Quantum Field Theory: From Operators to Path Integrals
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Extremely solid for self-teaching
  • A good introduction to the physics behind renormalization
Quantum Field Theory: From Operators to Path Integrals
Kerson Huang
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471141208

Book Description

A unique approach to quantum field theory, with emphasis on the principles of renormalization Quantum field theory is frequently approached from the perspective of particle physics. This book adopts a more general point of view and includes applications of condensed matter physics. Written by a highly respected writer and researcher, it first develops traditional concepts, including Feynman graphs, before moving on to key topics such as functional integrals, statistical mechanics, and Wilson's renormalization group. The connection between the latter and conventional perturbative renormalization is explained.

Quantum Field Theory is an exceptional textbook for graduate students familiar with advanced quantum mechanics as well as physicists with an interest in theoretical physics. It features:
* Coverage of quantum electrodynamics with practical calculations and a discussion of perturbative renormalization
* A discussion of the Feynman path integrals and a host of current subjects, including the physical approach to renormalization, spontaneous symmetry breaking and superfluidity, and topological excitations
* Nineteen self-contained chapters with exercises, supplemented with graphs and charts

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Extremely solid for self-teaching.......2006-04-06

This book is an ideal introduction to quantum field theory for a graduate student. Assuming a strong background in basic quantum mechanics and classical mechanics, Huang develops quantum field in a methodical fashion. In contrast to other popular quantum field theory books (such as Peskin) Huang doesn't leave out important details, especially with regard to the mathematics behind spinor fields. Plus the book is very readable.

5 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the physics behind renormalization.......1999-05-16

A very good introduction to QFT. It starts with a rather classical account of QED, then develops renormalization and applies it mainly to statistical physics. So the text does not cover non-abelian gauge theories, and is not sufficient for readers who learn QFT for particle physics applications. But the exposition of renormalization is really excellent and complete. I liked the exceptional clarity and lucidity of most calculations, and the excellent set of problems. Solving them all extends the book's scope far beyond the table of contents.
Field Quantization
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A QFT text jewel !!!!
  • a very thorough introduction
  • Great Introduction
  • Detailed guide to QFT
Field Quantization
Walter Greiner , and Joachim Reinhardt
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:
  1. Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods (Fundamental Theories of Physics) Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods (Fundamental Theories of Physics)
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ASIN: 3540591796

Book Description

Field Quantization is a thorough introduction to the physical ideas and techniques of this subject, starting from an elementary level. The initial chapters deal with the quantum mechanics of systems having many degrees of freedom and with classical Lagrangian field theory. Subsequently, both the traditional method of canonical quantization and the modern approach using path integrals are studied. The material is presented in considerable detail and accompanied by a large number of worked examples and exercises.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A QFT text jewel !!!!.......2007-08-01

Thorough study of this book is a guaranteed ticket to QFT expertise !
The following excellent books are in addition highly recommended:
1. Mandl and Shaw's - Great intro to QFT
2. The Greiner Books - Exhaustively Comprehensive and Detailed
3. Dr. Zee's - QFT in a Nutshell - Most enthusiastic and didactic
4. Dr. Kaku's - vey clear and insightful. Additional bonus :Intro to Relativistic Strings - I particularly enjoy the pot shot he takes at the co-discoverer (who's name I dare not mention out loud) of the Beta Function (strong ? no, weak? no, gravitational? maybe) "tachyon" interaction formula.
5. Prof Weinberg's Magnificent Three Volume Set - The QFT Bible !

5 out of 5 stars a very thorough introduction.......2005-09-21

There are so many different QFT text books, but this one is of special value:(1) It is a really thorough work, e.g., symmetry principles, path integral, QED, even scalar qed are discussed in detail here! (2) The details are all included, so you will not find something like "it easily follows from..". (3)It introduces everything in a good order. For example, it treats non-relativistic Schrodinger field first before going to the relativistic theories. It has shown that non-relativistic fields permit both boson and fermion rules. From this you can easily see how quantization rules are related to relativity. I am sure you can learn some solid QFT from this book. Of course, I recommend this book along with the standard reference by Peskin-Schroeder, and the lively book by Zee.

