Graduate Texts in Physics

Series editors
Kurt H. Becker, Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, USA
Sadri Hassani, Illinois State University, Normal, USA
Bill Munro, NTT Basic Research Laboratories, Atsugi, Japan
Richard Needs, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Jean-Marc Di Meglio, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
William T. Rhodes, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA
Susan Scott, Australian National University, Acton, Australia
H. Eugene Stanley, Boston University, Boston, USA
Martin Stutzmann, TU München, Garching, Germany
Andreas Wipf, Friedrich-Schiller-Univ Jena, Jena, Germany
Graduate Texts in Physics
Graduate Texts in Physics publishes core learning/teaching material for graduate-
and advanced-level undergraduate courses on topics of current and emerging fields
within physics, both pure and applied. These textbooks serve students at the
MS- or PhD-level and their instructors as comprehensive sources of principles,
definitions, derivations, experiments and applications (as relevant) for their mastery
and teaching, respectively. International in scope and relevance, the textbooks
correspond to course syllabi sufficiently to serve as required reading. Their didactic
style, comprehensiveness and coverage of fundamental material also make them
suitable as introductions or references for scientists entering, or requiring timely
knowledge of, a research field.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8431

Edouard B. Manoukian

Quantum Field Theory I

Foundations and Abelian and Non-Abelian
Gauge Theories

123
Edouard B. Manoukian
The Institute for Fundamental Study
Naresuan University
Phitsanulok, Thailand

ISSN 1868-4513 ISSN 1868-4521 (electronic)

Graduate Texts in Physics
ISBN 978-3-319-30938-5 ISBN 978-3-319-30939-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30939-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016935720

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland
Preface to Volume I

This textbook is based on lectures given in quantum field theory (QFT) over the
years to graduate students in theoretical and experimental physics. The writing of
the book spread over three continents: North America (Canada), Europe (Ireland),
and Asia (Thailand). QFT was born about 90 years ago, when quantum mechanics
met relativity, and is still going strong. The book covers, pedagogically, the wide
spectrum of developments in QFT emphasizing, however, those parts which are
reasonably well understood and for which satisfactory theoretical descriptions have
been given.
The legendary Richard Feynman in his 1958 Cornell, 1959–1960 Cal Tech
lectures on QFT of fundamental processes, the first statement he makes, the very
first one, is that the lectures cover all of physics.1 One quickly understands what
Feynman meant by covering all of physics. The role of fundamental physics is to
describe the basic interactions of Nature and QFT, par excellence, is supposed to
do just that. Feynman’s statement is obviously more relevant today than it was
then, since the recent common goal is to provide a unified description of all the
fundamental interactions in nature.
The book requires as background a good knowledge of quantum mechanics,
including rudiments of the Dirac equation, as well as elements of the Klein-Gordon
equation, and the reader would benefit much by reading relevant sections of my
earlier book : Quantum Theory: A Wide Spectrum (2006), Springer in this respect.
This book differs from QFT books that have appeared in recent years 2 in several
respects and, in particular, it offers something new in its approach to the subject, and
the reader has plenty of opportunity to be exposed to many topics not covered, or

1
R. P. Feynman, The Theory of Fundamental Processes, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co.,
Menlo Park, California. 6th Printing (1982), page 1.
2
Some of the fine books that I am familiar with are: L. H. Ryder, Quantum Field Theory;
S. Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields I (1995) & II (1996), Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press; M. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, New
York: Westview Press (1995); B. DeWitt, The Global Approach to Quantum Field Theory, Oxford:
Oxford University Press (2014).

v
vi Preface to Volume I

just touched upon, in standard references. Some notable differences are seen, partly,
from unique features in the following material included in ours:

