This is the second volume of a modern introduction to quantum field theory which addresses both mathematicians and physicists ranging from advanced undergraduate students to professional scientists. This book seeks to bridge the existing gap between the different languages used by mathematicians and physicists.
For students of mathematics it is shown that detailed knowledge of the physical background helps to discover interesting interrelationships between quite diverse mathematical topics. For students of physics fairly advanced mathematics, beyond that included in the usual curriculum in physics, is presented.
The present volume concerns a detailed study of the mathematical and physical aspects of the quantum theory of light.
Author(s): Eberhard Zeidler (auth.)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 1101
Tags: Partial Differential Equations;Mathematical Methods in Physics;Mathematical and Computational Physics;Functional Analysis;Geometry
Front Matter....Pages I-XXXVII
Prologue....Pages 1-9
Mathematical Principles of Modern Natural Philosophy....Pages 11-46
The Basic Strategy of Extracting Finite Information from Infinities – Ariadne’s Thread in Renormalization Theory....Pages 47-113
The Power of Combinatorics....Pages 115-174
The Strategy of Equivalence Classes in Mathematics....Pages 175-261
Geometrical Optics....Pages 263-358
The Principle of Critical Action and the Harmonic Oscillator – Ariadne’s Thread in Classical Mechanics....Pages 359-425
Quantization of the Harmonic Oscillator – Ariadne’s Thread in Quantization....Pages 427-697
Quantum Particles on the Real Line – Ariadne’s Thread in Scattering Theory....Pages 699-746
A Glance at General Scattering Theory....Pages 747-770
Creation and Annihilation Operators....Pages 771-791
The Basic Equations in Quantum Electrodynamics....Pages 793-798
The Free Quantum Field of Electrons, Positrons, and Photons....Pages 799-834
The Interacting Quantum Field, and the Magic Dyson Series for the S -Matrix....Pages 835-874
The Beauty of Feynman Diagrams in QED....Pages 875-897
Applications to Physical Effects....Pages 899-944
The Continuum Limit....Pages 945-952
Radiative Corrections of Lowest Order....Pages 953-965
A Glance at Renormalization to all Orders of Perturbation Theory....Pages 967-978
Perspectives....Pages 979-1044
Back Matter....Pages 1045-1101
