Buch, Englisch, 792 Seiten, Format (B × H): 175 mm x 250 mm, Gewicht: 1523 g
Buch, Englisch, 792 Seiten, Format (B × H): 175 mm x 250 mm, Gewicht: 1523 g
ISBN: 978-0-19-957326-4
Verlag: ACADEMIC
The book attempts to provide an introduction to quantum field theory emphasizing conceptual issues frequently neglected in more "utilitarian" treatments of the subject. The book is divided into four parts, entitled respectively "Origins", "Dynamics", "Symmetries", and "Scales". The emphasis is conceptual - the aim is to build the theory up systematically from some clearly stated foundational concepts - and therefore to a large extent anti-historical, but two historical Chapters ("Origins") are included to situate quantum field theory in the larger context of modern physical theories. The three remaining sections of the book follow a step by step reconstruction of this framework beginning with just a few basic assumptions: relativistic invariance, the basic principles of quantum mechanics, and the prohibition of physical action at a distance embodied in the clustering principle. The ``Dynamics" section of the book lays out the basic structure of quantum field theory arising from the sequential insertion of quantum-mechanical, relativistic and locality constraints. The central role of symmetries in relativistic quantum field theories is explored in the third section of the book, while in the final section, entitled "Scales", we explore in detail the feature of quantum field theories most critical for their enormous phenomenological success - the scale separation property embodied by the renormalization group properties of a theory defined by an effective local Lagrangian.The book includes a wide range of problems at chapter ends. Solutions can be requested via the publisher's web site.
Zielgruppe
Students of Physics, History of Physics, and Philosophy of Physics.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
- Part I: Origins
- 1: From the Arrow of Time to the First Quantum Field
- 2: Gestation and Birth of Interacting Field Theory- From Dirac to Shelter Island
- Part II: Dynamics
- 3: The Physical Ingredients of Quantum Field Theory - Dynamics, Symmetries, Scales
- 4: Quantum Mechanical Preliminaries
- 5: Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
- 6: Aspects of Locality - Clustering, Microcausality, and Analyticity
- 7: Construction of Local Covariant Fields
- 8: The Classical Limit of Quantum Fields
- 9: Interacting Fields- General Aspects
- 10: Interacting Fields- Perturbative Aspects
- 11: Interacting Fields - Nonperturbative Aspects
- Part III: Symmetries
- 12: Continuous Space-time Symmetry - Why we need Lagrangians in Field Theory
- 13: Discrete Space-time Symmetries
- 14: Global Symmetries in Field Theory
- 15: Local Symmetries in Field Theory
- Part IV: Scales
- 16: Scale Sensitivity of Field Theory Amplitudes and Effective Field Theories
- 17: Perturbatively Renormalizable Field Theories
- 18: Short-distance Structure of Quantum Field Theory
- 19: Long-distance Structure of Quantum Field Theory