• The very elegant functional differential approach of Schwinger, referred to

as the quantum dynamical (action) principle, and its underlying theory are
used systematically in generating the so-called vacuum-to-vacuum transition
amplitude of both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories, in addition to the well-
known functional integral approach of Feynman, referred to as the path-integral
approach, which are simply related by functional Fourier transforms and delta
functionals.
• Transition amplitudes are readily extracted by a direct expansion of the vacuum-
to-vacuum transition amplitude in terms of a unitarity sum, which is most closely
related to actual experimental setups with particles emitted and detected prior and
after a given process and thus represent the underlying physics in the clearest
possible way.
• Particular emphasis is put on the concept of a quantum field and its particle
content, both physically and technically, as providing an appropriate description
of physical processes at sufficiently high energies, for which relativity becomes
the indispensable language to do physics and explains the exchange that takes
place between energy and matter, allowing the creation of an unlimited number
of particles such that the number of particles need not be conserved, and for
which a variable number of particles may be created or destroyed. Moreover,
quantum mechanics implies that a wavefunction renormalization arises in QFT
field independent of any perturbation theory – a point not sufficiently emphasized
in the literature.
• The rationale of the stationary action principle and emergence of field equations,
via field variations of transformation functions and generators of field variations.
The introduction of such generators lead, self consistently, to the field equations.
Such questions are addressed as: “Why is the variation of the action, within the
boundaries of transformation functions, set equal to zero which eventually leads
to the Euler-Lagrange equations?”, “How does the Lagrangian density appear in
the formalism?” “What is the significance in commuting/anti-commuting field
components within the interaction Lagrangian density in a theory involving field
operators?” These are some of the questions many students seem to worry about.
• A panorama of all the fields encountered in present high-energy physics, together
with the details of the underlying derivations are given.
• Schwinger’s point splitting method of currents is developed systematically in
studying abelian and non-abelian gauge theories anomalies. Moreover, an explicit
experimental test of the presence of an anomaly is shown by an example.
• Derivation of the Spin & Statistics connection and CPT symmetry, emphasizing
for the latter that the invariance of the action under CPT transformation is not
sufficient for CPT symmetry, but one has also to consider the roles of incoming
and outgoing particles.
Preface to Volume I vii

• The fine-structure effective coupling ˛ ' 1=128 at high energy corresponding

to the mass of the neutral Z 0 vector boson based on all the charged leptons and
all those contributing quarks of the three generations.
• Emphasis is put on renormalization theory, including its underlying general
subtractions scheme, often neglected in treatments of QFT.
• Elementary derivation of Faddeev-Popov factors directly from the functional
differential formalism, with constraints, and their modifications, and how they
may even arise in some abelian gauge theories.
• A fairly detailed presentation is given of “deep inelastic” experiments as a
fundamental application of quantum chromodynamics.
• Schwinger line integrals, origin of Wilson loops, lattices, and quark confinement.
• Neutrino oscillations,3 neutrino masses, neutrino mass differences, and the
“seesaw mechanism.”
• QCD jets and parton splitting, including gluon splitting to gluons.
• Equal importance is put on both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories,
witnessing the wealth of information also stored in the abelian case.4
• A most important, fairly detailed, and semi-technical introductory chapter is
given which traces the development of QFT since its birth in 1926 without
tears, in abelian and non-abelian gauge theories, including aspects of quantum
gravity, as well as examining the impact of supersymmetry, string theory, and the
development of the theory of renormalization, as a pedagogical strategy for the
reader to be able to master the basic ideas of the subject at the outset before they
are encountered in glorious technical details later.
• Solutions to all the problems are given right at the end of the book.
With the mathematical rigor that renormalization has met over the years and
the reasonable agreement between gauge theories and experiments, the underlying
theories are in pretty good shape. This volume is organized as follows. The first
introductory chapter traces the subject of QFT since its birth, elaborating on
many of its important developments which are conveniently described in a fairly
simple language and will be quite useful for understanding the underlying technical
details of the theory covered in later chapters including those in Volume II. A
preliminary chapter follows which includes the study of symmetry transformations
in the quantum world, as well as of intricacies of functional differentiation and
functional integration which are of great importance in field theory. Chapter 3
deals with quantum field theory methods of spin 1/2 culminating in the study of
anomalies in the quantum world. The latter refers to the fact that a conservation law

