Quantum Field Theory

This book is a modern introduction to the ideas and techniques of quantum field theory. After a brief overview of particle physics and a survey of relativistic wave equations and Lagrangian methods, the author develops the quantum theory of scalar and spinor fields, and then of gauge fields. The emphasis throughout is on functional methods, which have played a large part in modern field theory. The book concludes with a brief survey of "topological" objects in field theory and, new to this edition, a chapter devoted to supersymmetry. Graduate students in particle physics and high energy physics will benefit from this book.

Customer Reviews:

An Inspiring Introduction to QFT

By Derek Lee - September 30, 2002

One of the basic questions in the education of theoretical physics is, what is a good way of introducing QFT and giving the student a taste of what is to come? In my opinion, this book offers a fine solution to this thorny problem.
There are many sides to this question; for example, there is the view that the students should be exposed to this vast topic in a complete and thorough way (for such a text, I HIGHLY recommend Weinberg's 3 volume set, which, if not commonly regarded as a classic yet, soon will be), and also there is the point of view that most of the students studying QFT are experimentalists, so they should first be exposed to how to calculate amplitudes and cross sections for useful processes as soon as possible (see Peskin-Schroder for an outstanding exemplification of this principle). Both of these points of view have strong arguments supporting them, and there are many other reasonable opinions that might be taken; perhaps this is an indication that there is... read more

The most readable QFT textbook available.

By R. Ball - August 30, 2000

Of all the QFT textbooks I have surveyed, this is by far the most accessable and readable. It has an ideal balance between clear well-written text and carefully paced equations, without the usual "after some manipulation..." or "combining with the previous results and rearranging..." or the fearful "it can be seen that..." which usually conceal chasms in reasoning that require an hour or so's hackwork to establish. It is nicely self-contained, having short digressions to derive some mathematical or topological results without sending the reader to consult other sources for clarification. I still have the first edition for which my only minor quibble would be the rather frequent typo's in the formulae, but at least picking them out kept me alert. These may have been cleaned up in the later edition.

Good Introduction

By David Dreisigmeyer - May 13, 2001

A very readable intro to QFT. After having tried a dozen or so different QFT books, this is the one that I eventually used. A nice feature is its emphasis on the path integral and its use in QFT. This book does not have any problems included. In order to gain some experience actually solving problems the book should be supplemented with another. I would recommend that Schwabl's "Advanced Quantum Mechanics" and Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary Particles" be used in conjunction with Ryder. They complement the text perfectly. Also, you can't expect to learn QFT from only one source.