Quantum field theory for the gifted amateur / Tom Lancaster, Department of Physics, University of Durham, Stephen J. Blundell, Department of Physics, University of Oxford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lancaster, Tom, author.

Blundell, Stephen, 1967- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quantum field theory.

Quantum field theory--Amateurs' manuals.

Quantum field theory--Problems, exercises, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (505 p.)

Edition:

First Edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Quantum field theory is arguably the most far-reaching and beautiful physical theory ever constructed, with aspects more stringently tested and verified to greater precision than any other theory in physics. Unfortunately, the subject has gained a notorious reputation for difficulty, with forbidding looking mathematics and a peculiar diagrammatic language described in an array of unforgiving, weighty textbooks aimed firmly at aspiring professionals. However, quantum field theory is too important, too beautiful, and too engaging to be restricted to the professionals. This book on quantum field theory is designed to be different. It is written by experimental physicists and aims to provide the interested amateur with a bridge from undergraduate physics to quantum field theory. The imagined reader is a gifted amateur, possessing a curious and adaptable mind, looking to be told an entertaining and intellectually stimulating story, but who will not feel patronised if a few mathematical niceties are spelled out in detail. Using numerous worked examples, diagrams, and careful physically motivated explanations, this book will smooth the path towards understanding the radically different and revolutionary view of the physical world that quantum field theory provides, and which all physicists should have the opportunity to experience.-- Source other than Library of Congress.

Contents:

""Cover""; ""Preface""; ""Contents""; ""0 Overture""; ""0.1 What is quantum field theory?""; ""0.2 What is a field?""; ""0.3 Who is this book for?""; ""0.4 Special relativity""; ""0.5 Fourier transforms""; ""0.6 Electromagnetism""; ""Part I The Universe as a set of harmonic oscillators""; ""1 Lagrangians""; ""1.1 Fermat�s principle""; ""1.2 Newton�s laws""; ""1.3 Functionals""; ""1.4 Lagrangians and least action""; ""1.5 Why does it work?""; ""Exercises""; ""2 Simple harmonic oscillators""; ""2.1 Introduction""; ""2.2 Mass on a spring""; ""2.3 A trivial generalization""; ""2.4 Phonons""

""Exercises""""3 Occupation number representation""; ""3.1 A particle in a box""; ""3.2 Changing the notation""; ""3.3 Replace state labels with operators""; ""3.4 Indistinguishability and symmetry""; ""3.5 The continuum limit""; ""Exercises""; ""4 Making second quantization work""; ""4.1 Field operators""; ""4.2 How to second quantize an operator""; ""4.3 The kinetic energy and the tight-binding Hamiltonian""; ""4.4 Two particles""; ""4.5 The Hubbard model""; ""Exercises""; ""Part II Writing down Lagrangians""; ""5 Continuous systems""; ""5.1 Lagrangians and Hamiltonians""

""5.2 A charged particle in an electromagnetic field""""5.3 Classical fields""; ""5.4 Lagrangian and Hamiltonian density""; ""Exercises""; ""6 A first stab at relativistic quantum mechanics""; ""6.1 The Kleinâ€?Gordon equation""; ""6.2 Probability currents and densities""; ""6.3 Feynmanâ€?s interpretation of the negative energy states""; ""6.4 No conclusions""; ""Exercises""; ""7 Examples of Lagrangians, or how to write down a theory""; ""7.1 A massless scalar field""; ""7.2 A massive scalar field""; ""7.3 An external source""; ""7.4 The Ï?4 theory""; ""7.5 Two scalar fields""

""10.1 Invariance and conservation""""10.2 Noether�s theorem""; ""10.3 Spacetime translation""; ""10.4 Other symmetries""; ""Exercises""; ""11 Canonical quantization of fields""; ""11.1 The canonical quantization machine""; ""11.2 Normalizing factors""; ""11.3 What becomes of the Hamiltonian?""; ""11.4 Normal ordering""; ""11.5 The meaning of the mode expansion""; ""Exercises""; ""12 Examples of canonical quantization""; ""12.1 Complex scalar field theory""; ""12.2 Noether�s current for complex scalar field theory""; ""12.3 Complex scalar field theory in the non-relativistic limit""

""Exercises""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 467-472) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version

ISBN:

9780191510939

0191510939

9780199699339

019969933X

9780191779435

0191779431

OCLC:

908634794