3
It is rather interesting to point out that the theory of neutrino oscillations was written up in this
book much earlier than the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics was announced on neutrino oscillations.
4
With the development of non-abelian gauge theories, unfortunately, it seems that some students
are not even exposed to such derivations as of the “Lamb shift” and of the “anomalous magnetic
moment of the electron” in QED.
viii Preface to Volume I

in classical physics does not necessarily hold in the quantum world. Chapter 4, a
critical one, deals with the concept of a quantum field, the Poincaré algebra, and
particle states. Particular attention is given to the stationary action principle as
well as in developing the solutions of QFT via the quantum dynamical principle.
This chapter includes the two celebrated theorems dealing with CPT symmetry
and of the Spin & Statistics connection. A detailed section is involved with the
basic quantum fields one encounters in present day high-energy/elementary-particle
physics and should provide a useful reference source for the reader. Chapter 5 treats
abelian gauge theories (QED, scalar boson electrodynamics) in quite details and
includes, in particular, the derivations of two of the celebrated results of QED
which are the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the Lamb shift.
Chapter 6 is involved with non-abelian gauge theories (electroweak, QCD, Grand
unification). 5 Such important topics are included as “asymptotic freedom,” “deep
inelastic” scattering, QCD jets, parton splittings, neutrino oscillations, the “seesaw
mechanism” and neutrino masses, Schwinger-line integrals, Wilson loops, lattices,
and quark confinement. Unification of coupling parameters of the electroweak
theory and of QCD are also studied, as well as of spontaneous symmetry breaking
in both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories, and of renormalizability aspects of
both gauge theories, emphasizing the so-called BRS transformations for the latter.
We make it a point, pedagogically, to derive things in detail, and some of such
details are relegated to appendices at the end of the respective chapters with the
main results given in the sections in question. Five general appendices, at the end
of this volume, cover some additional important topics and/or technical details.
In particular, I have included an appendix covering some aspects of the general
theory of renormalization and its underlying subtractions scheme itself which is
often neglected in books on QFT. Fortunately, my earlier book, with proofs not just
words, devoted completely to renormalization theory – Renormalization (1983),
Academic Press – may be consulted for more details. The problems given at the
end of the chapters form an integral part of the book, and many developments in
the text depend on the problems and may include, in turn, additional material. They
should be attempted by every serious student. Solutions to all the problems are given
right at the end of the book for the convenience of the reader. The introductory
chapter together with the introductions to each chapter provide the motivation and
the pedagogical means to handle the technicalities that follow them in the texts.
I hope this book will be useful for a wide range of readers. In particular, I
hope that physics graduate students, not only in quantum field theory and high-
energy physics, but also in other areas of specializations will also benefit from it
as, according to my experience, they seem to have been left out of this fundamental
area of physics, as well as instructors and researchers in theoretical physics. The
content of this volume may be covered in one-year (two semesters) quantum field
theory courses.

5
QED and QCD stand, respectively, for quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics.
Preface to Volume I ix

In Volume II, the reader is introduced to quantum gravity, supersymmetry, and

string theory, 6 which although may, to some extent, be independently read by a
reader with a good background in field theory, the present volume sets up the
language, the notation, provides additional background for introducing these topics,
and will certainly make it much easier for the reader to follow. In this two-volume
set, aiming for completeness in covering the basics of the subject, I have included
topics from the so-called conventional field theory (the classics) to ones from the
modern or the new physics which I believe that every serious graduate student
studying quantum field theory should be exposed to.
Without further ado, and with all due respect to the legendary song writer Cole
Porter, let us find out “what is this thing called QFT?”

