An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory is a graduate textbook on quantum field theory and particle physics, written by Michael Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder. Commonly known as Peskin and Schroeder for short, it was originally published by Addison-Wesley in 1995.^[1]

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

Author	Michael Peskin Daniel V. Schroeder
Language	English
Subject	Quantum field theory Particle physics
Publisher	Addison-Wesley
Publication date	1995
Publication place	Massachusetts, United States
ISBN	0-201-50397-2

Table of contents

The book is divided into three portions. The first covers quantum electrodynamics using Feynman diagrams, the second the Wilsonian approach to renormalization, and the third non-Abelian gauge theories and the Standard Model.^[2] These parts are divided into chapters as follows:^[1]

1. Feynman Diagrams and Quantum Electrodynamics
   1. Invitation: Pair Production in e⁺ e^- Annihilation
   2. The Klein–Gordon Field
   3. The Dirac Field
   4. Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams
   5. Elementary Processes of Quantum Electrodynamics
   6. Radiative Corrections: Introduction
   7. Radiative Corrections: Some Formal Developments
      Final Project: Radiation of Gluon Jets
2. Renormalization
   8. Invitation: Ultraviolet Cutoffs and Critical Fluctuations
   9. Functional Methods
   10. Systematics of Renormalization
   11. Renormalization and Symmetry
   12. The Renormalization Group
   13. ^[a]Critical Exponents and Scalar Field Theory
       ^[a]Final Project: Coleman–Weinberg Potential
3. Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
   14. Invitation: The Parton Model of Hadron Structure
   15. Non-Abelian Gauge Invariance
   16. Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
   17. Quantum Chromodynamics
   18. ^[a]Operator Products and Effective Vertices
   19. ^[a]Perturbation Theory Anomalies
   20. Gauge Theories with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
   21. Quantization of Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theories
       Final Project: Decays of the Higgs Boson
4. Epilogue
   22. Quantum Field Theory at the Frontier

Reception

The textbook was well received when it was released and it has become a standard textbook in the field.^[3][4][5][6] Emil Martinec praised how theory was developed in order to connect with experiments.^[7] Martinec said that before the book, his students needed to consult many different sources.^[7] Michelangelo Mangano writing for the CERN Courier indicated that the third chapter could be a book by itself and was previously not available in textbook form.^[2]

Tom Banks praised Peskin and Schroeder's treatment of quantum electrodynamics (chapter 5) and Wilsonian renormalization.^[8] Banks only criticized that Feynman rules were derived twice in the book, and that it omitted topics in the non-perturbative treatment of quantum field theory like color confinement and chiral symmetry breaking.^[8]

Nima Arkani-Hamed considers the book by Peskin and Schroeder one of the two classics in the field, along with the 1964 Relativistic Quantum Mechanics by Sidney Drell and James Bjorken.^[5]

See also

• Books portal
• Mathematics portal
• Physics portal

• Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by Anthony Zee

Notes

1. Sections suggested to be omitted in less formal courses on particle physics.