QUANTUM FIELD THEORY, BEYOND MERES

Let me put it this way: I consider a serious mistake for any student NOT to use this book as their first book in Quantum Field Theory. This book is the absolute must for any beginner before he or she moves on into the "fancier" books of the field.

It starts smoothly and someone need only have a basic course in quantum mechanics and analytical (Lagrangian) dynamics. The nice thing about the book is that it is SELF CONTAINED. You start from chapter one and you can go along through the end without ever needing to open any other book. Everything is in there. Also it has nice and very helpfull appendices that have gothered all the formulae, conventions and diagrams that you need in order to calculat any electroweak cross section.

In this book you will learn all the story about canonical quantization in a very clear and informative way. I consider a CRIME for a physics student to start learning Quantum Field Theory with the path integral approach. You loose immedately the physical picture and the particle content of the theory because you are confronted right from the start with mathematical structures that you have never seen and handling them correctly takes away the physics content of the subject. Believe me I have been there! With Mandl you will always be close to the quantum of the field ,which is the particle, you will see it right in fron of your eyes beeing created, propagated and then annihilated, and you will have a clear picture of what is really going on (quantum theory permitting of course).

Mandl gives you right from the beginning all the tricks and tools of the trade for calculating Feynman diagrams. After reading and understanding this book I personally guarantee to you that will be able to calculate any first order diagram in the electro-weak theory and a lot of higher order diagrams too. He introduces in a very pleasant way the trace theorems and the tricks in order to calculate cross sections.

His treatment of the electroweak Lagrangian is superb. He really starts from the beginning and slowly builds up writing down the whole Lagrangian, its symmetries and its uses. His treatment of the gauge symmetry is a real beauty. It really opens your mind. I could go on forever writting about this great book and how much it helped me cope with this difficult for beginners field. You will not be lost in difficult mathematics that will take away from you the real physics and on the other hand you dont loose anything. He has exactly the right material for a first rigorous course in Quantum Field Theory. His treatment of renormalization is also great.

I consider Mandl to be one of the most prominent pedagogists in the physics field and I have the utmost respect for him. The reason for this is that I have gained a very strong background in both Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics just by reading his books.

The serious student of particle physics will eventually have to move on to the path integral approach, renormalization of the electro-weak theory, renormalization group, QCD etc. BUT without having a solid background in the topics included in Mandl's book this effort will be fruitless and frustrating. Take my word for it.

This book is an introduction to QFT for beginners. It starts from basic lagrangian and hamiltonian formalism, outlines a basic but selfcontained treatment of the bosonic and fermionic free fields; the focus shifts then to interacting fields and introduces the concept of radiative corrections with several examples; gauge theories are then presented in a simple form and the Standard Model of electroweak interactions is described briefly. Simple exercises in every chapter.

There is an old debate in quantum physics: Do we consider particles or waves? Some believe that debate was concluded by Wigner's work, which says *loosely* that particles are sets of quantum numbers arising as excitations of a given quantum field. The quantum field in turn is an effective structure appearing at low energies due to three fundamental properties of our world: Clustering, relativity, and basic quantum mechanics.

However, the above picture assumes regimes far from strong gravitational fields. In the case of such fields Hawking radiation, and black hole thermodynamics arise, which forces one back to the old question: Do we consider waves or particles. This plot thickens when one considers the fact that in strict general relativity global symmetries, and subsequently conserved quantities such as energy, are special cases within the space of all classical configurations. How do we then go about constructing particle quantum numbers --- which are the origin of the classical conserved quantities --- in a strongly curved circumstance?

Wald's text shows us exactly a method for doing so and more. In Wald's `QFT in Curved Spacetime and Black Hole Thermodynamics' fields are given primary status and explicit consideration of the symplectic spaces, manifolds and geometry associated with the classical space of solutions is made. As an example, the Klein Gordon scalar field is considered in detail. Having completed that task quantization in a geometric manner is possible and carried out in Rindler's geometry --- and others --- where Unruh's effect can be seen. Black hole thermodynamics is derived carefully in this text and its relation to Hawking radiation is precisely shown using all previous techniques presented in the document.

This is a text that is not served by skipping around. Everything here is truly relevant and worth the read. Wald is a true master at conveying in words the tension and solutions of GR and this text clearly describes the motivation, problems and solutions associated with QFT on curved backgrounds.

I could not imagine that one can
explain so much field theory concept in 500 pages.
I taught QFT during the fall of
2002, I regret that I did not have Professor Zee's book.

One characteristic which distinguishes this book from ordinary physics books is that it is written by a human physicist for other humans!

This text on quantum field theory is filled with charming psychology of physicists. It not only teaches up-to-date quantum field theory, but also tells readers how research is actually done and shows how to think about physics. For example, it is told how Yang-Mills theory was born out of one of the greatest minds in the history of physics. It is also told how theorists and experimentalists live with each other. Readers can even know about how a life in physics is like, say, through the career of Confusio. These may belong to what people usually say `cannot be learned from books'.

This book is in the same style as ``Fearful Symmetry'' and ``Einstein's Universe'', two `popular' physics books. I think one can recognize that they are written by the same author merely by reading the texts. I have to use quotation marks for the word `popular', as those two books geneuinely teach physics, with a same taste as this quantum field theory book except with less technical details.

