From Special Relativity to Feynman Diagrams

The first two chapters of the book deal, in a detailed way, with relativistic kinematics and dynamics, while in the third chapter some elementary concepts of General Relativity are given.
Eventually, after an introduction to tensor calculus, a Lorentz covariant formulation of electromagnetism is given its quantization is developed.
For a proper treatment of invariance and conservation laws in physics, an introductory chapter on group theory is given. This introduction is propedeutical to the discussion of conservation laws in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism, which will allow us to export this formalism to quantum mechanics and, in particular, to introduce linear operators on quantum states and their transformation laws. In the last part of the book we analyze, in the first quantized formalism, relativistic field theory for both boson and fermion fields. The second quantization of free fields is then introduced and some preliminary concepts of perturbation theory and Feynmann diagrams are given and some relevant examples are worked out.

• Field Theory
• Mathematical Methods in Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity

From the reviews:

“This textbook covers, step-by-step, important topics in special relativity, relativistic dynamics, the equivalence principle and the Einstein equation … interaction and the S-matrix, divergent diagrams and renormalization. … They are all explained in a simple but mathematically rigorous way, and so this textbook provides a thorough grounding for students planning to enter research in theoretical physics. The goal here is to formulate the main contemporary concepts for a one-year course.” (Gert Roepstorff, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1238, 2012)

“The aim of this textbook is to provide a path from classical, relativistic mechanics to QED. … the book provides an insightful discussion of classical physics … . It is very useful for lecturers who look for a bit of extra insight and material for a course on classical mechanics, and especially special relativity. It is also a great addition for curious students who feel somewhat unsatisfied with standard texts on these topics.” (Axel Maas, Mathematical Reviews, January, 2013)

• Dipto. Fisica, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

  Riccardo D'Auria, Mario Trigiante

Policies and ethics