''An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory'' is a standard graduate

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

and

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

, written by

Michael Peskin Michael Edward Peskin (born October 27, 1951, Philadelphia) is an American theoretical physicist. He is currently a professor in the SLAC Theory Group, theory group at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Peskin has been recognized for his ...

and Daniel V. Schroeder. Commonly known as ''Peskin and Schroeder'' for short, it was originally published by

Addison-Wesley Addison–Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson plc, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison–Wesley also distributes its technical titles ...

in 1995.

Here is the table of contents of the main chapters:

Reception

The textbook has been well received when it was released and it has become a standard textbook in the field.

Emil Martinec Emil John Martinec (born 1958) is an American string theorist, a physics professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, and director of the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics. He was part of a group at Princeton Universi ...

praised how theory was developed in order to connect with experiments. Martinec said that before the book, his students needed to consult many different sources. Michelangelo Mangano writing for the ''

CERN Courier ''CERN Courier'' (or sometimes ''CERN Courier: International Journal of High Energy Physics'') is a bi-monthly trade magazine covering current developments in high-energy physics and related fields worldwide. It was established in 1959. From Octo ...

'' indicated that the third chapter could be a book by itself and was previously not available in textbook form. Tom Banks praised Peskin and Schroeder's treatment of quantum electrodynamics (chapter 5) and Wilsonian renormalization. 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 In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), color confinement, often simply called confinement, is the phenomenon that color-charged particles (such as quarks and gluons) cannot be isolated, and therefore cannot be directly observed in normal conditions b ...

and

chiral symmetry breaking In particle physics, chiral symmetry breaking generally refers to the dynamical spontaneous breaking of a chiral symmetry associated with massless fermions. This is usually associated with a gauge theory such as quantum chromodynamics, the quant ...

Nima Arkani-Hamed Nima Arkani-Hamed (; born April 5, 1972) is an Iranian-American-Canadian

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 Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fello ...

and

James Bjorken James Daniel "BJ" Bjorken (June 22, 1934 – August 6, 2024) was an American theoretical physicist. He was a Putnam Fellow in 1954, received a BS in physics from MIT in 1956, and obtained his PhD from Stanford University in 1959. Bjorken was a ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist Physics textbooks 1995 non-fiction books Works about quantum mechanics Addison-Wesley books

Table of contents

Reception

See also

Notes

References