Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

Description

Quantum Field Theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding fields and the particles associated with them, and is the basis of particle physics and condensed matter research. This graduate level textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to quantum field theory, giving equal emphasis to operator and path integral formalisms. It covers modern research such as helicity spinors, BCFW construction and generalized unitarity cuts; as well as treating advanced topics including BRST quantization, loop equations, and finite temperature field theory. Various quantum fields are described, including scalar and fermionic fields, Abelian vector fields and Quantum ElectroDynamics (QED), and finally non-Abelian vector fields and Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD). Applications to scattering cross sections in QED and QCD are also described. Each chapter ends with exercises and an important concepts section, allowing students to identify the key aspects of the chapter and test their understanding.

Horatiu Nastase is a Researcher at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo. To date, his career has spanned four continents. As an undergraduate he studied at the Universitatea din Bucuresti and Kobenhavns Universitet. He later completed his Ph.D. at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, before moving to the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, New Jersey, where his collaboration with David Berenstein and Juan Maldacena defined the pp-wave correspondence. He has also held research and teaching positions at Brown University, Rhode Island and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His other books include Introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence (Cambridge, 2015), String Theory Methods for Condensed Matter Physics (Cambridge, 2017) and Classical Field Theory (Cambridge, 2019).