Edouard B. Manoukian

6
Entitled: Quantum Field Theory II: Introductions to Quantum Gravity, Supersymmetry, and String
Theory” (2016), Springer.
Acknowledgements

In the beginning of it all, I was introduced to the theoretical aspects of quantum

field theory by Theodore Morris and Harry C. S. Lam, both from McGill and to
its mathematical intricacies by Eduard Prugovečki from the University of Toronto.
I am eternally grateful to them. Over the years, I was fortunate enough to attend
a few lectures by Julian Schwinger and benefited much from his writings as well.
Attending a lecture by Schwinger was quite an event. His unique elegant, incisive,
physically clear approach and, to top it off, short derivations were impressive. When
I was a graduate student, I would constantly hear that Schwinger “does no mistakes.”
It took me years and years to understand what that meant. My understanding of this
is because he had developed such a powerful formalism to do field theory that,
unlike some other approaches, everything in the theory came out automatically and
readily without the need to worry about multiplicative factors in computations, such
as 2’s and other numerical factors, and, on top of this, is relatively easy to apply.
Needless to say this has much influenced my own approach to the subject. He had
one of the greatest minds in theoretical physics of our time.
I want to take this opportunity as well to thank Steven Weinberg, the late Abdus
Salam, Raymond Streater, and Eberhard Zeidler for the keen interest they have
shown in my work on renormalization theory.
I acknowledge with thanks the support I received from several colleagues, while
visiting their research establishments for extended periods, for doing my own thing
and writing up the initial notes on this project. These include Yasushi Takahashi
and Anton Z. Capri from the University of Alberta, Lochlainn O’Raifeartaigh
and John Lewis from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and Jiri Patera
and Pavel Winternitz from the University of Montreal. For the final developments
of the project, I would like to thank Sujin Jinahyon, the President of Nare-
suan University, Burin Gumjudpai, Seckson Sukhasena, Suchittra Sa-Nguansin,
and Jiraphorn Chomdaeng of the university’s Institute for Fundamental Study
for encouragement, as well as Ahpisit Ungkitchanukit and Chai-Hok Eab from
Chulalongkorn University.
I am also indebted to many of my former graduate students, who are now
established physicists in their own rights, particularly to Chaiyapoj Muthaporn,

xi
xii Acknowledgements

Nattapong Yongram, Siri Sirininlakul, Tukkamon Vijaktanawudhi (aka Kanchana

Limboonsong), Prasopchai Viriyasrisuwattana, and Seckson Sukhasena, who
through their many questions, several discussions, and collaborations have been
very helpful in my way of analyzing this subject.
Although I have typed the entire manuscripts myself, and drew the figures as
well, Chaiyapoj Muthaporn prepared the LATEX input files. Without his constant
help in LATEX, this work would never have been completed. I applaud him, thank
him and will always remember how helpful he was. My special thanks also go
to Nattapong Yongram for downloading the endless number of papers I needed to
complete the project.
I was fortunate and proud to have been associated with the wonderful editorial
team of Maria Bellantone and Mieke van der Fluit of Springer. I would like to
express my deepest gratitude to them for their excellent guidance, caring, patience,
and hard work in making this project possible and move forward toward its
completion. I have exchanged more emails with Mieke than with anybody else on
the globe. This has led to such an enjoyable association that I will always cherish.
This project would not have been possible without the patience, encouragement,
and understanding of my wife Tuenjai. To my parents, who are both gone, this work
is affectionately dedicated.
Contents

1 Introduction
Donkey Electron, Bare Electron, Electroweak Frog, God
Particle, “Colored” Quarks and Gluons, Asymptotic
Freedom, Beyond Resonances into the Deep Inelastic
Region, Partons, QCD Jets, Confined Quarks, Bekenstein
– Hawking Entropy of a Black Hole, Sparticles, Strings,
Branes, Various Dimensions and even Quanta of Geometry,
AdS/CFT Correspondence and Holographic Principle,
CPT, and Spin & Statistics .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2 Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.1 Wigner’s Symmetry Transformations in the Quantum World . . . . . . . 46
2.1.1 Wigner’s Symmetry Transformations .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.2 Minkowski Spacetime: Common Arena of Elementary Particles . . . 50
2.3 Representations of the Dirac Gamma Matrices;
Majorana Spinors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4 Differentiation and Integration with Respect
to Grassmann Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.5 Fourier Transforms Involving Grassmann Variables .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.6 Functional Differentiation and Integration; Functional
Fourier Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.7 Delta Functionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Problems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3 Quantum Field Theory Methods of Spin 1=2 . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.1 Dirac Quantum Field, Propagator
and Energy-Momentum Transfer: Schwinger-Feynman
Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

