Itep Lectures In Particle Physics And Field Theory

For almost two decades Prof. Shifman, a clear and pedagogical expositor, has been giving review lectures on frontier topics in theoretical high energy physics. This two-volume book is a collection of some of the best of those lectures. The lectures written in the 1980's and early 1990's have been revised and updated specifically for this publication. The lectures in this book are intended for beginners - graduate students and young researchers - who are about to delve into the intricacies of the theory. They were used by the author in his course ';Advanced Modern Field Theory and Its Applications';, given in the academic year 1994/95 at the University of Minnesota.A wide range of key topics is covered. In Volume 1, the first two chapters are devoted to quantum chromodynamics as the theory of hadrons. The author gives an in-depth discussion of a variety ofpowerful methods based on Wilson's operator product expansion. Chapter 3 (written together with V Novikov, A Vainshtein, and V Zakharov) is the most systematic and pedagogical presentation of instantons in the gauge theories one can find in the literature. Chapter 4 introduces supersymmetry. Chapter 5, concluding this volume, reviews the fascinating dynamics of supersymmetric gauge theories in the strong coupling regime. Chapter 6, which opens Volume 2, is a culmination of the supersymmetric theme. It gives a state-of-the-art description of the breakthrough developments in supersymmetric gauge theories. It has been written specifically for this book by A Vainshtein and the author. Chapter 7 is designed as a primer of two-dimensional conformal field theory, which constitutes the basis of modern string theory. Chapter 8, the last, presents remarkable new findings in quantum mechanics. Every chapter contains exercises and a list of recommended literature.Prof. Shifman has been an active participant and significant contributor in the development of the ideas presented in this book. This accounts for the historical remarks and digressions interspersed in the book, enhancing its pedagogical role. The book will serve as a comprehensive reference and textbook for all graduate students and researchers interested in modern particle physics. It will also be a useful guide for lecturers.

Quantum chromodynamics is the fundamental theory of strong interactions. It is a physical theory describing Nature. Lectures on Quantum Chromodynamics concentrates, however, not on the phenomenological aspect of QCD; books with comprehensive coverage of phenomenological issues have been written. What the reader will find in this book is a profound discussion on the theoretical foundations of QCD with emphasis on the nonperturbative formulation of the theory: What is gauge symmetry on the classical and on the quantum level? What is the path integral in field theory? How to define the path integral on the lattice, keeping intact as many symmetries of the continuum theory as possible? What is the QCD vacuum state? What is the effective low energy dynamics of QCD? How do the ITEP sum rules work? What happens if we heat and/or squeeze hadronic matter? Perturbative issues are also discussed: How to calculate Feynman graphs? What is the BRST symmetry? What is the meaning of the renormalization procedure? How to resum infrared and collinear singularities? And so on. The book is an outgrowth of the course of lectures given by the author for graduate students at ITEP in Moscow. Much extra material has been added. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction: Some History (331 KB). Lecture 1.1: Path Ordered Exponentials. Invariant Actions (624 KB). Lecture 1.2: Classical Solutions (266 KB). Lecture 2.1: Topological Charge (329 KB). Lecture 2.2: Explicit Solutions (338 KB). Lecture 3.1: Conventional Approach (330 KB). Lecture 3.2: Euclidean Path Integral (150 KB). Lecture 3.3: Holomorphic Representation (177 KB). Lecture 3.4: Grassmann Dynamic Variables (340 KB). Lecture 4.1: Dirac Quantization Procedure 782 KB). Lecture 4.2: Path Integral on the Lattice (330 KB). Lecture 5.1: Quantum Pendulum (534 KB). Lecture 5.2: Large Gauge Transformations in Non-Abelian Theory (395 KB). Contents: Foundations: YangOCoMills Field; Instantons; Path Integral in Quantum Mechanics; Quantization of Gauge Theories; Perturbation Theory: Diagram Technique in Simple and Complicated Theories; When the Gauge is Fixed OC Regularization and Renormalization; Running Coupling Constant; Weathering Infrared Storms; Collinear Singularities: Theory and Phenomenology; Nonperturbative QCD: Symmetries: Anomalous and Not; Quarks on Euclidean Lattice; Aspects of Chiral Symmetry; Mesoscopic QCD; Fairy QCD; ITEP Sum Rules: The Duality Festival; Hot and Dense QCD; Confinement. Readership: High energy physicists and advanced level graduate students in high energy physics."

The aim of this book on particle physics is to present the theory in a simple way. The style and organization of the material is unique in that intuition is employed, not formal theory or the Monte Carlo method. This volume attempts to be more physical and less abstract than other texts without degenerating into a presentation of data without interpretation. This book is based on four courses of lectures conducted at Fermilab. It should prove very useful to advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Contents:Particle Properties on an Abacus:Hadron MassesHadron DecaysBeauty for Beginners:Introduction to Electroweak DecaysNonleptonic DecaysPhenomenology for CP ViolationCP Violation and Mixing“Box” Diagrams and Standard Model CalculationsCollider Physics on an Abacus:Point Particle Constituents and Their CouplingsScattering of Point ParticlesHadron-Hadron Production of ParticlesHadron-Hadron Scattering in the Pointlike DomainHadron Decay Kinematics and Point Particle FragmentationGravity for the Masses:The Equivalence PrincipleLinearized GravitationSchuartzchild SolutionOther SolutionsKerr SolutionRadiationNeutron StarsHawking Evaporation Readership: Graduate students in high energy physics. keywords:Hadron Spectroscopy;Beauty;Colliders;General Relativity;Hadron Decays;B Mixing;B Decays;CP Violation;Equivalence Principle;Gravitational Radiation “Lectures in Particle Physics has a number of positive features that would make it most suitable as a supplemental text in an introductory (or even advanced) course in particle physics … the development of the constituent quark model in the first section is clear and concise … The section on B physics includes an excellent summary of both the origin and present knowledge of the CKM (Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa) matrix.” Physics Today

``Field Theory in Particle Physics'' is an introduction to the use ofrelativistic field theory in particle physics. The authors explain the principalconcepts of perturbative field theory and demonstrate their application inpractical situations. The material presented in this book has been testedextensively in courses and the book is written in a lucid and engaging style.Many interesting problems are included at the end of each chapter, both to testthe understanding of the subject matter and to further amplify the ideas in thetext. The authors have taken great care to make their presentation asself-contained as possible by adding several appendices.

An expansive and conceptually unifying textbook of fundamental and theoretical physics, describing elementary particles and their interactions.