Quantum Field Theory 1st Edition by Mark Srednicki | (PDF) Free Download

Description

Quantum field theory is the basic mathematical framework that is used to describe elementary particles. This textbook provides a complete and essential introduction to the subject. Assuming only an undergraduate knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity, this book is ideal for graduate students beginning the study of elementary particles. The step-by-step presentation begins with basic concepts illustrated by simple examples, and proceeds through historically important results to thorough treatments of modern topics such as the renormalization group, spinor-helicity methods for quark and gluon scattering, magnetic monopoles, instantons, supersymmetry, and the unification of forces. The book is written in a modular format, with each chapter as self-contained as possible, and with the necessary prerequisite material clearly identified. It is based on a year-long course given by the author and contains extensive problems, with password protected solutions available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521864497.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’ve used three different QFT books, and this books stands out, at least in some ways. The theory at the beginning of the book is especially good, as it’s treatment of creation and annihilation operators is sufficiently general. By contrast, Peskin and Schroeder introduce these operators with the Klein Gordon Equation, which is not general enough because particles only satisfy the KG equation when they are on shell, and free particles. Despite formulating these operators for one special case only, they are used throughout the book. Srednicki does not make this mistake, and his introduction of ladder operators is appropriate for all theories it is used for in the book.Further, Srednicki is very well laid out, and each chapter makes sense where it is. Even if you disagree with some of the chapter placement, the book is written in a modular way, so it’s pretty easy to mix and match material. (Comparing it to P&S again, P&S is not written in either a logically sound way nor is it modular). Path integrals are introduced earlier, which I believe is the easier way to learn how to derive Feynman rules. The book also anticipates renormalization from the beginning, so it’s not a huge surprise when it finally happens.However, the books main scalar theory of choice is phi^3, which is an uncommon theory in other textbooks/classes. Because of this, it’s not always the best reference, since most classes expect you to understand phi^4 instead, so homework assignments will be closer to Phi^4. So when it’s time to get your hands dirty and really work something out, it is the case (at least for me) that a different book is in order. Of course, if your professor wants to stick close to the book, or if you are studying on your own, neither of these are a problem.Finally, the homework problems are actually pretty good. They’re short enough to be reasonable (unlike some other textbooks) but at the same time they are interesting and cover a lot of material. As mentioned by another reviewer, there is a field redefinition problem that is exceptionally good.

⭐Edit: This book is probably great if you’re already an expert on the subject and want to see what you already know assembled in a different way. My critical review is based off an experience with the expectation of learning from the book – which may not be necessarily fair. So take it or leave it with a grain of natrium chloride.Worst QFT experience ever, based on this book. This book is full of problems. First, the only explanations mentioned deal with trivial examples which don’t extend to your average problem, and big-picture concepts explained inconcisely. Nobody needs those. Anyone at this level doesn’t need reminder of how conservation of momentum manifests itself in a delta function of k’s, and if long examples were discussed, anyone at this level could also surmise the big-picture concepts easily also. Secondly, there is frequent misuse of polymorphic symbols. Look. I know one ‘a’ stands for particle label and one ‘a’ stands for tensor index and one ‘a’ stands for position in the operator; one T stands for the tensor and one T stands for the matrix and one T stands for the operator generators etc. – but did you HAVE to make it so obtuse? There are many symbols from many scripts available in LaTeX. Which brings me to point 3. Thirdly, this book is written like a LaTeX manuscript. Frequent references to equations which aren’t even on the same page. Trust me, you can put all the referenced equations at the beginning of a chapter if you’re not going to have them in-line at the appropriate place. Fourthly, ideas, and expressions, oftern don’t have closure to structure. We may begin discussing some scattering amplitude, but three pages later are discussing some random gamma function subunit of the whole – without any segway as to the externalities – or the reassembly. If to me – who is pretty smart with higher math and comfortable with long expressions – this is gobbleygook, what would it be to your average Physics grad student without a math background? Fifthly, the end-of-chapter problems are horrendous. Why? My grader uses the available online solutions but prohibits us from doing so. Result? I have well-reasoned work which leads me to an entirely different conclusion or answer. Yes, the stock answer is clearly right. But the textbook is a terrible guide if it never enables me to independently arrive at the ‘correct’ result. Sixthly, the arguments in the book assume the conclusion frequently. How do I know? I’m good at math, and I can see when something is being manipulated to arrive at a particular destination, when many are possible. Seventhly, the terminology is bogus. You don’t “Add” diagrams. You can add functors of an action which are represented by diagrams. There are many other issues.Summary: Pedagogically inferior textbook bordering on fragile connections between concepts. Steer left or right once in an attempt to replicate the outline, and you will fail. And you won’t know why, unless you read another book on the subject. This book is okay for the amateur reader but horrible for anyone who needs to learn how to do calculations.In other words, by reading this book, I don’t learn anything which is not explicitly in this book. That’s NOT a good book. From most physics books, you learn many things which are not in the book.The only way I am passing my course is because I read and studied Sakurai’s Advanced Quantum Mechanincs and Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model by Schwartz.