xiii
xiv Contents

3.2 The Dirac Quantum Field Concept, Particle Content,

and C, P, T Tansformations .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.2.1 Charge Conjugation (C), Parity
Transformation (T), and Time Reversal
(T) of the Dirac Quantum Field . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.3 Re-Discovering the Positron and Eventual Discovery
of Anti-Matter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.3.1 h 0C j 0 i for the Dirac Equation . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.4 Coulomb Scattering of Relativistic Electrons . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.5 Spin & Statistics and the Dirac Quantum Field;
Anti-Commutativity Properties Derived .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3.6 Electromagnetic Current, Gauge Invariance
and h 0C j 0 i with External Electromagnetic Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.7 h 0C j 0 i.e/ in the Presence of a Constant F  Field
and Effective Action .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.8 Pair Creation by a Constant Electric Field . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.9 Fermions and Anomalies in Field Theory: Abelian Case . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3.9.1 Derivation of the Anomaly . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.9.2 Experimental Verification of the Anomaly:
 0 !   Decay.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.10 Fermions and Anomalies in Field Theory: Non-Abelian Case . . . . . . 120
Appendix A: Evaluation of L1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Appendix B: Infinitesimal Variation of the Exponential of a Matrix . . . . . . . 128
Problems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4 Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Field Theory .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.1 The Field Concept, Particle Aspect and Wavefunction
Renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.2 PoincarKe Algebra and Particle States . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.3 Principle of Stationary Action of Quantum Field
Theory: The Rationale Of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4.3.1 A Priori Imposed Variations of Dynamical
Variables and Generators of Field Variations:
Field Equations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4.3.2 Commutation/Anti-commutation Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4.3.3 Generators for Quantum Responses to Field
Variations: Internal Symmetry Groups ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
4.3.4 Variations of Boundary Surfaces . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.4 Inhomogeneous Lorentz Transformations
and Energy-Momentum Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
4.5 Spin and Statistics Connection .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.5.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.5.2 The Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.5.3 Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Contents xv

4.6 Quantum Dynamical Principle (QDP) of Field Theory .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

4.6.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.7 A Panorama of Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.7.1 Summary of Salient Features of Some Basic Fields. . . . . . . . 177
4.7.2 Spin 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4.7.3 Spin 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
4.7.4 Spin 3=2 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4.7.5 Spin 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
4.8 Further Illustrations and Applications of the QDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
4.9 Time-Ordered Products, How to Write Down
Lagrangians and Setting Up the Solution
of Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
4.10 CPT .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Appendix A: Basic Equalities Involving the CPT Operator .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Problems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5 Abelian Gauge Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
5.1 Spin One and the General Vector Field . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
5.2 Polarization States of Photons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
5.3 Covariant Formulation of the Propagator .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
5.4 Casimir Effect.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
5.5 Emission and Detection of Photons .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
5.6 Photons in a Medium .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
5.7 Quantum Electrodynamics, Covariant Gauges: Setting
Up the Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
5.7.1 The Differential Formalism (QDP) and
Solution of QED in Covariant Gauges ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
5.7.2 From the Differential Formalism to the Path
Integral Expression for h 0C j 0 i . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
5.8 Low Order Contributions to lnh 0C j 0 i . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
5.9 Basic Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
5.9.1 e e ! e e , eC e ! eC e . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
5.9.2 e  ! e  ; eC e !   and
Polarizations Correlations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
5.9.3 e  ! e  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
5.10 Modified Propagators .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5.10.1 Electron Self-Energy and Its Interpretation .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
5.10.2 Photon Self-Energy and Its Interpretation;
Coulomb Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
5.11 Vertex Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
5.11.1 Charge renormalization and External lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
5.11.2 Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Electron .. . . . . . . . . . . . 290
xvi Contents

