ABSTRACT

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 |2 pages

Part I: Feynman Diagrams and Quantum Electrodynamics

chapter 2|22 pages

The Klein-Gordon Field

chapter 3|42 pages

The Dirac Field

chapter 4|54 pages

Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams

chapter 6|36 pages

Radiative Corrections: Introduction

chapter |4 pages

Final Project: Radiation of Gluon Jets

part |2 pages

Part II: Renormalization

chapter 9|40 pages

Functional Methods

chapter 10|32 pages

Systematics of Renormalization

chapter 11|46 pages

Renormalization and Symmetry

chapter 12|46 pages

The Renormalization Group

chapter 13|30 pages

Critical Exponents and Scalar Field Theory

part |2 pages

Part III: Non-Abelian Gauge Theories

chapter 15|24 pages

Non-Abelian Gauge Invariance

chapter 16|40 pages

Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories

chapter 17|54 pages

Quantum Chromodynamics

chapter 18|52 pages

Operator Products and Effective Vertices

chapter 19|38 pages

Perturbation Theory Anomalies

part |2 pages

Epilogue

chapter 22|20 pages

Quantum Field Theory at the Frontier