Quantum Electrodynamics

We are pleased by the positive resonance of our book which now necessitates a fourth edition. We have used this opportunity to implement corrections of misprints and amendments at several places, and to extend and improve the discussion of many of the exercises and examples. We hope that our presentation of the method of equivalent photons (Example 3. 17), the form factor of the electron (Example 5. 7), the infrared catastrophe (Example 5. 8) and the energy shift of atomic levels (Example 5. 9)arenow even better to understand. The new Exercise 5. 10 shows in detail how to arrive at the non-relativistic limit for the calculation of form factors. Moreover, we have brought up-to-date the Biographical Notes about physicists who have contributed to the dev- opment of quantum electrodynamics, and references to experimental tests of the t- ory. For example, there has been recent progress in the determination of the electric and magnetic form factors of the proton (discussed in Exercise 3. 5 on the Rosenbluth formula) and the Lamb shift of high-Z atoms (discussed in Example 5. 9 on the energy shift of atomic levels), while the experimental veri cation of the birefringence of the QED vacuum in a strong magnetic eld (Example 7. 8) remains unsettled and is a topic of active ongoing research.

List of contents

Propagators and Scattering Theory.- The Propagators for Electrons and Positrons.- Quantum-Electrodynamical Processes.- Summary: The Feynman Rules of QED.- The Scattering Matrix in Higher Orders.- Two-Particle Systems.- Quantum Electrodynamics of Strong Fields.- Quantum Electrodynamics of Spinless Bosons.

About the author

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. mult. Walter Greiner, geb. Oktober 1935 im Thüringer Wald, Promotion 1961 in Freiburg im Breisgau, 1962-64 Assistent Professor an der University of Maryland, seit 1964/65 ordentlicher Professor für Theoretische Physik der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main und Direktor des Instituts für Theoretische Physik. Gastprofessuren unter anderem an der Florida State University, University of Virginia, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Melbourne, Yale University, Vanderbilt University, University of Arizona. Hauptarbeitsgebiete sind die Struktur und Dynamik der elementaren Materie (Quarks, Gluonen, Mesonen, Baryonen, Atomkerne), Schwerionenphysik, Feldtheorie (Quantenelektrodynamik, Eichtheorie der schwachen Wechselwirkung, Quantenchromodynamik, Theorie der Gravitation), Atomphysik.§ 974 Empfänger des Max-Born-Preises und der Max-Born-Medaille des Institute of Physics (London) und der Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, 1982 des Otto-Hahn-Preises der Stadt Frankfurt am Main, 1998 der Alexander von Humboldt-Medaille, 1999 Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques.§Inhaber zahlreicher Ehrendoktorwürden (unter anderem der University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, der Universite Louis Pasteur Strasbourg, der UNAM Mexico, der Universitäten Bucharest, Tel Aviv, Nantes, St. Petersburg, Moskau, Debrecen, Dubna und anderen) sowie Ehrenprofessuren (University of Bejing, China, und Jilin University Changchun, China) und Ehrenmitglied vieler Akademien.

Summary

We are pleased by the positive resonance of our book which now necessitates a fourth edition. We have used this opportunity to implement corrections of misprints and amendments at several places, and to extend and improve the discussion of many of the exercises and examples. We hope that our presentation of the method of equivalent photons (Example 3. 17), the form factor of the electron (Example 5. 7), the infrared catastrophe (Example 5. 8) and the energy shift of atomic levels (Example 5. 9)arenow even better to understand. The new Exercise 5. 10 shows in detail how to arrive at the non-relativistic limit for the calculation of form factors. Moreover, we have brought up-to-date the Biographical Notes about physicists who have contributed to the dev- opment of quantum electrodynamics, and references to experimental tests of the t- ory. For example, there has been recent progress in the determination of the electric and magnetic form factors of the proton (discussed in Exercise 3. 5 on the Rosenbluth formula) and the Lamb shift of high-Z atoms (discussed in Example 5. 9 on the energy shift of atomic levels), while the experimental veri cation of the birefringence of the QED vacuum in a strong magnetic eld (Example 7. 8) remains unsettled and is a topic of active ongoing research.

Additional text

From the reviews of the third edition:

"Quantum electrodynamics (QED) nowadays is considered to be physics’ most precise theory beneath the theory of general relativity. … Greiner’s and Reinhardt’s book provides both teachers and students with all that is necessary to understand QED from its origin. And to the best of my knowledge, it is one of the few books that really do so. … as a reference book, it forms a good companion to any other book on the shelf to show exactly how things are done." (T. Beier, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 45 (3), 2004)
"This completely revised and corrected new edition provides several new examples and exercises to enable deeper insight to formalism and application of Quantum electrodynamics. It is a thorough introductory text providing all necessary mathematical tools together with many examples and worked problems." (Revista Espanola de Fisica, Vol. 17 (6), 2003)
"The particular volume on quantum electrodynamics was first published in 1992, with a second edition in 1994 and now a third one at the end of 2002. … I have used the former edition(s) of this particular volume in a course on QED and it is a very good source to find all the details. … The books of Greiner … have owned their specific place in the literature on theoretical physics and this volume fits fully in that scheme." (Kris Heyde, Physicalia, Vol. 25 (4), 2003)

Report

From the reviews of the third edition:

"Quantum electrodynamics (QED) nowadays is considered to be physics' most precise theory beneath the theory of general relativity. ... Greiner's and Reinhardt's book provides both teachers and students with all that is necessary to understand QED from its origin. And to the best of my knowledge, it is one of the few books that really do so. ... as a reference book, it forms a good companion to any other book on the shelf to show exactly how things are done." (T. Beier, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 45 (3), 2004)
"This completely revised and corrected new edition provides several new examples and exercises to enable deeper insight to formalism and application of Quantum electrodynamics. It is a thorough introductory text providing all necessary mathematical tools together with many examples and worked problems." (Revista Espanola de Fisica, Vol. 17 (6), 2003)
"The particular volume on quantum electrodynamics was first published in 1992, with a second edition in 1994 and now a third one at the end of 2002. ... I have used the former edition(s) of this particular volume in a course on QED and it is a very good source to find all the details. ... The books of Greiner ... have owned their specific place in the literature on theoretical physics and this volume fits fully in that scheme." (Kris Heyde, Physicalia, Vol. 25 (4), 2003)

Product details

• Authors: Walte Greiner, Walter Greiner, Joachim Reinhardt
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.12.2008
• EAN: 9783540875604
• ISBN: 978-3-540-87560-4
• No. of pages: 448
• Dimensions: 193 mm x 26 mm x 266 mm
• Weight: 952 g
• Illustrations: XVI, 448 p. 169 illus.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Technology > Mechanical engineering, production engineering; B, Quantenphysik (Quantenmechanik und Quantenfeldtheorie), Teilchen- und Hochenergiephysik, Quantum Physics, Quantum physics (quantum mechanics & quantum field theory), Physics and Astronomy, Quantum field theory, Elementary particles (Physics), Elementary Particles, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum computers, Spintronics, Quantum Information Technology, Spintronics