Integrable Systems In Quantum Field Theory And Statistical Mechanics

Integrable Sys Quantum Field Theory

In many ways the last decade has witnessed a surge of interest in the interplay between theoretical physics and some traditional areas of pure mathematics. This book contains the lectures delivered at the NATO-ASI Summer School on `Recent Problems in Mathematical Physics' held at Salamanca, Spain (1992), offering a pedagogical and updated approach to some of the problems that have been at the heart of these events. Among them, we should mention the new mathematical structures related to integrability and quantum field theories, such as quantum groups, conformal field theories, integrable statistical models, and topological quantum field theories, that are discussed at length by some of the leading experts on the areas in several of the lectures contained in the book. Apart from these, traditional and new problems in quantum gravity are reviewed. Other contributions to the School included in the book range from symmetries in partial differential equations to geometrical phases in quantum physics. The book is addressed to researchers in the fields covered, PhD students and any scientist interested in obtaining an updated view of the subjects.

Including topics not traditionally covered in literature, such as (1+1)-dimensional QFT and classical 2D Coulomb gases, this book considers a wide range of models and demonstrates a number of situations to which they can be applied. Beginning with a treatise of nonrelativistic 1D continuum Fermi and Bose quantum gases of identical spinless particles, the book describes the quantum inverse scattering method and the analysis of the related Yang–Baxter equation and integrable quantum Heisenberg models. It also discusses systems within condensed matter physics, the complete solution of the sine-Gordon model and modern trends in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz. Each chapter concludes with problems and solutions to help consolidate the reader's understanding of the theory and its applications. Basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and equilibrium statistical physics is assumed, making this book suitable for graduate students and researchers in statistical physics, quantum mechanics and mathematical and theoretical physics.

Integrable models have a fascinating history with many important discoveries that dates back to the famous Kepler problem of planetary motion. Nowadays it is well recognised that integrable systems play a ubiquitous role in many research areas ranging from quantum field theory, string theory, solvable models of statistical mechanics, black hole physics, quantum chaos and the AdS/CFT correspondence, to pure mathematics, such as representation theory, harmonic analysis, random matrix theory and complex geometry. Starting with the Liouville theorem and finite-dimensional integrable models, this book covers the basic concepts of integrability including elements of the modern geometric approach based on Poisson reduction, classical and quantum factorised scattering and various incarnations of the Bethe Ansatz. Applications of integrability methods are illustrated in vast detail on the concrete examples of the Calogero-Moser-Sutherland and Ruijsenaars-Schneider models, the Heisenberg spin chain and the one-dimensional Bose gas interacting via a delta-function potential. This book has intermediate and advanced topics with details to make them clearly comprehensible.

This volume, 106 of the Les Houches Summer School series, brings together applications of integrability to supersymmetric gauge and string theory. The book focuses on the application of integrability and problems in quantum field theory. Particular emphasis is given to the exact solution of planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory and its relation with string theory on the one hand, and the exact determination of the low-energy physics of N=2 super-Yang-Mills theories on the other; links with other domains are also explored. The purpose of the Les Houches Summer School was to bring together young researchers and specialists from statistical physics, condensed matter physics, gauge and string theory, and mathematics, to stimulate discussion across these different research areas.

This volume contains a selection of expository articles on quantum field theory and statistical mechanics by James Glimm and Arthur Jaffe. They include a solution of the original interacting quantum field equations and a description of the physics which these equations contain. Quantum fields were proposed in the late 1920s as the natural framework which combines quantum theory with relativ ity. They have survived ever since. The mathematical description for quantum theory starts with a Hilbert space H of state vectors. Quantum fields are linear operators on this space, which satisfy nonlinear wave equations of fundamental physics, including coupled Dirac, Max well and Yang-Mills equations. The field operators are restricted to satisfy a "locality" requirement that they commute (or anti-commute in the case of fer mions) at space-like separated points. This condition is compatible with finite propagation speed, and hence with special relativity. Asymptotically, these fields converge for large time to linear fields describing free particles. Using these ideas a scattering theory had been developed, based on the existence of local quantum fields.

This book is a course in modern quantum field theory as seen through the eyes of a theorist working in condensed matter physics. It contains a gentle introduction to the subject and therefore can be used even by graduate students. The introductory parts include a derivation of the path integral representation, Feynman diagrams and elements of the theory of metals including a discussion of Landau–Fermi liquid theory. In later chapters the discussion gradually turns to more advanced methods used in the theory of strongly correlated systems. The book contains a thorough exposition of such non-perturbative techniques as 1/N-expansion, bosonization (Abelian and non-Abelian), conformal field theory and theory of integrable systems. The book is intended for graduate students, postdoctoral associates and independent researchers working in condensed matter physics.

Providing a systematic introduction to the techniques which are fundamental to quantum field theory, this book pays special attention to the use of these techniques in a wide variety of areas, including ordinary quantum mechanics, quantum mechanics in the second-quantized formulation, relativistic quantum field theory, Euclidean field theory, quant