A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Oxford Master Series in Statistical, Computational, and Theoretical Physics) [Paperback]

Michele Maggiore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0198520743 | ISBN-13: 978-0198520740

The importance and the beauty of modern quantum field theory resides in the power and variety of its methods and ideas, which find application in domains as different as particle physics, cosmology, condensed matter, statistical mechanics and critical phenomena. This book introduces the reader to the modern developments in a manner which assumes no previous knowledge of quantum field theory. Along with standard topics like Feynman diagrams, the book discusses effective lagrangians, renormalization group equations, the path integral formulation, spontaneous symmetry breaking and non-abelian gauge theories. The inclusion of more advanced topics will also make this a most useful book for graduate students and researchers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Maggiore has compiled and systematized notes for his two-semester advanced undergraduate course introducing quantum field theoryHe highlights the power and variety of the theory's methods and ideas, and how they can be applied to domains as different as particle physics, cosmology, condensed matter, statistical mechanics, and critical phenomena."--SciTech Book News

About the Author

Michele Maggiore is Professor of Physics at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198520743
• ISBN-13: 978-0198520740
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics > Particle Physics
  • #72 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Solid-State Physics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book For Quickly Learning The Meat Of QFT, June 13, 2007

By 

Joseph Smidt (Provo, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Oxford Master Series in Statistical, Computational, and Theoretical Physics) (Hardcover)

This book is short and to the point. The author has a good sense for the heart of the subject and how to present it in an efficient way. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to either a.) learn the meat of QFT quickly or b.) wants a good reference which quickly reviews the most important parts of QFT. Since the technical details are important, I would highly recommend using this book in conjunction with a book with more technical details like the one by Peskin and Schroeder. (However, this book does have a lot of good information for its size.) Reading this book will help catalyze your understanding of the details in a more technical book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clean and understandable, January 17, 2008

By 

Dan Stahlke (Fairbanks, AK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Oxford Master Series in Statistical, Computational, and Theoretical Physics) (Hardcover)

This book presents the basics of QFT in a form that is very understandable. The author starts by presenting Lie algebra, which is used to justify spinors. A spinor Lagrangian then creates the Dirac equation. This approach makes the Dirac equation seem as natural as the Maxwell equation. I have previously seen two other books that took the approach of taking Schrodinger's equation and relativity and mashing the two together using Pauli matrices as glue. That never sat well with me and I was glad to see some justification. The clear, consistent, modern notation was a great help - I have seen other books that mix Einstein notation with bold-face 4-vectors using dot products, etc. I also found it helpful to have a concise book to introduce the concepts without getting bogged down in examples with equations spanning the entire page (this book does however have examples at the end of the chapters).

The next chapters introduce quantization, perturbation theory, non-abelian theories, etc. I only got through half the book as it was just some summer reading for me, but paging through the latter half makes me look forward to having the time to finish it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting approach with dense chapters, September 17, 2009

By 

J. Pitts - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Oxford Master Series in Statistical, Computational, and Theoretical Physics) (Paperback)

I like the approach of this book in the sense that it first treats groups and the transformations that comprise representations of the groups. Then it moves to the construction of various spinor fields. Only once the full equipment of transformations on these fields has been explained, does the book move into Lagrangian field theory. Then, finally, it treats the quantization of the fields. For a first field theory text (which this is for me) I like this approach because it shows the more exciting and exotic material at the very beginning.

Though I like the broad arrangement of the material, individual sections can be a bit obtuse from time to time. They are very dense and frequently seek to explain things in the most general sense, even when the most general sense is not the clearest or most intuitive.