5 out of 5 stars Great Introduction.......2001-07-12

This book starts with classical field theory and moves on to some simple, but very relevent examples of nonrelativistic field quantization. Greiner works through all important relativistic system of free particles before a spectactular introduction to Feynman rules via quantum electrodynamics as the primer. The book finishes with a nice introduction to path-integral quantization. This book covers mathematical detail of relativistic field theory in a simple way, making it an excellent introductory text.

5 out of 5 stars Detailed guide to QFT.......2000-03-27

The book's focus is on carefully explaining what quantum field theory is. Starting from classical field theories, ie. the harmonic chain, Greiner goes on to discuss 2nd quantization for spin 0, 1/2, and spin 1 fields. The results are then applied to derive the perturbation expansion for interacting fields. The last sections on quantization with path integrals is also well written, and contains more details than eg. Sakurai. Throughout, many (sometimes tedious, but) instructive examples are presented that lots of other authors just assume to be understood already.
Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • of course nice, but why the price is so ridiculous?
  • Very good "nonstandard" treatment of QM.
  • Green functions expressed as functional integrals
  • Typos Galore
  • One of the best
Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals
Richard P. Feynman , and A. R. Hibbs
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0070206503

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars of course nice, but why the price is so ridiculous?.......2006-03-24

Could someone explain this to me? Yes it is good, but what's so special to make it so much more expensive than the other classics?

5 out of 5 stars Very good "nonstandard" treatment of QM........2004-02-16

This is a great book to learn path integrals from if you are just getting started in field theory and want a good physical feel for them. It is too bad there aren't copies available for a reasonable price. $500 is just too high a price to pay.

5 out of 5 stars Green functions expressed as functional integrals.......2004-01-22

Written in the typical, beautiful Feynman style, this book is fine for an advanced student who already knows quantum mechanics and Green functions from a standard source like Sakurai or Merzbacher. It presents Feynman's interpretation of quantum mechanics in chapter 1 via the two-slit experiment, and the rest of the book is devoted to showing how to formulate and calculate the one particle Green function for simple systems, systems with completely integrable classical analogs (it's implicitly assumed that Ldt is a closed differential, where L is the classical Lagrangian). The path integral formulation was also later used by other researchers to arrive at a semi-classical approximation to the three body problem, a nonintegrable and even chaotic classical system (nonintegrable classical systems cannot be solved by the standard method of finding a complete set of commuting constants of the motion).

The functional integral formulation of Brownian motion was formulated earlier by Norbert Wiener. An analogous formulation of quantum theory was arrived at independently by Feynman, who took seriously a conjecture by Dirac about the meaning of the exponential of the classical action as a probability amplitude. A more complete treatment of classical Brownian motion (including the so-called 'Feynman-Kac formula' for Brownian motion) was given later by Mark Kac in "Probability and Related Methods in the Physical Sciences".

Chapter one presents with Feynman's interpretation of quantum mechanics, the interpretation accepted by theorists today, as nonclassical rules for combining probability amplitudes for particle propagation. Waves are not mentioned because the mental gyrations inherent in the Copenhagen 'wave-particle duality' are completely avoided in the Dirac-Feynman approach. See, as forerunner of Feynman's interpretation, Dirac's discussion of photons interfering with themselves in a hypothetical two-slit experiment, in the introduction to his famous text "Quantum Mechanics".

In other words, this book is for students who are ready to face the fact that there is no 'wave-particle' picture, or any geometrical picture of reality, at the quantum level: the reader who really understands Feynman's description of the two-slit experiment will realize that we cannot say about the hydrogen atom that an electron is moving about the nucleus, unless we do a scattering experiment to detect the electron (an electron doesn't follow a path, nor is it in two different places at the same time, there is in the end only the space-time propagation of quantized fields). As Feynman admitted, we do not really 'understand' quantum mechanics, although we can do all of the calculations describing experiments. The 'measurement problem', the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper and subsequent experiments and papers on quantum teleportation make this viewpoint clear. Quantum mechanics, nature at the microscopic level, is stranger than anything that you can imagine!