5.12 Radiative Correction to Coulomb Scattering and Soft

Photon Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
5.13 Lamb Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
5.14 Coulomb Gauge Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
5.14.1 h 0C j 0 i in the Coulomb Gauge in the
Functional Differential Form . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
5.14.2 From the QDP to the Path Integral of
h 0C j 0 i in Coulomb Gauge.. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
5.15 Gauge Transformations of the Full Theory .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
5.16 Vertex Function and Ward-Takahashi Identity; Full Propagators . . . 316
5.16.1 Ward-Takahashi Identity .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
5.16.2 Equations for the Electron Propagator and the
Vertex Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
5.16.3 Spectral Representation of the Photon
Propagator, Charge Renormalization, Coulomb
Potential in Full QED, Unordered Products of Currents . . . 323
5.16.4 Integral Equation for the Vacuum Polarization Tensor .. . . . 333
5.17 The Full Renormalized Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
5.18 Finiteness of the Renormalized Theory; Renormalized
Vertex Function and Renormalized Propagators .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
5.18.1 Finiteness of the Renormalized Theory .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
5.18.2 The Renormalized Vertex and the
Renormalized Electron Propagator .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
5.18.3 The Renormalized Photon Propagator . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
5.19 Effective Charge and the Renormalization Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
5.19.1 Renormalization Group Analysis . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
5.19.2 The Fine-Structure Effective Coupling at High
Energy Corresponding to the Mass of the
Neutral Z 0 Vector Boson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
5.20 Scalar Boson Electrodynamics, Effective Action
and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
5.20.1 Change of Real Field Variables of Integration
in a Path Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
5.20.2 Goldstone Bosons and Spontaneous Symmetry
Breaking .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Problems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
6 Non-Abelian Gauge Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
6.1 Concept of Gauge Fields and Internal Degrees
of Freedom: From Geometry to Dynamics .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
6.1.1 Generators of SU(N) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
6.2 Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Fields
in the Coulomb Gauge.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Contents xvii

6.3 Functional Fourier Transform and Transition

to Covariant Gauges; BRS Transformations
and Renormalization of Gauge Theories . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
6.3.1 Functional Fourier Transform and The
Coulomb Gauge .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
6.3.2 Trasformation Law from the Coulomb Gauge
to Covariant Gauges in Non-abelian Gauge
Field Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
6.3.3 BRS Trasformations and Renormalization
of Non-abelian Gauge Field Theories .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
6.4 Quantum Chromodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
6.5 eC e Annihilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
6.6 Self-Energies and Vertex Functions in QCD . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
6.6.1 Fermion Inverse Propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
6.6.2 Inverse Gluon Propagator .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
6.6.3 Fermion-Gluon vertex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
6.7 Renormalization Constants, Effective Coupling,
Asymptotic Freedom, and What is Responsible for the Latter? .. . . . 419
6.7.1 What Part of the Dynamics is Responsible for
Asymptotic Freedom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
6.8 Renormalization Group and QCD Corrections to eC e
Annihilation .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
6.9 Deep Inelastic Scattering: Differential Cross Section
and Structure Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
6.10 Deep Inelastic Scattering, The Parton Model, Parton
Splitting; QCD Jets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
6.10.1 The Parton Model .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
6.10.2 Parton Splitting .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
6.10.3 QCD Jets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
6.11 Deep Inelastic Scattering: QCD Corrections . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
6.12 From the Schwinger Line-Integral to the Wilson Loop
and How the latter Emerges .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
6.13 Lattices and Quark Confinement .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
6.14 The Electroweak Theory I .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
6.14.1 Development of the Theory: From the Fermi
Theory to the Electroweak Theory . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
6.14.2 Experimental Determination of sin2 W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
6.14.3 Masses of the Neutrinos and the “Seesaw
Mechanism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
6.14.4 Neutrino Oscillations: An Interlude .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
6.15 Electroweak Theory II: Incorporation of Quarks;
Anomalies and Renormalizability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
6.15.1 Quarks and the Electroweak Theory . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
6.15.2 Anomalies and Renormalizability . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
6.16 Grand Unification .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
xviii Contents

