Author: Freeman Dyson
Publisher: World Scientific
Published: 2011-11-25
Total Pages: 316
ISBN-13: 9814397199
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Renowned physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson is famous for his work in quantum mechanics, nuclear weapons policy and bold visions for the future of humanity. In the 1940s, he was responsible for demonstrating the equivalence of the two formulations of quantum electrodynamics — Richard Feynman's diagrammatic path integral formulation and the variational methods developed by Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonoga — showing the mathematical consistency of QED. This invaluable volume comprises the legendary lectures on quantum electrodynamics first given by Dyson at Cornell University in 1951. The late theorist Edwin Thompson Jaynes once remarked, “For a generation of physicists they were the happy medium: clearer and better motivated than Feynman, and getting to the point faster than Schwinger”. This edition has been printed on the 60th anniversary of the Cornell lectures, and includes a Foreword writer science historian David Kaiser, as well as notes from Dyson's lectures at the Les Houches Summer School of Theoretical Physics in 1954. The Les Houches lectures, described as a supplement to the original Cornell notes, provide a more detailed look at field theory, a careful and rigorous derivation of Fermi's Golden Rule, and a masterful treatment of renormalization and Ward's Identity. Future generations of physicists are bound to read these lectures with pleasure, benefiting from the lucid style that is so characteristic of Dyson's exposition. Contents:Introduction:BooksSubject MatterDetailed ProgramOne-Particle TheoriesThe Dirac Theory:The Form of the Dirac EquationLorentz Invariance of the Dirac EquationTo Find the SThe Covariant NotationConservation Laws. Existence of SpinElementary SolutionsThe Hole TheoryPositron StatesElectromagnetic Properties of the ElectronThe Hydrogen AtomSolution of Radial EquationBehaviour of an Electron in a Non-Relativistic ApproximationSummary of Matrices in the Dirac Theory in Our NotationSummary of Matrices in the Dirac Theory in the Feynman NotationScattering Problems and Born Approximation:General DiscussionProjection OperatorsCalculation of TracesScattering of Two Electrons in Born Approximation. The Møller FormulaRelation of Cross-sections to Transition AmplitudesResults for Møller ScatteringNote on the Treatment of Exchange EffectsRelativistic Treatment of Several ParticlesField Theory:Classical Relativistic Field TheoryQuantum Relativistic Field TheoryThe Feynman Method of QuantizationThe Schwinger Action PrincipleExamples of Quantized Field Theories:The Maxwell FieldTheory of Line Shift and Line WidthField Theory of the Dirac Electron, Without InteractionField Theory of Dirac Electron in External FieldField Theory of Dirac and Maxwell FieldsFree Particle Scattering Problems:Møller Scattering of Two ElectronsScattering of a Photon by an Electron. The Compton Effect. Klein-Nishina FormulaTwo Quantum Pair AnnihilationBremsstrahlung and Pair Creation in the Coulomb Field of an AtomGeneral Theory of Free Particle Scattering:The Reduction of an Operator to Normal FormFeynman GraphsFeynman Rules of CalculationThe Self-Energy of the ElectronSecond-Order Radiative Corrections to ScatteringThe Treatment of Low-Frequency Photons. The Infra-Red CatastropheScattering by a Static Potential. Comparison with Experimental Results:The Magnetic Moment of the ElectronRelativistic Calculation of the Lamb Shift Readership: Physicists, graduate and undergraduate students. Keywords:Relativistic Quantum Mechanics;Quantum Field Theory;Quantum ElectrodynamicsKey Features:Freeman Dyson's first physics textbookMany important details clearly explained, including the reason for 4 x 4 Dirac matrices, the magnetic moment of the electron, etc.Very well-balanced treatment of field theory and QEDThe original exposition has been expanded by about 40% with the Les Houches lecturesReviews: Reviews of the First Edition “… one can profit significantly from the insight into the physics beneath the apparatus, and the extensive and detailed treatment of some problems. Therefore it may be very useful as an additional source in the preparation of a course on quantum field theory … I highly recommend this book to get a different view on quantum field theory, and also to understand how quantum field theory emerged in its present form at all.” Mathematical Reviews “The fame of these lectures as well as of this author, together with the enduring interest in their contents attested by this transcription, obviously classify the book as of great interest to students and researchers willing to hear a presentation of quantum electrodynamics from one of the founding fathers.” Zentralblatt MATH “This book is likely to be of interest mainly to historians of science … one thing was done rather well was the relativistic treatment of the spectrum of the hydrogen atom, which is found algebraically and, rather elegantly and efficiently. The treatment of fluctuations in fields had some nice points …” CERN Courier
