Find Intro QFT Textbooks: Beginner-Friendly Resources

[creepypasta13]

I completed my Physics undergrad studies a couple years ago, so I had forgotten a lot of what I learned. But since I plan to start grad school this fall, I have spent the past few months reviewing Griffith's QM and E&M, along with doing a little self-study of grad-level QM from Sakurai. However, I had a really bad Mech professor, so I forgot a lot about Lagrangians, actions, 4-vectors, etc until I reviewed them the past few days to help understand Classical field theory

I was wondering where I could learn QFT on my own (including any more QM I might need to learn before I could start QFT) to prepare myself for possibly taking grad-level QM and QFT for my 1st semester of grad school.

For QM, I have Griffiths book, and in class we covered the first 7 chapters (which includes all the basics, hydrogen, time-indep. perturbation, H atom, identical particles, and the variational principle). I forgot some of this stuff, but I'm sure I can relearn the stuff quickly if I need to. I also spent a few days self-studying scattering theory.

Where should I go after this? I watched a few of David Tong's QFT lectures that covered Classical Field Theory, and I was really lost. I tried a few pages of Peskin & Schroeder and also was confused often by the explanations. For example, their explanations for Noether's Thm and Energy Momentum Tensor weren't very helpful. Perhaps this is because my E&M prof barely covered Relativistic Electrodynamics.

Are Tong's lectures and Peskin and Schroeder not a good text for beginners? What texts serve as better introductions to QFT?

 

[atyy]

How about:
Altland and Simon http://books.google.com/books/about/Condensed_matter_field_theory.html?id=0KMkfAMe3JkCNayak , http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~nayak/many_body.pdf
Coleman, http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~coleman/620/mbody/pdf/bkx.pdf

Those are about non-relativistic QFT used in some areas of condensed matter, which can be derived exactly from the Schroedinger equation for many particles. High energy people just take the resulting fields, make them relativistic, and throw the underlying particles away.

QFT from the HEP point of view:
Albert Stetz http://www.physics.orst.edu/~stetza/Book.pdf
Jan Smit http://staff.science.uva.nl/~jsmit/qft07.pdf

 

[The_Brain]

A First Book of Quantum Field Theory by Amitabha Lahiri and Palash B. Pall was invaluable for getting me through QFT when I took it as an undergraduate.

I think I remember them explaining Noether's Theorem well, among other things.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0849338972/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Daverz]

Tong's notes are pretty basic, but still aimed at graduate students. You probably just need the "physical sophistication" that grad level courses in mechanics, E&M, QM, and Stat Mech will give you.

However, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0750308648/?tag=pfamazon01-20 should be at about the right level given your background. Things like Noether's Theorem are stated in passing but not proved. The book has the right amount of detail for a first pass, I think.

And don't forget that Griffiths wrote a particle physics book.

 

[rezeew]

Congratulations on your decision to pursue grad school! It's great that you are taking the initiative to review and learn more about QFT before starting your program.

As for resources, there are many great textbooks available for beginners in QFT. Some popular choices among students and researchers include "Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur" by Tom Lancaster and Stephen J. Blundell, "Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell" by Anthony Zee, and "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory" by Michael E. Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder.

It's important to find a textbook that works well for your learning style and level of understanding. From your description, it sounds like you may benefit from a more approachable and intuitive introduction to QFT, such as "Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur." This book uses a conversational and visual approach to explain the concepts, making it easier to understand for beginners.

Another helpful resource could be online lecture notes or video lectures. You mentioned David Tong's lectures, which are a popular choice among students. However, if you are finding them difficult to follow, it may be worth exploring other options. You can also try looking for lecture notes from other universities or online resources such as arXiv or MIT OpenCourseWare.

Ultimately, it's important to find a resource that works best for you. Don't be discouraged if you find some texts or lectures difficult to understand - QFT is a complex subject and it may take some time and effort to fully grasp the concepts. Keep practicing and seeking out resources that work best for you, and you will be well prepared for grad school. Best of luck in your studies!