Quantum field theory (or QFT) is the combination of Einstein’s special relativity and quantum mechanics. Knowledge of both of these are a must in order to study QFT. There are many resources to learning both, and while I do not have a favorite special relativity resources, for quantum mechanics I prefer A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics by John S. Townsend. Quantum field theory is used everyday in many fields of physics. Originally particle physics was the field that employed QFT the most, it has become big in cosmology (my field) and condensed matter.
So in this blog post I will share with you my plans for study quantum field theory (which I will update a bit in the beginning as I see what materials I can reasonably get my hands on). I will then post updates to my progress and my thoughts on how to teach yourself quantum field theory. I will then post a final writeup of my thoughts on how the whole process went down.
But like all aspects of physics, the learning doesn’t stop when I am done with this journey. I will continue to study quantum field theory throughout my career as it is an integral part of physics and useful in so many different ways.
First off, I will tell you all what my background is at this point in time. I have taken the typical United States’ physics undergraduate program with classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, modern physics, calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. I have also taken a cosmology course and have studied it intensively on my own (since it is my field of study). I have studied general relativity in a classroom setting and on my own (heavily tied to the cosmology studies since general relativity is the foundation of modern cosmology). An introduction to particle physics type course and a few years of research that focused on neutrino detectors. And some research into constraining multifield dark energy models that I stopped in May 2017.
I have read a bit on quantum field theory in the past but I have never made it past the first few chapters of any text book. So I do have some experience that has helped me understand some research that involves quantum field theory but not enough to use it in my own work.
The shortened walkthrough for my self study is as follows:
- ‘t Hooft’s QFT Overview link
- Problems
- Peskin and Schroeder’s An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory (The first section)
- Problems
- ???
So I am starting with a relatively short (about 70 pages) overview of quantum field theory and then I dive straight into problems. Physics is doing problems and so I want to get an overview and quickly start struggling with the problems. I know right now before I start that the 70 page introduction will not be enough to get me through the problems. There will be some overlap between the problems and reading Peskin and Schroeder or other resources. As I do the problems I will find out what I need to learn in order to proceed so I have an idea of what to look for when I start going through the next resource.
This is not entirely finished and I will likely finish reading ‘t Hooft’s article before my plan is entirely down. I hope that I can have a solid plan in the next few weeks. Also look out for some worked out physics problems (probably in cosmology and general relativity) and an update on my travel plans in that time.
Posts in this series:
- My Thoughts on Self Study (Autodidacticism)
- Thoughts After My First Read Through of ‘t Hooft’s Quantum Field Theory Paper
