Review: Srednicki’s QFT

I have meant to write a review on Srednicki’s QFT for a long time. But I haven’t found the time and courage to write one up. I wanted to write a good review, considering the fact that it is one of the books that changed my life. I couldn’t delay more, so here it is:

Path Integral Approach
The book has a rather unconventional approach – it briefly covers canonical quantization, and moves on with path integrals. Considering the fact that older books such as Peskin, introduce path integrals half way through the book, this approach is quite different. I would call it the modern approach to QFT. I found it much easier to work with the path integral picture rather than the canonical picture. Some of my friends who are phenomenologists says that the canonical method is more physical, but I think path integral method is better in giving the big picture.

Organization of the book
The book starts from spin 0, and builds up QFT by introducing particles with more spin. It is amazing to see how this works so well. In a theoretical point of view, I think this approach is natural, since the tools behind spin 0 is significantly simpler than that of spin 1/2.

If one just wants to learn the basics of QFT, I think the spin 0 part of Srednicki is the perfect place to consult. The book presents most of the physical tools/ideas of QFT in spin 0 part. While we don’t have to worry about the representation of the Lorentz group and the spinor indeces, Srednicki introduces loop corrections, scattering amplitude, renormalization, 1PI diagrams, perturbation theory, and more in the first part of the book. If the reader wants to learn more, then s/he can proceed on to spin 1/2 and spin 1 part.

Renormalization is introduced relatively early in the book. This book is the only book I found that explains renormalization in a natural way. Usually, in other books renormalization is introduced after QED, and by then I think the beginner gets used to QFT and it seems strange that it turns out that we should renormalize the theory. When I was learning renormalization in class, my lecturer said that there is a deep reason behind the procedure, but never told us exactly what it is. I had to find it inside this book.

Structure of the book
The mathematics are built as Srednicki moves on to advanced topics. One outstanding feature of the book is that it is split into small modules, and usually the mathematics (and also the physics) are contain in a small self-contained section. In the beginning of each section, prerequisites are clearly stated. This aspect of the book makes it also ideal for a reference book.

Up-to-date
Finally, another advantage of the book is that it is up-to-date. The arguments the author presents are gathered from various sources in a coherent modern approach. In the end of each section, Srednicki gives references for further reading.

Conclusion
I think Srednicki’s QFT is the best QFT book I have read. I have Peskin, Ryder, Ticciati, Weinberg, and Srednicki’s QFT. My favorite book and the book that I always consult first is Srednicki. I think if my friend had encountered this book before, he wouldn’t have ended up being an algebraic topologist! Too good to be true? You can read Srednicki’s QFT draft and check it out yourself!

~ by hwasungmars on March 11, 2008.