Good references on Feynman diagrams

[rick1138]

I'm looking for some excellent references on Feynman diagrams, from an overview of the basics to a description of the relation between the diagrams and the heavy duty mathematics that they represent. Any information would be appreciated.

[selfAdjoint]

Peskin and Schroeder's Introduction to Quantum Field Theory does this really well in the first three chapters. First they give the rules, with just a light motivation so you can learn them quickly, then they give a somewhat deeper motivation, so you learn the practical aspect of the math, and calculate cross sections and stuff, and finally they give you the deep (and very complex) explanation, so you can derive the math for yourself. If you make it that far, whatever else you may understand about QFT, you really know how to work with Feynmann diagrams and get reslults.

[ZapperZ]

Originally posted by rick1138
I'm looking for some excellent references on Feynman diagrams, from an overview of the basics to a description of the relation between the diagrams and the heavy duty mathematics that they represent. Any information would be appreciated.

The best book that I can recommend is Richard Mattuck's "A Guide to Feynman Diagrams in Many-Body Physics". This book was my life-saver while I was in graduate school. While the book is geared towards those in condensed matter physics, it is actually quite useful for everyone who is studying quantum field theory in general. It is VERY readable, and he tries very hard to explain stuff IN WORDS. Not only that, it is now a Dover book, which means that it is dirt cheap to obtain!

Good luck.

Zz.

[rick1138]

Thanks for the references, both of those books are on my to-buy list.