The Dirac-Feynman interpretation of quantum theory is presented by Sakurai, who also discusses the measurement problem. Merzbacher doesn't teach Dirac-Feynman but does discuss Galilean invariance via gauge transformations, and sets up the two-body problem in a form that is useful for understanding the enstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper.

4 out of 5 stars Typos Galore.......2003-07-22

This is a prety good book. Too bad people are selling the damn thing in the 400-1600 dollar price range. Mc-Graw Hill needs to get someone to fix all the typos (oh, and there are a ton of them) and then re-print this book so I don't have to spend a thousand dollars on a copy.
The Path Integral approach to Quantum Mechanics is pretty snazzy, and it's neat to see how Feynman comes up with the Schrodinger equation, and the commutation relations, and all that via the path integral method.
Also, the book does a good job of explaining scattering, and perturbation theory, which seem to be a little more natural with Feynman's approach to quantum mechanics.

P.S. The reviewer *below* refers in his review to the "...reviewer above." But, *I* am the "reviewer above" even though I am not the person to whom he is referring. The reviewer *below* is obviously an idiot.

5 out of 5 stars One of the best.......2002-07-14

This is one of the definitive texts on the subject. Like many others, the first reviewer above was probably unprepared for the difficulty of the path integral and blames this book for his failure to comprehend. It is not an easy technique to master, but this is certainly one of the better references on the subject.
Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics, Statistics, Polymer Physics, and Financial Markets
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A Phenomenal Treatise
Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics, Statistics, Polymer Physics, and Financial Markets
Hagen Kleinert
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9812700099

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A Phenomenal Treatise.......2006-11-17

Kleinert's work is NOTHING short of phenomenal.
After reading Feynman(+Hibbs) this is the text to follow up.

Sadly the second edition which is in print contained MANY typos.
The third edition fixes much, if not all; it also has added many new topics of various interest.

The core physics remains as solid, and even clearer than the previous editions.

Without casting aspersions on the presentation:
Make no mistake; this is no comic book.
You will suffer, scrape your gyri, and bruise your ego, but will be justly rewarded for your effort in study.

Consider this an unqualified recommendation.
Classical and Quantum Dynamics: From Classical Paths to Path Integrals (Advanced Texts in Physics)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Classical and Quantum Dynamics: From Classical Paths to Path Integrals (Advanced Texts in Physics)
    Walter Dittrich , and Martin Reuter
    Manufacturer: Springer
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    1. Techniques and Applications of Path Integration (Dover Books on Physics) Techniques and Applications of Path Integration (Dover Books on Physics)

    ASIN: 3540420665

    Book Description

    Graduate students who want to become familiar with advanced computational strategies in classical and quantum dynamics will find here both the fundamentals of a standard course and a detailed treatment of the time-dependent oscillator, Chern-Simons mechanics, the Maslov anomaly and the Berry phase, together with many worked examples throughout the text.
    This new edition has been revised and enlarged with chapters on the action principle in classical electrodynamics, on the functional derivative approach, and on computing traces.
    Introduction to Quantum Mechanics: Schrodinger Equation And Path Integral
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Introduction to Quantum Mechanics: Schrodinger Equation And Path Integral
      Harald J. W. Muller-Kirsten
      Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      3. Quantum Physics Quantum Physics
      4. A Course in Modern Mathematical Physics: Groups, Hilbert Space and Differential Geometry A Course in Modern Mathematical Physics: Groups, Hilbert Space and Differential Geometry

      ASIN: 9812566929

      Product Description

      After a consideration of basic quantum mechanics, this introduction aims at a side by side treatment of fundamental applications of the Schrödinger equation on the one hand and the applications of the path integral on the other. Different from traditional texts and using a systematic perturbation method, the solution of Schrödinger equations includes also those with anharmonic oscillator potentials, periodic potentials, screened Coulomb potentials and a typical singular potential, as well as the investigation of the large order behavior of the perturbation series. On the path integral side, after introduction of the basic ideas, the expansion around classical configurations in Euclidean time, such as instantons, is considered, and the method is applied in particular to anharmonic oscillator and periodic potentials. Numerous other aspects are treated on the way, thus providing the reader an instructive overview over diverse quantum mechanical phenomena, e.g. many! other potentials, Green’s functions, comparison with WKB, calculation of lifetimes and sojourn times, derivation of generating functions, the Coulomb problem in various coordinates, etc. All calculations are given in detail, so that the reader can follow every step.
      Path Integrals in Physics Volume 1: Stochastic Process & Quantum Mechanics
      Average customer rating: 2 out of 5 stars
      • Uninspired!
      Path Integrals in Physics Volume 1: Stochastic Process & Quantum Mechanics
      M. Chaichian , and A. Demichev
      Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
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      Binding: Hardcover

