Theory and Applications of Instanton Calculations

This book explains in detail the key concepts, calculations and applications elucidating quantum tunnelling mediated by instantons, using the Feynman path integral.

List of contents

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Quantum mechanics and the path integral; 3. The symmetric double well; 4. Decay of a meta-stable state; 5. Quantum field theory and the path integral; 6. Decay of the false vacuum; 7. Large orders in perturbation theory; 8. Quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions; 9. The Polyakov proof of confinement; 10. Monopole pair production; 11. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD); 12. Instantons, supersymmetry and Morse theory; Appendix A. As aside on 0(4); Appendix B. Asymptotic analysis; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Manu Paranjape has been a professor at the Université de Montréal for the past thirty years. In this time, he has worked on quantum field theory, the Skyrme model, non-commutative geometry and conformal gravity. Whilst working on induced fermion number, he discovered induced angular momentum on flux tube solitons, and more recently he discovered the existence of negative mass bubbles in de Sitter space, which merited a prize in the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition.

Product details

• Authors: Manu Paranjape, Manu (Universite de Montreal) Paranjape
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.12.2022
• EAN: 9781009291262
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0929126-2
• No. of pages: 322
• Series: Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics; Cambridge Monographs on Mathem
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > General, dictionaries; SCIENCE / Physics / Mathematical & Computational, Statistical physics