Quantum Field Theory In A Nutshell (second Edition)

By (author) Zee, A.
Short description/annotation
Covers the advances in the field while providing a conceptual foundation for students to build on quantum field theory available. This title includes exercises, explanations, and examples, as well as detailed appendices, solutions to selected exercises, and suggestions for further reading.
Description
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
Table of contents
Preface xi Convention, Notation, and Units xv PART I: MOTIVATION AND FOUNDATION I.1 Who Needs It? 3 I.2 Path Integral Formulation of Quantum Physics 7 I.3 From Mattress to Field 16 I.4 From Field to Particle to Force 24 I.5 Coulomb and Newton: Repulsion and Attraction 30 I.6 Inverse Square Law and the Floating 3-Brane 38 I.7 Feynman Diagrams 41 I.8 Quantizing Canonically and Disturbing the Vacuum.61 I.9 Symmetry 70 I.10 Field Theory in Curved Spacetime 76 I.11 Field Theory Redux 84 PART II: DIRAC AND THE SPINOR II.1 The Dirac Equation 89 II.2 Quantizing the Dirac Field 103 II.3 Lorentz Group and Weyl Spinors 111 II.4 Spin-Statistics Connection 117 II.5 Vacuum Energy, Grassmann Integrals, and Feynman Diagrams for Fermions 121 II.6 Electron Scattering and Gauge Invariance130 II.7 Diagrammatic Proof of Gauge Invariance135 PART III: RENORMALIZATION AND GAUGE INVARIANCE III.1 Cutting Off Our Ignorance 145 III.2 Renormalizable versus Nonrenormalizable154 III.3 Counterterms and Physical Perturbation Theory 158 III.4 Gauge Invariance: A Photon Can Find No Rest 167 III.5 Field Theory without Relativity 172 III.6 The Magnetic Moment of the Electron 177 III.7 Polarizing the Vacuum and Renormalizing the Charge.183 PART IV: SYMMETRY AND SYMMETRY BREAKING IV.1 Symmetry Breaking 193 IV.2 The Pion as a Nambu-Goldstone Boson 202 IV.3 Effective Potential 208 IV.4 Magnetic Monopole 217 IV.5 Nonabelian Gauge Theory 226 IV.6 The Anderson-Higgs Mechanism 236 IV.7 Chiral Anomaly 243 PART V: FIELD THEORY AND COLL