What's between QM and P&S?

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Bill - 25 Dec 2006 21:55 GMT

I have taken one-year undergraduate courses in non-relativistic QM and
in linear algebra. I also have familiarized myself with the machinery
of functional analysis and calculus on manifolds.

My problem is that when I try to dig into Peskin and Shroeder's or
Zee's books, etc, I start to get boggled at the notation and skipping
of steps in constructions I've never seen before.

Is there a good intermediate book between eg. Griffiths' QM and P&S?
I'm thinking about getting Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary
Particles," but I'd like to hear your opinions.

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FrediFizzx - 26 Dec 2006 01:31 GMT

>I have taken one-year undergraduate courses in non-relativistic QM and
> in linear algebra. I also have familiarized myself with the machinery
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> I'm thinking about getting Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary
> Particles," but I'd like to hear your opinions.

Hi Bill,

You won't be sorry by investing in Griffiths' "Intro. to Elementary
Particles" if you are interested in particle physics. I like it because
he uses cgs units instead of natural units. However, I suspect it won't
help all that much in making the jump to Quantum Field Theory books.
But it certainly won't hurt. Perhaps you might be interested in
Milonni's "The Quantum Vacuum: An Introduction to Quantum
Electrodynamics". It goes into quantum field theory from a little bit
different aspect than most textbooks. And I think you have the
necessary pre-requisites for understanding it.

FrediFizzx

Quantum Vacuum Charge papers;
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.pdf
or postscript
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.ps
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0601110
http://www.vacuum-physics.com

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Bill - 27 Dec 2006 15:43 GMT

> >I have taken one-year undergraduate courses in non-relativistic QM and
> > in linear algebra. I also have familiarized myself with the machinery
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0601110
> http://www.vacuum-physics.com

My biggest problem has been with the path-integral formalism. Zee calls
Dq a "measure." It looks like it might be like a Stieltjes measure of
some kind, but I haven't found a good definition yet. Evaluating the
path integrals is also something I haven't seen in a completely
motivated and fleshed out way yet.

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Fred Diether - 28 Dec 2006 08:22 GMT

>> >I have taken one-year undergraduate courses in non-relativistic QM
>> >and
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>> different aspect than most textbooks. And I think you have the
>> necessary pre-requisites for understanding it.

> My biggest problem has been with the path-integral formalism. Zee
> calls
> Dq a "measure." It looks like it might be like a Stieltjes measure of
> some kind, but I haven't found a good definition yet. Evaluating the
> path integrals is also something I haven't seen in a completely
> motivated and fleshed out way yet.

Perhaps this will help some if you haven't read it yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_integral_formulation

Caution as there is a warning at the top of the page. I have never
heard of the term "Stieltjes measure" before. I am also currently
struggling myself to get a better handle on the path integral
formulation. I probably have some cranky viewpoints on that but will
save for another time. ;-)

FrediFizzx

Quantum Vacuum Charge papers;
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.pdf
or postscript
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.ps
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0601110
http://www.vacuum-physics.com

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Natural Science Forum / Physics / Particle Physics / December 2006

What's between QM and P&S?