From Classical to Quantum Fields

Quantum Field Theory has become the universal language of most modern theoretical physics. This introductory textbook shows how this beautiful theory offers the correct mathematical framework to describe and understand the fundamental interactions of elementary particles. The book begins with a brief reminder of basic classical field theories, electrodynamics and general relativity, as well as their symmetry properties, and proceeds with the principles of quantisation following Feynman's path integral approach. Special care is used at every step to illustrate the correct mathematical formulation of the underlying assumptions. Gauge theories and the problems encountered in their quantisation are discussed in detail. The last chapters contain a full description of the Standard Model of particle physics and the attempts to go beyond it, such as grand unified theories and supersymmetry. Written for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in physics and mathematics, the book could also serve as a reference for active researchers in the field.

• Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics
• Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: An Exploration of the Physical Meaning of Quantum Theory (Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics)
• Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists
• Gravitation
• Quantum Field Theory I: Foundations and Abelian and Non-Abelian Gauge Theories (Graduate Texts in Physics)
• Quantum Theory: A Wide Spectrum
• Cosmology for the Curious
• Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
• Spacetime And Geometry: An Introduction To General Relativity
• Tensors made easy