Overview
- Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Provides a comprehensive introduction to the increasingly popular topic of field space covariance
- Includes an in-depth discussion of the initial conditions problem of inflation
Part of the book series: Springer Theses (Springer Theses)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
The ancient Greeks believed that everything in the Universe should be describable in terms of geometry. This thesis takes several steps towards realising this goal by introducing geometric descriptions of systems such as quantum gravity, fermionic particles and the origins of the Universe itself.
The author extends the applicability of previous work by Vilkovisky, DeWitt and others to include theories with spin ½ and spin 2 degrees of freedom. In addition, he introduces a geometric description of the potential term in a quantum field theory through a process known as the Eisenhart lift. Finally, the methods are applied to the theory of inflation, where they show how geometry can help answer a long-standing question about the initial conditions of the Universe.
This publication is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate students and provides a pedagogical introduction to the exciting topic of field space covariance and the complete geometrization of quantum field theory.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Kieran went on to complete the Perimeter Scholars International program at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. During this time, he helped develop the CPT symmetric model of cosmology together with Latham Boyle and Neil Turok. This is a novel theory for the beginning of the Universe in which the Big Bang is considered to be a mirror point between two symmetric universes. This model was published in Physical Review Letters as part of the ‘featured in physics’ series and later appeared in several international news outlets including CNN, the BBC and New Scientist magazine.
In 2014 Kieran was awarded a Fulbright scholarshipto continue his studies at New York University. Here he completed research in a diverse range of topics including supernova observations, cosmic rays, and black hole evaporation. However, quantum field theory and cosmology remained his main interests and so, in 2017, Kieran returned to the UK to complete his PhD at the University of Manchester.
Under the watchful eye of his supervisor Apostolos Pilaftsis, Kieran published six papers on the use of geometry in quantum field theory and cosmology. The resulting thesis, which was successfully defended in October 2020, is “Geometric Approaches to Quantum Field Theory”.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Geometric Approaches to Quantum Field Theory
Authors: Kieran Finn
Series Title: Springer Theses
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85269-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-85268-9Published: 08 October 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-85271-9Published: 08 October 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-85269-6Published: 07 October 2021
Series ISSN: 2190-5053
Series E-ISSN: 2190-5061
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 202
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Elementary Particles, Quantum Field Theory, Cosmology, Geometry, Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory