Quantum Gauge Theories on Particle Physics

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The discussion centers on recommended resources for learning quantum field theory (QFT) and special relativity. A participant plans to study a specific book after completing Shankar's "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" and seeks guidance on understanding special relativity. Key recommendations include Landau and Lifshitz's Volume II on classical electromagnetism for its modern approach to relativity, and the Feynman Lectures Volume II as a good introductory resource. There is debate over the effectiveness of various textbooks, with some participants expressing a preference for Shankar's work as sufficient for quantum mechanics, while others find Sakurai less favorable. Aitchison and Hey's book is mentioned as a comprehensive resource, though opinions vary on its pedagogical value. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the subjective nature of textbook selection and the importance of being comfortable with special relativity and tensor manipulation for studying QFT.
Andreol263
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Well, I'm planning to learn from this book when i finish Shankar's Principles of Quantum Mechanics, if it fulfills the requiriments in this part, but from where i can learn the Special Relativity necessary to tackle this book?
 
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Which book are you taking about? There are tons of books on gauge theories and the standard model. My favorite is

Schwartz, M. D.: Quantum field theory and the Standard Model, Cambridge University Press, 2014

Concerning special relativity, I recommend to read Landau/Lifshitz vol. II on classical electromagnetism (it also contains a very good introduction to general relativity, but this you won't need to start with QFT). It is the only book I know which really takes the modern (and in my opinion most satisfactory) approach to introduce E&M as a classical relativistic field theory. Another good introduction can be found in the Feynman Lectures vol. II.
 
Andreol263 said:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1466513179/?tag=pfamazon01-20
This book, so will suffice if i read Shankar? Or i will need to read Sakurai too?
These are excellent books. I think that Shankar is sufficient for QM (and Sakurai is really not a great textbook to learn from, in my opinion). But you definitely need to be very at ease with special relativity and with tensor manipulation.
 
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I'm not so enthusiastic about Aitchison and Hey. I don't know Shankar's textbook very well. Sakurai, from which I learned QM in my introductory course lecture, is excellent.
 
Thank you for yours answers!, so like recommended by vanhees71 i will get Landau Volume II, thank you all!
 
vanhees71 said:
I'm not so enthusiastic about Aitchison and Hey. I don't know Shankar's textbook very well. Sakurai, from which I learned QM in my introductory course lecture, is excellent.
That shows how picking books is subjective. That's why I never say that a book is great or a book is bad, I can only say that something is good or bad, in my opinion.
 
I Don't know, i picked up the Aitchison and Hey's book because it appears to have more content and good for self-studying, because this book has two volumes that summed up go to nearly 1000 pages!
 
Andreol263 said:
I Don't know, i picked up the Aitchison and Hey's book because it appears to have more content and good for self-studying, because this book has two volumes that summed up go to nearly 1000 pages!
Ok, but they also make a lot of effort to be pedagogical, I find.
 

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