An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory

} An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory is a textbook intended for the graduate physics course covering relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, and Feynman diagrams. The authors make these subjects accessible through carefully worked examples illustrating the technical aspects of the subject, and intuitive explanations of what is going on behind the mathematics. After presenting the basics of quantum electrodynamics, the authors discuss the theory of renormalization and its relation to statistical mechanics, and introduce the renormalization group. This discussion sets the stage for a discussion of the physical principles that underlie the fundamental interactions of elementary particle physics and their description by gauge field theories. }

Part I: Feyman Diagrams and Quantum Elctrodynamics Invitation: Pair Production in e * r e ~ Annihilation The Klein Gordon Field The Dirac Field Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams Elementary Processes of Quantum Electrodynamics Radiative Corrections: Introduction Radiative Corrections: Some Formal Developments Part II: Renormalization Invitation: Ultraviolet Cutoffs and Critical Flucutations Functional Methods Systematics of Renormalization Renormalization and Symmetry The Renormalization Group Critical Exponents and Scalar Field Theory Part III: Non-Abelian Gauge Theories Invitation: The Parton Model of Hadron Structure Non-Abelian Gauge Invariance Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories Quantum Chromodynamics Operator Products and Effective Vertices Pertubation Theory Anomalies Gauge Theories with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking Quantization of Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theories Quantum Field Theory at the Frontier

Micheal E. Peskin received his doctorate in physics from Cornell University and has held research appointments in theoretical physics at Harvard, Cornell, and CEN Saclay. In 1982, he joined the stafff of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, where he is now Professor of Physics. Daniel V. Schroeder received his doctorate in physics from Stanford University in 1990. He held visiting appointments at Pomona College and Grinnell College before joining the faculty of Weber State University, where he is now Associate Professor of Physics.