Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur (Paperback)

Tom Lancaster, Stephen J. Blundell

  • 出版商: Oxford University
  • 出版日期: 2014-06-17
  • 售價: $2,230
  • 貴賓價: 9.5$2,119
  • 語言: 英文
  • 頁數: 512
  • 裝訂: Paperback
  • ISBN: 019969933X
  • ISBN-13: 9780199699339
  • 相關分類: 量子 Quantum
  • 立即出貨 (庫存 < 3)

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商品描述

<內容簡介>

Provides the curious amateur with a bridge from undergraduate physics to quantum field theory
Packed with worked examples, witty diagrams, and applications intended to introduce a new audience to this revolutionary theory
Mathematical steps clearly explained, providing careful help for those trying to learn the subject
A balance of particle physics and condensed matter applications makes the book accessible for all students, independent of background

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.

<章節目錄>

Overture
I: The Universe as a set of harmonic oscillators
1: Lagrangians
2: Simple harmonic oscillators
3: Occupation number representation
4: Making second quantization work
II: Writing down Lagrangians
5: Continuous systems
6: A first stab at relativistic quantum mechanics
7: Examples of Lagrangians, or how to write down a theory
III: The need for quantum fields
8: The passage of time
9: Quantum mechanical transformations
10: Symmetry
11: Canonical quantization of fields
12: Examples of canonical quantization
13: Fields with many components and massive electromagnetism
14: Gauge fields and gauge theory
15: Discrete transformations
IV: Propagators and perturbations
16: Ways of doing quantum mechanics: propagators and Green's functions
17: Propagators and Fields
18: The S-matrix
19: Expanding the S-matrix: Feynman diagrams
20: Scattering theory
V: Interlude: wisdom from statistical physics
21: Statistical physics: a crash course
22: The generating functional for fields
VI: Path Integrals
23: Path Integrals: I said to him, "You're crazy"
24: Field Integrals
25: Statistical field theory
26: Broken symmetry
27: Coherent states
28: Grassmann numbers: coherent states and the path integral for fermions
VII: Topological ideas
29: Topological objects
30: Topological field theory
VIII: Renormalization: taming the infinite
31: Renormalization, quasiparticles and the Fermi surface
32: Renormalization: the problem and its solution
33: Renormalization in action: propagators and Feynman diagrams
34: The renormalization group
35: Ferromagnetism: a renormalization group tutorial
IX: Putting a spin on QFT
36: The Dirac equation
37: How to transform a spinor
38: The quantum Dirac field
39: A rough guide to quantum electrodynamics
40: QED scattering: three famous cross sections
41: The renormalization of QED and two great results
X: Some applications from the world of condensed matter
42: Superfluids
43: The many-body problem and the metal
44: Superconductors
45: The fractional quantum Hall fluid
XI: Some applications from the world of particle physics
46: Non-abelian gauge theory
47: The Weinberg-Salam model
48: Majorana fermions
49: Magnetic monopoles
50: Instantons, tunnelling and the end of the world
Appendix A: Further reading
Appendix B: Useful complex analysis

商品描述(中文翻譯)

提供了一座從大學物理到量子場論的橋樑,讓好奇的業餘愛好者能夠理解這個革命性理論。書中充滿了實例、幽默的圖表和應用,旨在向新的讀者介紹這個理論。

清楚解釋了數學步驟,為那些試圖學習這個主題的人提供了仔細的幫助。

粒子物理和凝聚態應用的平衡使得這本書對所有學生都具有可讀性,不論他們的背景如何。

量子場論可以說是迄今為止最具影響力和美麗的物理理論,其各個方面經過了比其他任何物理理論更嚴格的測試和驗證。不幸的是,這個主題因其困難而聞名,其中包含著看似嚴峻的數學和一種特殊的圖表語言,這些都在一系列嚴肅的、針對有志從事專業人士的教科書中描述。然而,量子場論太重要、太美麗、太引人入勝,不能僅限於專業人士。這本關於量子場論的書旨在與眾不同。它由實驗物理學家撰寫,旨在為有興趣的業餘愛好者提供從大學物理到量子場論的橋樑。想像中的讀者是一位有天賦的業餘愛好者,擁有好奇和適應力強的思維,希望聽到一個有趣且智力刺激的故事,但如果一些數學細節被詳細解釋,他們也不會感到被輕視。通過大量的實例、圖表和仔細的物理解釋,這本書將為理解量子場論所提供的根本不同和革命性的物理世界觀鋪平道路,並讓所有物理學家有機會體驗到這種觀點。

目錄:
序言
I: 宇宙作為一組諧振子
1: 拉格朗日量
2: 簡單諧振子
3: 佔據數表示
4: 使二次量子化起作用
II: 寫出拉格朗日量
5: 連續系統
6: 對相對論量子力學的初步嘗試
7: 拉格朗日量的例子,或如何寫出一個理論
III: 量子場的必要性
8: 時間的流逝
9: 量子力學變換
10: 對稱性
11: 場的正規量子化
12: 正規量子化的例子
13: 具有多個分量和巨大電磁力學的場
14: 規範場和規範理論
15: 離散變換
IV: 傳播子和微擾
16: 傳播方式