⭐I was at Caltech 1984-86 in Phd. theoretical physics program and they were still using Bjorken & Drell and then Ramond for the final quarter – I fell behind when we hit chapter 8 renormalization never caught up and to my regret dropped out and became a professional high limit poker player. Every few years I would buy another QFT text – I tried them all (Peskin & Schroeder, Ryder, kaku, Weinberg, Itzykson & Zuber, Hatfield, Zee)- learn a little but still never felt confortable with the subject. Then I discovered Prof. Srednicki’s book on the internet and realized this is the book I have been waiting for. The subject is presented logically and coherently from a theorist point of view.Renormalization, path integrals etc. are all treated from the beginning with a toy phi-cubed theory. What other field theory book actually shows you the double taylor expansion as in 9.11 page 60 and then clearly explains all the symmetry factors and numerical factors that lead to the final feynman diagrams.The best part of the book is the problems – they are neither trivial nor research projects – so far I have worked almost every problem in part 1 (scalar fields)- and they are all instructive and doable. I particularly liked problem 10.5 on field redefinition – when you solve this one you know you understand the material on feynman diagrams and scattering amplitudes.The treatment of scalar fields followed by spinor fields and then gauge fields enables one to learn the subject and gain confidence without overwhelming you with all the technical details and indices at once.The only other book that compares with this one are Weinberg’s which I would recommend tackling after Srednicki. I would also recommend Zee’s nutshell book for those like myself who read QFT books for fun.

⭐Good enough book but poor edition… badly binded and printed quite poorly… over all a good buy but not how I expected a good book to look like

⭐Of the six QFT books that I own, Srednicki’s book is the one that finally made me feel comfortable with QFT, hence the 5 star rating. I recommend it to anyone who is comfortable with special relativity, electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, and is prepared to put devote serious time and effort to learning QFT. Since Srednicki is quite an unusual book, I suggest reading it alongside a more standard book like Mandl & Shaw or Peskin & Schroeder.Here are its distinctive features:(1) Srednicki’s book is “complete”: it covers all sectors of the Standard Model, and it covers renormalization. Classic calculations, like magnetic moment of the electon, the beta function of QCD and the decay rate of the muon, are all included, so you will feel a great sense of achievement when you finish this book.(2) The presentation is generally clear. Calculations are presented in full and the underlying assumptions are stated, if not always entirely convincingly. Although I felt a little intimated by the opening pages on first reading (especially sections 4 and 5), my reading experience became much more comfortable once the author introduced the path integral (section 6 onwards).(3) Srednicki is really good at training you to calculate. He gives “bags of tricks” for every calculation you can possibly imagine, e.g. deriving Feynman rules, dimensional regularization, beta functions, spinor techniques, gamma matrix manipulation. The conventions are workable and consistent. And there are literally hundreds of exercises. If you’re looking for sophisticated conceptual discussions, however, my friends say that Weinberg is your best bet.(4) The chapters are each only a few pages long, and deal with just one key idea. The chapter dependencies are stated so that the student can plot his/her own way through the book. If you read them in order, you will work through 400 pages of toy models before being introduced to the first realistic model of the real world (QED). You can be the judge of whether you like this or not.(5) Renormalization (“taming infinities”) is a tough topic, and Srednicki is great at explaining this. He makes renormalization feel perfectly natural, anticipating the need to adjust the normalization of fields even in the opening pages of the book.(6) Srednicki only derives Feynman diagrams from the path integral. This is probably sensible, seeing that everybody in the 21st century uses the path integral as their preferred method. Be aware though that some masters programs (like mine, unfortunately) adopt an old-fashion approach using time-dependent perturbation theory in the interaction picture, so you may need another book.(7) Srednicki offers mini-reviews of some non-perturbative topics: (i) anomalies, (ii) Wilson lines and confinement, (iii) solitons and instantons, (iv) supersymmetry. This is very useful if you are thinking of doing a PhD in more formal areas of QFT.Finally, I should point out that the author has a draft version of this book on his website that is free to download.