Problems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
General Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Appendix I: The Dirac Formalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Appendix II: Doing Integrals in Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Appendix III: Analytic Continuation in Spacetime Dimension

and Dimensional Regularization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Appendix IV: Schwinger’s Point Splitting Method of Currents:

Arbitrary Orders.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Appendix V: Renormalization and the Underlying Subtractions . . . . . . . . . 541

Recommended Reading .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Solutions to the Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

Index . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Notation and Data

ı Latin indices i; j; k; : : : are generally taken to run over 1,2,3, while the Greek
indices ; ; : : : over 0; 1; 2; 3 in 4D. Variations do occur when there are many
different types of indices to be used, and the meanings should be evident from
the presentations.
ı The Minkowski metric  is defined by Œ  D diagŒ1; 1; 1; 1 D Œ  in
4D.
ı Unless otherwise stated, the fundamental constants „; c are set equal to one.
ı The gamma matrices satisfy the anti-commutation relations f  ;   g D 2  .
ı The Dirac, the Majorana, and the chiral representations of the   matrices are
defined in Appendix I at the end of the book.
ı The charge conjugation matrix is defined by C D i 2  0 .
ı D  0 , u D u  0 , v D v  0 . A Hermitian conjugate of a matrix M is
denoted by M , while its complex conjugate is denoted by M  .
ı The step function is denoted by ™.x/ which is equal to 1 for x > 0, and 0 for
x < 0.
ı The symbol " is used in dimensional regularization (see Appendix III). is
used in defining the boundary condition in the denominator of a propagator
.Q2 C m2  i / and should not be confused with " used in dimensional
regularization. We may also use either one when dealing with an infinitesimal
quantity, in general, with more frequently, and this should be self-evident from
the underlying context.
ı For units and experimental data, see the compilation of the “Particle Data
Group”: Beringer et al. [1] and Olive et al. [2]. The following (some obviously
approximate) numerical values should, however, be noted:

1 MeV D 106 eV
1 GeV D 103 MeV
103 GeV D 1 TeV
1 erg D 107 J

xix
xx Notation and Data

1J D 6:242  109 GeV

c D 2:99792458  1010 cm/s (exact)
„ D 1:055  1034 J s
„c D 197:33 MeV fm
1 fm D 1013 cm

(Masses) Mp D 938:3 MeV=c2 , Mn D 939:6 MeV=c2 ,

MW D 80:4 GeV=c2 , MZ D 91:2 GeV=c2 ,
me D 0:511 MeV=c2 , m D 105:66 MeV=c2 , m D 1777 MeV=c2 .
Mass of e < 2 eV=c2 , Mass of  < 0:19 MeV=c2 , Mass of  < 18:2 MeV=c2 ,
Mass of the neutral Higgs H 0  125:5 GeV=c2 .
For approximate mass values of some of the quarks taken, see Table 5.1 in
Sect. 5.19.2. For more precise range of values, see Olive et al. [2].
(Newton’s gravitational constant) GN D 6:709  1039 „ c5 / GeV2 .
(Fermi weak p interaction constant) GF D 1:666  105 „3 c3 / GeV2 .
Planck mass p„ c=GN  1:221  1019 GeV=c2 ,
Planck length „ GN =c3  1:616  1033 cm.
Fine structure constant ˛ D 1=137:04 at Q2 D 0, and  1=128 at Q2  MZ2 .
For the weak-mixing angle W , sin2 W  0:232, at Q2  MZ2 .
˛= sin2 W  0:034, at Q2  MZ2 .
Strong coupling constant ˛s  0:119, at Q2  MZ2 .

References

1. Beringer, J., et al. (2012). Particle data group. Physical Review D, 86, 010001.
2. Olive, K. A., et al. (2014). Particle data group. Chinese Physics C, 38, 090001.