Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell - Hardcover

Zee, A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691140340 ISBN 13: 9780691140346

Verlag: Princeton Univers. Press, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

A fully updated edition of the classic text by acclaimed physicist A. Zee

Since it was first published, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell has quickly established itself as the most accessible and comprehensive introduction to this profound and deeply fascinating area of theoretical physics. Now in this fully revised and expanded edition, A. Zee covers the latest advances while providing a solid conceptual foundation for students to build on, making this the most up-to-date and modern textbook on quantum field theory available.

This expanded edition features several additional chapters, as well as an entirely new section describing recent developments in quantum field theory such as gravitational waves, the helicity spinor formalism, on-shell gluon scattering, recursion relations for amplitudes with complex momenta, and the hidden connection between Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity. Zee also provides added exercises, explanations, and examples, as well as detailed appendices, solutions to selected exercises, and suggestions for further reading.

• The most accessible and comprehensive introductory textbook available
• Features a fully revised, updated, and expanded text
• Covers the latest exciting advances in the field
• Includes new exercises
• Offers a one-of-a-kind resource for students and researchers

Leading universities that have adopted this book include:

• Arizona State University
• Boston University
• Brandeis University
• Brown University
• California Institute of Technology
• Carnegie Mellon
• College of William & Mary
• Cornell
• Harvard University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• Princeton University
• Purdue University - Main Campus
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Rutgers University - New Brunswick
• Stanford University
• University of California - Berkeley
• University of Central Florida
• University of Chicago
• University of Michigan
• University of Montreal
• University of Notre Dame
• Vanderbilt University
• Virginia Tech University

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

A. Zee is professor of physics and a permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics (Princeton).

Von der hinteren Coverseite

"A beautiful exposition of the way modern field theorists think about quantum field theory, packed with insights and physical intuition. Zee's book should be required reading for every serious student of the subject."--Nima Arkani-Hamed, Institute for Advanced Study

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Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell

By A. Zee

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2010 Princeton University Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-14034-6

Contents

Preface to the First Edition...........................................................................................xvPreface to the Second Edition..........................................................................................xixConvention, Notation, and Units........................................................................................xxvI.1 Who Needs It?...................................................................................................3I.2 Path Integral Formulation of Quantum Physics....................................................................7I.3 From Mattress to Field..........................................................................................17I.4 From Field to Particle to Force.................................................................................26I.5 Coulomb and Newton: Repulsion and Attraction....................................................................32I.6 Inverse Square Law and the Floating 3-Brane.....................................................................40I.7 Feynman Diagrams................................................................................................43I.8 Quantizing Canonically..........................................................................................61I.9 Disturbing the Vacuum...........................................................................................70I.10 Symmetry........................................................................................................76I.11 Field Theory in Curved Spacetime................................................................................81I.12 Field Theory Redux..............................................................................................88II.1 The Dirac Equation..............................................................................................93II.2 Quantizing the Dirac Field......................................................................................107II.3 Lorentz Group and Weyl Spinors..................................................................................114II.4 Spin-Statistics Connection......................................................................................120II.5 Vacuum Energy, Grassmann Integrals, and Feynman Diagrams for Fermions...........................................123II.6 Electron Scattering and Gauge Invariance........................................................................132II.7 Diagrammatic Proof of Gauge Invariance..........................................................................144II.8 Photon-Electron Scattering and Crossing.........................................................................152III.1 Cutting Off Our Ignorance.......................................................................................161III.2 Renormalizable versus Nonrenormalizable.........................................................................169III.3 Counterterms and Physical Perturbation Theory...................................................................173III.4 Gauge Invariance: A Photon Can Find No Rest.....................................................................182III.5 Field Theory without Relativity.................................................................................190III.6 The Magnetic Moment of the Electron.............................................................................194III.7 Polarizing the Vacuum and Renormalizing the Charge..............................................................200III.8 Becoming Imaginary and Conserving Probability...................................................................207IV.1 Symmetry Breaking...............................................................................................223IV.2 The Pion as a Nambu-Goldstone Boson.............................................................................231IV.3 Effective Potential.............................................................................................237IV.4 Magnetic Monopole...............................................................................................245IV.5 Nonabelian Gauge Theory.........................................................................................253IV.6 The Anderson-Higgs Mechanism....................................................................................263IV.7 Chiral Anomaly..................................................................................................270V.1 Superfluids.....................................................................................................283V.2 Euclid, Boltzmann, Hawking, and Field Theory at Finite Temperature..............................................287V.3 Landau-Ginzburg Theory of Critical Phenomena....................................................................292V.4 Superconductivity...............................................................................................295V.5 Peierls Instability.............................................................................................298V.6 Solitons........................................................................................................302V.7 Vortices, Monopoles, and Instantons.............................................................................306VI.1 Fractional Statistics, Chern-Simons Term, and Topological Field Theory..........................................315VI.2 Quantum Hall Fluids.............................................................................................322VI.3 Duality.........................................................................................................331VI.4 The s Models as Effective Field Theories........................................................................340VI.5 Ferromagnets and Antiferromagnets...............................................................................344VI.6 Surface Growth and Field Theory.................................................................................347VI.7 Disorder: Replicas and Grassmannian Symmetry....................................................................350VI.8 Renormalization Group Flow as a Natural Concept in High Energy and Condensed Matter Physics.....................356VII.1 Quantizing Yang-Mills Theory and Lattice Gauge Theory...........................................................371VII.2 Electroweak Unification.........................................................................................379VII.3 Quantum Chromodynamics..........................................................................................385VII.4 Large N Expansion...............................................................................................394VII.5 Grand Unification...............................................................................................407VII.6 Protons Are Not Forever.........................................................................................413VII.7 SO(10) Unification..............................................................................................421VIII.1 Gravity as a Field Theory and the Kaluza-Klein Picture..........................................................433VIII.2 The Cosmological Constant Problem and the Cosmic Coincidence Problems...........................................448VIII.3 Effective...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Princeton Univers. Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0691140340
• ISBN 13: 9780691140346
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 576
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar