Quantum field theory Definition and 587 Threads

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Interview with Mathematician and Physicist Arnold Neumaier Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post. Arnold will welcome science questions and comments only.

I have read( even Peter Donis mentioned it) that the derivation of the potential between two particles is not a true QFT, why is that? if not, then what is it? Thanks in advance.

I would like to know where one may operate with tensor quantities in quantum field theory: Minkowski tensors, spinors, effective lagrangians (for example sigma models or models with four quark interaction), gamma matrices, Grassmann algebra, Lie algebra, fermion determinants and et cetera. I...

How would sliding the plates parallel to each other in order to separate them (they are prevented from contacting to avoid friction) require the same amount of energy as pulling them apart? You're not pushing against the force (the net force at the edges pulling it back is balanced by opposite...

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Gauge symmetries Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

I'm trying to work through a scattering calculation in the Peskin QFT textbook in chapter 5, specifically getting equation 5.10. They take two bracketed terms 4[p'^{\mu}p^{\nu}+p'^{\nu}p^{\mu}-g^{\mu\nu}(p \cdot p'+m_e^2)] and 4[k_{\mu}k'_{\nu}+k_{\nu}k'_{\mu}-g_{\mu\nu}(k \cdot...

Consider a free real scalar field. The quadratic term in field of spacetime implies that a universe of these free particles is created, annihilated, recreated, and so on moment by moment. In this video Susskind explains the quadratic term in the Lagrangian youtu.be/D7yXoNAg3J8 (At minute...

I have a major in mathematical physics and mathematics and currently I'm on a graduate course in Physics working on a master's thesis. When I started the graduate course I was going to work on General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory on Curved Spacetimes (QFTCS). It turns out that by several...

According to https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.4569, equation (2.15), the Schwinger electron-positron pair production rate in Minkowski space, ##N_S##, is given in natural units by $$N_S=\exp(-\frac{m}{2T_U})$$ where the `Unruh temperature for the accelerating charge', ##T_U##, is given by...

I've been doing a little bit of reading on string theory, and the very large number of string vacua that are possible (i.e., perhaps 10^500 or more). One thing that is not clear to me is exactly what constitutes a 'vacuum' in string theory. In QFT theory, the vacuum is defined as the state with...

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Propagators Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Phase Space Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to make a list of recommended books (introductory and advanced). So far, what I was able to search are the following: Particle Physics: - Griffiths: Introduction to Elementary Particles - Thomson: Modern Particle Physics - Nachtmann: Elementary Particle Physics -...

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Observables Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Symmetries Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Lagrangians Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Field Variations Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Fields Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Spacetime Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

https://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/dafr/OldTQFTLectures.pdf I'm reading the paper linked above (page 10) and have a simple question about notation and another that's more of a sanity check. Given a space ##Y## and a spacetime ##X## the author talks about the associated Quantum Hilbert Spaces...

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post Mathematical Quantum Field Theory - Geometry Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Looking for a good quantum field theory book. Any suggestions?

Greg Bernhardt submitted a new PF Insights post A First Idea of Quantum Field Theory - 20 Part Series Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

If we were to quantize the Dirac field using commutation relations instead of anticommutation relations we would end up with the Hamiltonian, see Peskin and Schroeder $$ H = \int\frac{d^3p}{(2\pi)^3}E_p \sum_{s=1}^2 \Big( a^{s\dagger}_\textbf{p}a^s_\textbf{p}...

In a thesis, I found double sided arrow notation in the lagrangian of a Dirac field (lepton, quark etc) as follows. \begin{equation} L=\frac{1}{2}i\overline{\psi}\gamma^{\mu}\overset{\leftrightarrow}{D_{\mu}}\psi \end{equation} In the thesis, Double sided arrow is defined as follows...

Let's assume, we have standard model singlet particle s that mixes after electroweak symmetry breaking with an exotic, vectorlike neutral lepton N The relevant part of the Lagrangian reads $$ L \supset h^c s N + h s N^c + M N N^c, $$ where h is the standard model higgs and M is a superheavy...

Back in the 1960s, Richard Feynman worked on quantum gravity for a few years, and most of his notes are collected in the 'Feynman Lectures on Gravitation'. His approach was that of a particle physicist applying the principles of QED to GR, notably the concept of gravitons mediating the force of...

Breaking of a local symmetry is impossible. It is often said that therefore the role of the Higgs mechanism in the standard model is a different one. Namely, Once a gauge is fixed, however, to remove the redundant degrees of freedom, the remaining (discrete!) global symmetry may undergo...

A massless spin 1 particle has 2 degrees of freedom. However, we usually describe it using four-vectors, which have four components. Hence, somehow we must get rid of the superfluous degrees of freedom. This job is done by the Maxwell equations. To quote from Gilmore's "Lie Groups, Physics, and...

Can Lagrangian densities be constructed from the physics and then derive equations of motion from them? As it seems now, from my reading and a course I took, that the equations of motion are known (i.e. the Klein-Gordon and Dirac Equation) and then from them the Lagrangian density can be...

Hi all - forgive me, I'd asked a series of questions in a previous post that was deemed to be circular, but I still didn't obtain a satisfactory answer to the question I was asking. In this post, I'm going to try to be very careful to use terms that are at least less 'misplaced', per se...

I've read Arnold Neumaier's excellent Insight article on virtual particles, but I'm very confused about one thing: Observable particles are considered to be on-shell, and as 'asymptotic states' at time +- infinity. Now, in a scattering experiment, I may produce a new particle, which will travel...

Hey, I thought I understood Wick contractions but a formula in Zee's "Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell" disproved me: In the section on Feynman Diagrams it is tried to evaluate the "four-point Green's function" in (I.7.10) by the integral $$ \int_{-\infty}^\infty \left ( \prod_m \mathrm{d}...

Urs Schreiber submitted a new PF Insights post Introduction to Perturbative Quantum Field Theory Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place to post this topic, I could not figure out the right one. I have recently finished my Masters in Condensed Matter. Now I want to follow a PhD where I can work/research on the dynamics of the Universe especially on dark energy, modified gravity...

What is the highest loop order in standard model scattering computations that still contributes a measurable effect seen in past and present particle collider experiments? In other words, to which order are loop corrections necessary for accounting for observed high energy physics? I expect it...

What's the difference between relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory? In principle, my guess is that to do the former, one needs to express the Hamiltonian in a relativistic, Lorentz invariant, form, because it seems to be the only frame-related term in the wave equation. (Is...

Homework Statement I am currently working on an exercise list where I need to calculate the second functional derivative with respect to Grassmann valued fields. $$ \dfrac{\overrightarrow{\delta}}{\delta \psi_{\alpha} (-p)} \left( \int_{x} \widetilde{\bar{\psi}}_{\mu} (x) i \partial_{s}^{\mu...

Hello! Due to the textbook by Peskin and Schroeder being rather old, I was wondering what are other, more pedagogical textbooks on Quantum Field Theory that you would recommend! Any suggestion is appreciated!

Hello! Manoukian's two books on Quantum Field Theory seem pretty good to me, but before buying them I would like to know your thoughts about them! Bear in mind that I need a pedagogical textbook(with good exercises if possible). Thanks!

Hi there - just a quick question about Fourier transforms: When learning about quantum mechanics, I found that the Fourier transform and inverse Fourier transform were both defined with constants of ##{ \left( 2\pi \right) }^{ -d/2 }## in front of the integral. This is useful, as...

I am studying quantum field theory from [David Tong's lecture notes][1] and I am stuck at a particular place. In Page 52., under the heading *3.1.1 Dyson's Formula*, Tong introduces an unitary operator U(t, t_0) = T \exp(-i\int_{t_0}^{t}H_I(t') dt') He then introduces the usual definition of...

Consider the Dirac Lagrangian, L =\overline{\psi}\left(i\gamma^{\mu}\partial_{\mu}-m\right)\psi, where \overline{\psi}=\psi^{\dagger}\gamma^{0} , and show that, for \alpha\in\mathbb{R} and in the limit m\rightarrow0 , it is invariant under the chiral transformation...

ShayanJ submitted a new PF Insights post Entanglement Entropy – Part 2: Quantum Field Theory Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

In his paper Quantum Field Theory: renormalization and the renormalization group Zinn-Justin states: Low energy physics does not depend on all the details of the microscopic model because some RG has an IR fixed point or at least a low dimension fixed surface. Of course at this stage the next...

There are several reasons given in the literature, why UV infinities arise in QFT in the first place. My problem is putting them together, i.e. understand how they are related to each other. So... UV divergences arise and thus we need to renormalize, because: We have infinite number of...

If I have a particle with: Momentum: p Spin: s Energy: E Position: x Time coordinate: t Charge: q And I preform a CPT transformation on said particle, what will these variables become? Can you show me mathematically? Also, could you show me how this effects the wavefunction/quantum state of...

Last year I've finished the undergraduate course in Mathematical-Physics and Mathematics and this year I've started on graduate school on Physics in order to obtain a master's degree. What I'm really interested are two main topics: general relativity and quantum field theory. I also like...

In string theory, particles is vibrating strings. However, QFT treats particles as excitations in a quantum field. Can both of these theories be correct? If so, how does them fit together?

Hi all, Another naive question related a previous post (where the topic diverged somewhat). I'm wondering about the following thought experiment: Consider the field associated with a single electron. Now, confine the field to a region (volume) of radius R - that is, field values outside of R...