QUANTUM FIELD THEORY, REV.ED. By: F. Mandl and G. Shaw read the reviews ... The one and only book for the beginner.
Let me put it this way: I consider a serious mistake for any student NOT to use this book as their first book in Quantum Field Theory. This book is the absolute must for any beginner before he or she moves on into the "fancier" books of the field. It starts smoothly and someone need only have a basic course in quantum mechanics and analytical (Lagrangian) dynamics. The nice thing about the book is that it is SELF CONTAINED. You start from chapter one and you can go along through the end without ever needing to open any other book. Everything is in there. Also it has nice and very helpfull appendices that have gothered all the formulae, conventions and diagrams that you need in order to calculat any electroweak cross section. In this book you will learn all the story about canonical quantization in a very clear and informative way. I consider a CRIME for a physics student to start learning Quantum Field Theory with the path integral approach. You loose immedately the physical picture and the particle content of the theory because you are confronted right from the start with mathematical structures that you have never seen and handling them correctly takes away the physics content of the subject. Believe me I have been there! With Mandl you will always be close to the quantum of the field ,which is the particle, you will see it right in fron of your eyes beeing created, propagated and then annihilated, and you will have a clear picture of what is really going on (quantum theory permitting of course). Mandl gives you right from the beginning all the tricks and tools of the trade for calculating Feynman diagrams. After reading and understanding this book I personally guarantee to you that will be able to calculate any first order diagram in the electro-weak theory and a lot of higher order diagrams too. He introduces in a very pleasant way the trace theorems and the tricks in order to calculate cross sections. His treatment of the electroweak Lagrangian is superb. He really starts from the beginning and slowly builds up writing down the whole Lagrangian, its symmetries and its uses. His treatment of the gauge symmetry is a real beauty. It really opens your mind. I could go on forever writting about this great book and how much it helped me cope with this difficult for beginners field. You will not be lost in difficult mathematics that will take away from you the real physics and on the other hand you dont loose anything. He has exactly the right material for a first rigorous course in Quantum Field Theory. His treatment of renormalization is also great. I consider Mandl to be one of the most prominent pedagogists in the physics field and I have the utmost respect for him. The reason for this is that I have gained a very strong background in both Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics just by reading his books. The serious student of particle physics will eventually have to move on to the path integral approach, renormalization of the electro-weak theory, renormalization group, QCD etc. BUT without having a solid background in the topics included in Mandl's book this effort will be fruitless and frustrating. Take my word for it.
Clear and very simple
This book is an introduction to QFT for beginners. It starts from basic lagrangian and hamiltonian formalism, outlines a basic but selfcontained treatment of the bosonic and fermionic free fields; the focus shifts then to interacting fields and introduces the concept of radiative corrections with several examples; gauge theories are then presented in a simple form and the Standard Model of electroweak interactions is described briefly. Simple exercises in every chapter.


Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime and Black Hole Thermodynamics By: Robert M. Wald
There is an old debate in quantum physics: Do we consider particles or waves? Some believe that debate was concluded by Wigner's work, which says loosely that particles are sets of quantum numbers arising as excitations of a given quantum field. The quantum field in turn is an effective structure appearing at low energies due to three fundamental properties of our world: Clustering, relativity, and basic quantum mechanics. However, the above picture assumes regimes far from strong gravitational fields. In the case of such fields Hawking radiation, and black hole thermodynamics arise, which forces one back to the old question: Do we consider waves or particles. This plot thickens when one considers the fact that in strict general relativity global symmetries, and subsequently conserved quantities such as energy, are special cases within the space of all classical configurations. How do we then go about constructing particle quantum numbers --- which are the origin of the classical conserved quantities --- in a strongly curved circumstance? Wald's text shows us exactly a method for doing so and more. In Wald's `QFT in Curved Spacetime and Black Hole Thermodynamics' fields are given primary status and explicit consideration of the symplectic spaces, manifolds and geometry associated with the classical space of solutions is made. As an example, the Klein Gordon scalar field is considered in detail. Having completed that task quantization in a geometric manner is possible and carried out in Rindler's geometry --- and others --- where Unruh's effect can be seen. Black hole thermodynamics is derived carefully in this text and its relation to Hawking radiation is precisely shown using all previous techniques presented in the document. This is a text that is not served by skipping around. Everything here is truly relevant and worth the read. Wald is a true master at conveying in words the tension and solutions of GR and this text clearly describes the motivation, problems and solutions associated with QFT on curved backgrounds.

QUANTUM FIELD THEORY IN A NUTSHELL By: Anthony Zee Conceptual Clarity
I could not imagine that one can explain so much field theory concept in 500 pages. I taught QFT during the fall of 2002, I regret that I did not have Professor Zee's book.
Quantum Fields Forever!
One characteristic which distinguishes this book from ordinary physics books is that it is written by a human physicist for other humans! This text on quantum field theory is filled with charming psychology of physicists. It not only teaches up-to-date quantum field theory, but also tells readers how research is actually done and shows how to think about physics. For example, it is told how Yang-Mills theory was born out of one of the greatest minds in the history of physics. It is also told how theorists and experimentalists live with each other. Readers can even know about how a life in physics is like, say, through the career of Confusio. These may belong to what people usually say `cannot be learned from books'. This book is in the same style as ``Fearful Symmetry'' and ``Einstein's Universe'', two `popular' physics books. I think one can recognize that they are written by the same author merely by reading the texts. I have to use quotation marks for the word `popular', as those two books geneuinely teach physics, with a same taste as this quantum field theory book except with less technical details.