⭐Ich habe mir dieses Buch als Ergänzung zum “Klassiker” von Peskin & Schroeder zugelegt. Der Text ist pädagogisch durchdacht und intuitiv. Beim ersten Lesen hat mich gestört, dass die Spielzeugtheorie, mit der das Buch die notwendigen Konzepte einführt, enorm anwendungsfern ist (phi^3-Theorie in 6-dimensionaler Raumzeit). Allerdings gelingt dadurch ein schöner Zugang zur Materie.Ein besonders schönes Feature ist, dass vor jedem Kapitel aufgelistet wird, welche Kapitel vorausgesetzt werden. In anderen Büchern möchte man sich “nur schnell etwas anlesen” und wird dann sukzessive auf frühere Kapitel verwiesen bis man beim Inhaltsverzeichnis ist. Dass sich diese Schnitzeljagd nicht vermeiden lässt ist klar – Kapitel bauen auf frühere Kapitel auf. Hier wird man im Vorfeld darauf hingewiesen, was sehr praktisch und zeitsparen kann weil man nicht nach Lektüre des halben Kapitels merkt dass man besser noch die drei davor gelesen hätte.Die gesamte Strukturierung des Buches ist allerdings Geschmackssache: Die Kapitel sind nach Spin organisiert – es beginnt mit skalaren Feldern, führt dann Fermionen ein und letztlich Vektorfelder. Das klingt erstmal nach einer schönen Idee, führt aber stellenweise dazu, dass Dinge, die man im Teilchenphysik-Alltag als Grundlagen bezeichnet, unerwartet weit hinten auftauchen: Eichtheorie z.B. erwartet man intuitiv nicht im hinteren Drittel eines QFT-Buches.Zusätzlich dazu sind die “großen” Kapitel (Spin 0, 1/2, 1) in endlos viele Untersektionen unterteilt, ohne dass diese weiter gruppiert werden. Das macht das Inhaltsverzeichnis unnötig unübersichtlich.Ein weiteres Problem, das beim häufigen Gebrauch wirklich stört, betrifft das Design: In Kopfzeile einer Seite steht zwar immer die Sektionsüberschrift, nicht aber die Nummer. Wenn man also schnell mal Sektion 67 sucht, muss man entweder lange suchen oder immer wieder zum Inhaltsverzeichnis zurückblättern und die Seitenzahl heraussuchen. Das klingt nach einer Kleinigkeit, nervt mich aber immer wieder wenn ich etwas nur schnell nachschlagen will.Unterm Strich ein super Buch für jemanden, der neu in der Materie ist.Tough-going at times, but one of the best books on which to begin studying quantum field theory. I would have liked more physical intuition – something where Peskin & Schroder does a better job, so the two could be read side by side.

⭐Ordered this book as a gift for my nephew,who is at Uni,he was extremely pleased with it.The delivery was very quick,so would recommend .

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