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      1. Path Integrals in Physics Volume 2: Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics & Other Modern Applications Path Integrals in Physics Volume 2: Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics & Other Modern Applications

      ASIN: 075030801X

      Book Description

      Path Integrals in Physics: Volume I, Stochastic Processes and Quantum Mechanics presents the fundamentals of path integrals, both the Wiener and Feynman type, and their many applications in physics. Accessible to a broad community of theoretical physicists, the book deals with systems possessing a infinite number of degrees in freedom. It discusses the general physical background and concepts of the path integral approach used, followed by a detailed presentation of the most typical and important applications as well as problems with either their solutions or hints how to solve them. It describes in detail various applications, including systems with Grassmann variables. Each chapter is self-contained and can be considered as an independent textbook. The book provides a comprehensive, detailed, and systematic account of the subject suitable for both students and experienced researchers.

      Customer Reviews:

      2 out of 5 stars Uninspired!.......2006-05-02

      Chaichian and Demichev (Vol-I) present a sampling of topics on the mathematical aspects of path integration. There is a second volume which then covers heavier topics (so to speak) such as gravity and quantum field theory. The comments here apply ONLY to the first volume.

      For the regular-Joe physicist (such as myself) who actually use path integrals in the "real world", there exists a perpetual inferiority complex about just how much of what we do (and that applies to almost all of mathematical physics) is "rigorously justified". At the same time, all the humdrum axioms and lemmas and proofs and gobbledygook notation is bearable to this group for maybe..what... two-three minutes, maybe?

      So, when I first learned that these authors were going to treat this topic with an audience from earth in mind, I was pretty excited.

      I was also very interested in the fact that they actually devote the first half of the presentation to the application of path-integrals to the topics of random movement which is of interest to (myself and) most applications outside of the academia. The second half of the book is devoted to the applications to non-relativistic quantum mechanics.

      Having frustratedly given up on a multitude of articles on the topic of mathematical aspects of path integration after the first few paragraphs, I, nonetheless, had the nagging feeling about just how deep can they go and still keep the presentation interesting to a physicist? The larger question is: just who the intended audience is? After all, the snobby "rigor" types won't even consider a tutorial format as legitimate, and those who just don't care about the rigor of the underlying mathematics, well, just don't care.

      In addition to those like myself who are anxious to know just enough about the rigor, it turns out, there is a fourth group: those who have sadly never heard about path integrals and want to learn just enough for intelligent conversation. I now believe that this book is (or at least, should be) intended for the latter group. Indeed, the preface itself says (p. ix par.5) "The book is intended for those who are familiar with the basic facts from classical and quantum mechanics". Alas it does not say exactly what these audience should expect to get out of this presentation. The preface does say (ibid. par.2) "This book expounds the fundamentals of path integrals...and their numerous applications in... physics". At that early juncture, one would wonder, just how do they intend to deliver on such a ambitious claim in only 320 pages; and it turns out that they don't.

      I skimmed the first half with excitement, since the treatment of the stochastic movement by path integrals, is never properly collected in any one place that I've seen (with the qualified exception of a small book by Wiegel-1986). The coverage is fairly broad but never deep. Each short section touches on the main ideas and outlines the computation. This is not necessarily a bad thing in order to inexorably cover maximum ground. What I especially liked were all the worked example problems which would serve the basis for some form of deeper understanding. If it weren't for these, methinks, the novice reader would hardly retain any of the material presented in (what is, at best) an outline fashion.

