Description
Written by world-leading experts in particle physics, this new book from Luciano Maiani and Omar Benhar, with contributions from the late Nicola Cabibbo, is based on Feynman’s path integrals. Key elements of gauge theories are described—Feynman diagrams, gauge-fixing, Faddeev-Popov ghosts—as well as renormalization in Quantum Electrodynamics. Quarks and QCD interactions are introduced. Renormalization group and high momentum behaviour of the coupling constants is discussed in QED and QCD, with asymptotic freedom derived at one-loop. These concepts are related to the Higgs boson and models of grand unification.
"… an excellent introduction to the quantum theory of gauge fields and their applications to particle physics. … It will be an excellent book for the serious student and a good reference for the professional practitioner. Let me add that, scattered through the pages, we can find occasional traces of Nicola Cabibbo's style."
—John Iliopoulos, CNRS-Ecole Normale Supérieure
"
… The volume ends with an illuminating description of the expectation generated by the recent discovery of the Higgs boson, combined with the lack of evidence for super-symmetric particles in the mass range 0.6-1 TeV."
—Arturo Menchaca-Rocha, FinstP, Professor of Physics, Mexico’s National Autonomous University, Former President of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, Presidential Advisor
"…The reader is masterfully guided through the subtleties of the quantum field theory and elementary particle physics from simple examples in Quantum Mechanics to salient details of modern theory."
—Mikhail Voloshin, Professor of Physics, University of Minnesota
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Feynman Path Integral
Towards a Field Theory
Equations of Motion, Symmetries, and Ward's Identitiy
The Electromagnetic Field
Fermion Fields
Scattering Processes and the S-Matrix
Perturbative Green's Functions in Λϕ4
S-Matrix Feynman Diagrams in Λϕ4
Quantum Electrodynamics
Renormalization of QED
Applications of QED
Renormalization Group of QED
Quantizing a Non-Abelian Theory
The Beta Function in QCD
Unitarity and Ghosts
Effective Constants at High Energy and Ideas about Grand Unification
Limits on the Mass of the Higgs Boson
The Weak Muon Anomaly
Effective Potential and Naturalness
Appendix A: Transition Amplitude Calculation
Appendix B: Connected Diagrams
Appendix C: Lorentz Invariance and One Particle States
Appendix D: Reduction Formulae
Appendix E: Integrals
Appendix F: Beta Functions
Bibliography
