraviolet cut-off. The book is suitable for graduates and researchers in mathematical physics, particle physics and applied mathematics.

Dynamics of Particles and the Electromagnetic Field (World Scientific Series in Contemporary Chemical Physics)

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Dynamics of Particles and the Electromagnetic Field (World Scientific Series in Contemporary Chemical Physics)
Slobodan Danko Bosanac
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9812563962

Book Description

Advances in experimental techniques are allowing researchers to investigate the extremes of the dynamics of particle interactions with electromagnetic fields. The theoretical tools at our disposal are classical and quantum mechanics and experience has shown that it is dangerous to dismiss one at the expense of the other. Each has merits that should be fully explored; the problem, however, is to bridge the gap between them so that the information they give is complementary rather than contradictory. In this book, that goal is achieved by formulating five postulates, and the level of their implementation distinguishes the two mechanics. That the dynamics of particles (charges) is not complete without unifying it with the dynamics of electromagnetic fields is given special emphasis.

In the first of three parts in the book, Newton dynamics is formulated from the Liouville equation. In the third part, this forms the basis for implementing the uncertainty postulate to formulate quantum mechanics. The theories of relativity and electromagnetic interactions are derived from one of the five postulates in the second part, and the unification of the dynamics of particles and electromagnetic fields is formulated in the second and the third parts. Numerous examples from each section illustrate the theory.

Employing functional analysis instead of the more abstract techniques of linear spaces, linear operators, group theory, etc., the book makes well suited to advanced undergraduate level courses in classical and quantum mechanics. The material is also intended for postgraduate courses, in atomic and molecular physics in particular, with examples covering modern trends in research.

The book is accompanied by a CD-Rom featuring various illustrative examples.

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