Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2017

Digestible Quantum Field Theory

Authors:

  • Conveys the concepts and elegance of quantum field theory without belabouring the technical details

  • Demonstrates the deep connections between QFT and other branches of theoretical physics

  • Unique high-level nonspecialist book on quantum field theory

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (17 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Aperitif

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Introduction

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 3-7
  3. Hors d’Oeuvres

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15
    2. The Universe as We Know It

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 17-29
    3. The Cubic Edifice of Physical Theories

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 31-56
    4. Genesis of the Standard Model

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 57-86
  4. Chef’s Secrets

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87
    2. Groups and Algebras

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 89-106
    3. Lagrangians and Hamiltonians

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 107-122
    4. Cross Sections and Amplitudes

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 123-139
  5. Entrées

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141
    2. Fermion Fields

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 143-157
    3. Feynman Graphs

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 159-176
    4. Quantum Chromodynamics

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 177-209
    5. Theory of the Electroweak Interactions

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 211-241
  6. Trou Normand

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 243-243
    2. The Human Dimension

      • Andrei Smilga
      Pages 245-261
  7. Dessert

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 263-263

About this book

This book gives an intermediate level treatment of quantum field theory, appropriate to a reader with a first degree in physics and a working knowledge of special relativity and quantum mechanics. It aims to give the reader some understanding of what QFT is all about, without delving deep into actual calculations of Feynman diagrams or similar.

The author serves up a seven‐course menu, which begins with a brief introductory Aperitif. This is followed by the Hors d'oeuvres, which set the scene with a broad survey of the Universe, its theoretical description, and how the ideas of QFT developed during the last century. In the next course, the Art of Cooking, the author recaps on some basic facts of analytical mechanics, relativity, quantum mechanics and also presents some nutritious “extras” in mathematics (group theory at the elementary level) and in physics (theory of scattering). After these preparations, the reader should have a good appetite for the Entrées ‐ the central par

t of the book where the Standard Model is described and explained. 

After Trou Normand, the restive pause including human stories about physicists and no formulas, the author serves the Dessert, devoted to supersymmetry (a very beautiful theory that is still awaiting a direct experimental confirmation), to general relativity and to the mystery of quantum gravity.  


Authors and Affiliations

  • SUBATECH, University of Nantes, Nantes, France

    Andrei Smilga

About the author

Andrei Smilga, an expert on quantum field theory, received his degrees from the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow, where he also worked for many years as a researcher. He is the author of the monograph "Lectures on Quantum Chromodynamics", (World Scientific, 2001). Since 1998 he has been a Professor of Physics at the University of Nantes in France.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access