Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model

Schwartz M D

This book is based on a course I have been teaching at Harvard for a number of years. I like to start my first class by flipping the light switch and pointing out to the students that, despite their comprehensive understanding of classical and quantum physics, they still cannot explain what is happening. Where does the light comes from? The emission and absorption of photons is a quantum process for which particle number is not conserved; it is an everyday phenomenon which cannot be explained without quantum field theory. I then proceed to explain (with fewer theatrics) what is essentially Chapter 1 of this book.