      The biggest disappointment in the section on stochastic movement was the implicit assumption of movement in dense media (hence the ubiquitous Wiener measure) in _all_ computations. I would have liked to see a mention of the fact that it is NOT always true that the variance of displacement is proportional to the first power of time-interval. This misconception is one that has misled the financial industry for nearly a century. I would have liked to see Feynman's approach to stochastic movement (a la Ch.12 Feynman&Hibbs) which elegantly shows a case where the variance goes like the cube of time-interval. Even in cases where the variance is linear in time, it only becomes thus, for times much longer than the interval between scatterings. Even in section 1.2.9 where the calculation starts free of the Wiener measure, the authors are anxious to go the large N regime where the path-integral once-again contains the Wiener measure.

      Back to general observations on the book: I found the presentation felt much like the samples of music tracks for CD's for sale on Amazon: a few bars and just as it is getting enticing, it's off to another topic. That's not so bad per se; what makes it frustrating is that the authors do not say where to get the full version. This, despite the fact that the sections seem like they have been cut and pasted (and often abridged) from other sources. Indeed that jibes with the fact that these pages were once the authors' lecture notes. I too would prepare lecture just that way, but there is a long way from printing lecture notes to writing a book, much less a treatise as claimed in par.2 of the preface. If it is true that the sections were paraphrased or lifted from various sources, why not just give those sources and let the reader pursue the topic further? That alone would have made this book worthwhile as a compilation. For this shortcoming I fault the editor at IOP as much as the authors; It is the editor's responsibility to ensure that a book is more than just a fancy print-out of notes by the typical physics-types who by far don't know clear writing from a brick. But I'm really sorry to say that it gets worse.

      The business of the missing citations started out as merely annoying. Until I noticed that certain cut-and-pastes are literal lifting of material from one of the sources on the topic I am familiar with. The book by Kleinert contains nearly everything any physicist needs to know about path integrals. It seems that these authors agree, alas, a little too well!!

      For example start with the _close_ similarity of equations 2.268, 2.269, and 2.270 (p.165) compared to those of 2.153, 2.154, and 2.155 of Kleinert (3rd ed. section 2.3.2. as of Apr-28-06). While the sequence is only "nearly" identical and the text is paraphrased, the "auxiliary frequency" trick introduced immediately following these equations (unnumbered on top of p. 166 vs. 2.156 Kleinert Apr-28-06 p.113) is identical even in the text preceding it. Since this trick is not found anywhere else in the literature (that I've seen), it stands to good reason for the authors to cite Kleinert. The near identical sequence of calculations continues through 2.2.74 completing the cloning of the section from Kleinert.

      There are more examples: pages 168 and 169 of the book seem copied of Kleinert section 2.4 and 2.4.1 on the Gelfand-Yaglom method, without proper citation.

      Then there is the nearly identical sequence, in the book's section 2.4.1 starting with eqn 2.4.15 compared to Kleinert's section 6.3 eqn 6.51, and the figure 2.3 compared to Kleinert Fig 6.3.

      Conversely, on pg 269 in the discussion on the Coulomb potential in 3D, the authors choose not to follow Kleinert, and to solve the path-integral using a "midpoint prescription". But then it begs the question: why not use some other choice: a post-point or pre-point. The best advice would have been to follow Kleinert's (ch.13) non-holonomic mapping technique. But that's just my preference.

      I imagine that similar "issues" relative to other published sources (with which I'm not familiar ) may well exit, as I had first surmised any lecture notes would contain. The problem is that proper citations are missing particularly in cases where novel methods or results have been copied or paraphrased, firstly as proper practice of publication, and secondly, for the sake of the reader should s/he wish to pursue the topic in more detail.

      The second half (as in the first half) proceeds in the same outline-esque, fast pace through major topics. As already alluded, this style's merits depend subjectively on the needs and the tastes of the reader.

      The first half of the book, being devoted to random movement (Wiener's idea) contains good tutorials on how to move between the path integral approach and the traditional differential-eqn approach to stochastic movement. I can't help but think that the students and applicators of path integral never seem to get quite past the psychological need to show that what they are doing is legit, and really the same as the more traditional differential-eqn approach. The first half of the book serves this particular need well, at least in the cases of the problems typically discussed in standard texts such as the diffusion equation and slightly more complex variations thereof.

