Buch, Englisch, 480 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 821 g
Action and Symmetries
Buch, Englisch, 480 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 821 g
Reihe: Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics
ISBN: 978-0-521-14357-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press
Functional integration successfully entered physics as path integrals in the 1942 Ph.D. dissertation of Richard P. Feynman, but it made no sense at all as a mathematical definition. Cartier and DeWitt-Morette have created, in this book, a fresh approach to functional integration. The book is self-contained: mathematical ideas are introduced, developed, generalised and applied. In the authors' hands, functional integration is shown to be a robust, user-friendly and multi-purpose tool that can be applied to a great variety of situations, for example: systems of indistinguishable particles; Aharonov-Bohm systems; supersymmetry; non-gaussian integrals. Problems in quantum field theory are also considered. In the final part the authors outline topics that can be profitably pursued using material already presented.
• A mathematician and a physicist, with a mutual interest in each other's disciplines, use their complementary interests and expertise to illuminate the powerful technique of functional integration
• Functional integration is applied to a great variety of systems and shown to be a robust, user-friendly and multipurpose tool
• Suitable for graduate theoretical physicists wanting to deepen their understanding of the functional integration technique
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
Acknowledgements
List symbols, conventions, and formulary
Part I. The Physical and Mathematical Environment: 1. The physical and mathematical environment
Part II. Quantum Mechanics: 2. First lesson: gaussian integrals
3. Selected examples
4. Semiclassical expansion: WKB
5. Semiclassical expansion: beyond WKB
6. Quantum dynamics: path integrals and operator formalism
Part III. Methods from Differential Geometry: 7. Symmetries
8. Homotopy
9. Grassmann analysis: basics
10. Grassmann analysis: applications
11. Volume elements, divergences, gradients
Part IV. Non-Gaussian Applications: 12. Poisson processes in physics
13. A mathematical theory of Poisson processes
14. First exit time: energy problems
Part V. Problems in Quantum Field Theory: 15. Renormalization 1: an introduction
16. Renormalization 2: scaling
17. Renormalization 3: combinatorics
18. Volume elements in quantum field theory Bryce DeWitt
Part VI. Projects: 19. Projects
Appendix A. Forward and backward integrals: spaces of pointed paths
Appendix B. Product integrals
Appendix C. A compendium of gaussian integrals
Appendix D. Wick calculus Alexander Wurm
Appendix E. The Jacobi operator
Appendix F. Change of variables of integration
Appendix G. Analytic properties of covariances
Appendix H. Feynman's checkerboard
Bibliography
Index.
