The Quantum Theory of Fields

Warning

This note is work in progress.

This note covers the three volumes [Wei95], [Wei96], and [Wei00], written by S. Weinberg on quantum field theory, with occasional references to [Wei15] by the same author. What I like the most about these books is his attempt to make logical deductions from the most basic principles, in particular, the principle of symmetries, rather than to make analogies to experience, e.g., from classical physics (from a historical perspective). Such an endeavor may not always be possible because, after all, physics is about how we interpret Nature based on nothing but experience, and not about how Nature actually works. By the same token, the arguments that are considered logical here should really be interpreted as “reasonable-sounding”, and have nothing to do with what mathematician would call “rigorous”.

The order of the sections correspond roughly to the order of the chapters of the books.

• 1. Quantum Mechanics
• 2. Scattering Theory
• 3. The Cluster Decomposition Principle
• 4. Quantum Fields and Antiparticles
• 5. The Feynman Rules
• 6. The Canonical Formalism
• 7. Quantum Electrodynamics
• 8. Path-Integral Methods