An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

Physics textbook (1995) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory is a graduate textbook on quantum field theory and particle physics, written by Michael Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder. Commonly known as Peskin and Schroeder for short, it was originally published by Addison-Wesley in 1995.[1]

AuthorMichael Peskin
Daniel V. Schroeder
LanguageEnglish
SubjectQuantum field theory
Particle physics
PublisherAddison-Wesley
Quick facts Author, Language ...
An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
AuthorMichael Peskin
Daniel V. Schroeder
LanguageEnglish
SubjectQuantum field theory
Particle physics
PublisherAddison-Wesley
Publication date
1995
Publication placeMassachusetts, United States
ISBN0-201-50397-2
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Table of contents

The book is divided into three portions. The first covers quantum electrodynamics using Feynman diagrams, the second the Wilsonian approach to renormalization, and the third non-Abelian gauge theories and the Standard Model.[2] These parts are divided into chapters as follows:[1]

  1. Feynman Diagrams and Quantum Electrodynamics
    1. Invitation: Pair Production in e+ e- Annihilation
    2. The Klein–Gordon Field
    3. The Dirac Field
    4. Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams
    5. Elementary Processes of Quantum Electrodynamics
    6. Radiative Corrections: Introduction
    7. Radiative Corrections: Some Formal Developments
      Final Project: Radiation of Gluon Jets
  2. Renormalization
    1. Invitation: Ultraviolet Cutoffs and Critical Fluctuations
    2. Functional Methods
    3. Systematics of Renormalization
    4. Renormalization and Symmetry
    5. The Renormalization Group
    6. [a]Critical Exponents and Scalar Field Theory
      [a]Final Project: Coleman–Weinberg Potential
  3. Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
    1. Invitation: The Parton Model of Hadron Structure
    2. Non-Abelian Gauge Invariance
    3. Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
    4. Quantum Chromodynamics
    5. [a]Operator Products and Effective Vertices
    6. [a]Perturbation Theory Anomalies
    7. Gauge Theories with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
    8. Quantization of Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theories
      Final Project: Decays of the Higgs Boson
  4. Epilogue
    1. Quantum Field Theory at the Frontier

Reception

The textbook was well received when it was released and it has become a standard textbook in the field.[3][4][5][6] Emil Martinec praised how theory was developed in order to connect with experiments.[7] Martinec said that before the book, his students needed to consult many different sources.[7] Michelangelo Mangano writing for the CERN Courier indicated that the third chapter could be a book by itself and was previously not available in textbook form.[2]

Tom Banks praised Peskin and Schroeder's treatment of quantum electrodynamics (chapter 5) and Wilsonian renormalization.[8] Banks only criticized that Feynman rules were derived twice in the book, and that it omitted topics in the non-perturbative treatment of quantum field theory like color confinement and chiral symmetry breaking.[8]

Nima Arkani-Hamed considers the book by Peskin and Schroeder one of the two classics in the field, along with the 1964 Relativistic Quantum Mechanics by Sidney Drell and James Bjorken.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    Sections suggested to be omitted in less formal courses on particle physics.

References

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