Description
Book SynopsisThis book gives a pedagogical exposition of non-perturbative methods in relativistic quantum field theory and introduces the reader to modern research in theoretical physics. Aimed at graduate students and researchers, this 2010 title has been reissued as an Open Access publication on Cambridge Core.
Table of ContentsPreface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Non-Perturbative Methods in Two Dimensional Field Theory: 1. From massless free scalar field to conformal field theories; 2. Conformal field theory; 3. Theories invariant under affine current algebras; 4. Wess-Zumino-Witten model and Coset models; 5. Solitons and two dimensional integrable models; 6. Bosonization; 7. The large N limit of two dimensional models; Part II. Two Dimensional Non-Perturbative Gauge Dynamics: 8. Gauge theories in two dimensions – basics; 9. Bosonized gauge theories; 10. The t'Hooft solution of 2d QCD; 11. Mesonic spectrum from current algebra; 12. DLCQ and the spectra of QC with fundamental and adjoint fermions; 13. The baryonic spectrum of multiflavour QCD2 in the strong coupling limit; 14. Confinement versus screening; 15. QCD2, Coset models and BRST quantization; 16. Generalized Yang Mills theory on Riemann surface; Part III. From Two to Four Dimensions: 17. Conformal invariance in four dimensional field theories and in QCD; 18. Integrability in four dimensional gauge dynamics; 19. Large N methods in QCD4; 20. From 2d bosonized baryons to 4d skyrmions; 21. From two dimensional solitons to four dimensional magnetic monopoles; 22. Instantons of QCD; 23. Summary, conclusions and outlook; References; Index.