      Let me cut to the chase here. To learn about path-integrals (for a physicist's purposes) one need only to own two books, the original lecture notes by Feynman (as written and edited by Hibbs) and the Kleinert's 3rd edition, as follow-on. Alas, the former is now out of print (a crime if you ask me), but I have been badgering Dover's editors to reprint it. It also contains many errors and typos; you can get a list of the corrections from me by email (write mathematicus at yahu). Kleinert's book is continually being expanded and corrected by him. He's been known to share individual chapters with other physicists in electronic format, look for him in Berlin.

      Finally, when deciding to write a book on a topic where so many distinguished texts exist, the new author should ask himself what is it that I am going to say, or what new point of view am I going to present that is new or different from the existing body of literature. It seems plain that neither the authors nor the editor asked this question before generating the book in its present form. At the present price I am hard pressed to recommend it.
      Path Integrals in Physics Volume 2: Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics & Other Modern Applications
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        Path Integrals in Physics Volume 2: Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics & Other Modern Applications
        M. Chaichian , and A. Demichev
        Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
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        Binding: Hardcover

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        1. Path Integrals in Physics Volume 1: Stochastic Process & Quantum Mechanics Path Integrals in Physics Volume 1: Stochastic Process & Quantum Mechanics

        ASIN: 0750308028

        Book Description

        The path integral approach has proved extremely useful for the understanding of the most complex problems in quantum field theory, cosmology, and condensed matter physics. Path Integrals in Physics: Volume II, Quantum Field Theory, Statistical Physics and other Modern Applications covers the fundamentals of path integrals, both the Wiener and Feynman types, and their many applications in physics. The book deals with systems that have an infinite number of degrees of freedom. It discusses the general physical background and concepts of the path integral approach used, followed by a detailed presentation of the most typical and important applications as well as problems with either their solutions or hints how to solve them. Each chapter is self-contained and can be considered as an independent textbook. It provides a comprehensive, detailed, and systematic account of the subject suitable for both students and experienced researchers.

        Trajectories and Rays: The Path-Summation in Quantum Mechanics and Optics (World Scientific Lecture Notes in Physics)
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Trajectories and Rays: The Path-Summation in Quantum Mechanics and Optics (World Scientific Lecture Notes in Physics)
          D. Mugnai , P. Moretti , and M. Cetica
          Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

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          ASIN: 9971507811
          Field Theory: A Modern Primer (Frontiers in Physics, Vol 74)
          Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
          • A grad student's viewpoint
          • A good book to learn Feynman diagrams
          Field Theory: A Modern Primer (Frontiers in Physics, Vol 74)
          Pierre Ramond
          Manufacturer: Perseus Books (Sd)
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

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          Similar Items:
          1. Quantum Field Theory Quantum Field Theory
          2. Lie Algebras in Particle Physics (Frontiers in Physics) Lie Algebras in Particle Physics (Frontiers in Physics)
          3. An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Frontiers in Physics) An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Frontiers in Physics)
          4. Aspects of Symmetry: Selected Erice Lectures Aspects of Symmetry: Selected Erice Lectures
          5. Quantum Field Theory Quantum Field Theory

          ASIN: 0201546116

          Book Description

          Field Theory presents the recent advances of perturbative relativistic field theory in a pedagogical and straightforward way. It will be of interest to graduate students who intend to specialize in high-energy physics.

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars A grad student's viewpoint.......2006-03-10

          This book, unlike "standard" texts like Peskin & Schroeder, deals more with the formal aspects of field theory, and may not be so useful for the person interested in phenomenology. Wilsonian RG is missing too, but it's a great place for an introduction to gauge theory. The misprints can be annoying, but at the same time keep you on your toes. The presentation is somewhat terse, and to work through a page of this book can be equivalent to working through several pages of another book, say Peskin & Schroeder.

          4 out of 5 stars A good book to learn Feynman diagrams.......2000-05-12

          A reader can learn how to compute the Green's functions and the scattering amplitudes using Feynman diagrams. The scalar Klein-Gordon field is used as a pedagogical example at the beginning. The philosophy of the path integral is used all over the book. However, the book does not emphasize the philosophy of the Wilson renormalization group and in this sense the primer is not modern. Nevertheless, Pierre Ramond is a pretty famous scientist and you can learn many things from this book.

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