Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. Drawing Theories Apart traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams—and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process. Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, Drawing Theories Apart uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit—thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.

Renowned physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson is famous for his work in quantum mechanics, nuclear weapons policy and bold visions for the future of humanity. In the 1940s, he was responsible for demonstrating the equivalence of the two formulations of quantum electrodynamics — Richard Feynman's diagrammatic path integral formulation and the variational methods developed by Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonoga — showing the mathematical consistency of QED. This invaluable volume comprises the legendary lectures on quantum electrodynamics first given by Dyson at Cornell University in 1951. The late theorist Edwin Thompson Jaynes once remarked, “For a generation of physicists they were the happy medium: clearer and better motivated than Feynman, and getting to the point faster than Schwinger”. This edition has been printed on the 60th anniversary of the Cornell lectures, and includes a Foreword writer science historian David Kaiser, as well as notes from Dyson's lectures at the Les Houches Summer School of Theoretical Physics in 1954. The Les Houches lectures, described as a supplement to the original Cornell notes, provide a more detailed look at field theory, a careful and rigorous derivation of Fermi's Golden Rule, and a masterful treatment of renormalization and Ward's Identity. Future generations of physicists are bound to read these lectures with pleasure, benefiting from the lucid style that is so characteristic of Dyson's exposition. Contents:Introduction:BooksSubject MatterDetailed ProgramOne-Particle TheoriesThe Dirac Theory:The Form of the Dirac EquationLorentz Invariance of the Dirac EquationTo Find the SThe Covariant NotationConservation Laws. Existence of SpinElementary SolutionsThe Hole TheoryPositron StatesElectromagnetic Properties of the ElectronThe Hydrogen AtomSolution of Radial EquationBehaviour of an Electron in a Non-Relativistic ApproximationSummary of Matrices in the Dirac Theory in Our NotationSummary of Matrices in the Dirac Theory in the Feynman NotationScattering Problems and Born Approximation:General DiscussionProjection OperatorsCalculation of TracesScattering of Two Electrons in Born Approximation. The Møller FormulaRelation of Cross-sections to Transition AmplitudesResults for Møller ScatteringNote on the Treatment of Exchange EffectsRelativistic Treatment of Several ParticlesField Theory:Classical Relativistic Field TheoryQuantum Relativistic Field TheoryThe Feynman Method of QuantizationThe Schwinger Action PrincipleExamples of Quantized Field Theories:The Maxwell FieldTheory of Line Shift and Line WidthField Theory of the Dirac Electron, Without InteractionField Theory of Dirac Electron in External FieldField Theory of Dirac and Maxwell FieldsFree Particle Scattering Problems:Møller Scattering of Two ElectronsScattering of a Photon by an Electron. The Compton Effect. Klein-Nishina FormulaTwo Quantum Pair AnnihilationBremsstrahlung and Pair Creation in the Coulomb Field of an AtomGeneral Theory of Free Particle Scattering:The Reduction of an Operator to Normal FormFeynman GraphsFeynman Rules of CalculationThe Self-Energy of the ElectronSecond-Order Radiative Corrections to ScatteringThe Treatment of Low-Frequency Photons. The Infra-Red CatastropheScattering by a Static Potential. Comparison with Experimental Results:The Magnetic Moment of the ElectronRelativistic Calculation of the Lamb Shift Readership: Physicists, graduate and undergraduate students. Keywords:Relativistic Quantum Mechanics;Quantum Field Theory;Quantum ElectrodynamicsKey Features:Freeman Dyson's first physics textbookMany important details clearly explained, including the reason for 4 x 4 Dirac matrices, the magnetic moment of the electron, etc.Very well-balanced treatment of field theory and QEDThe original exposition has been expanded by about 40% with the Les Houches lecturesReviews: Reviews of the First Edition “… one can profit significantly from the insight into the physics beneath the apparatus, and the extensive and detailed treatment of some problems. Therefore it may be very useful as an additional source in the preparation of a course on quantum field theory … I highly recommend this book to get a different view on quantum field theory, and also to understand how quantum field theory emerged in its present form at all.” Mathematical Reviews “The fame of these lectures as well as of this author, together with the enduring interest in their contents attested by this transcription, obviously classify the book as of great interest to students and researchers willing to hear a presentation of quantum electrodynamics from one of the founding fathers.” Zentralblatt MATH “This book is likely to be of interest mainly to historians of science … one thing was done rather well was the relativistic treatment of the spectrum of the hydrogen atom, which is found algebraically and, rather elegantly and efficiently. The treatment of fluctuations in fields had some nice points …” CERN Courier

The ideas at the root of quantum theory remain stubbornly, famously bizarre: a solid world reduced to puffs of probability; particles that tunnel through walls; cats suspended in zombielike states, neither alive nor dead; and twinned particles that share entangled fates. For more than a century, physicists have grappled with these conceptual uncertainties while enmeshed in the larger uncertainties of the social and political worlds around them, a time pocked by the rise of fascism, cataclysmic world wars, and a new nuclear age. In Quantum Legacies, David Kaiser introduces readers to iconic episodes in physicists’ still-unfolding quest to understand space, time, and matter at their most fundamental. In a series of vibrant essays, Kaiser takes us inside moments of discovery and debate among the great minds of the era—Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Stephen Hawking, and many more who have indelibly shaped our understanding of nature—as they have tried to make sense of a messy world. Ranging across space and time, the episodes span the heady 1920s, the dark days of the 1930s, the turbulence of the Cold War, and the peculiar political realities that followed. In those eras as in our own, researchers’ ambition has often been to transcend the vagaries of here and now, to contribute lasting insights into how the world works that might reach beyond a given researcher’s limited view. In Quantum Legacies, Kaiser unveils the difficult and unsteady work required to forge some shared understanding between individuals and across generations, and in doing so, he illuminates the deep ties between scientific exploration and the human condition.

A fully updated edition of the classic text by acclaimed physicist A. Zee Since it was first published, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell has quickly established itself as the most accessible and comprehensive introduction to this profound and deeply fascinating area of theoretical physics. Now in this fully revised and expanded edition, A. Zee covers the latest advances while providing a solid conceptual foundation for students to build on, making this the most up-to-date and modern textbook on quantum field theory available. This expanded edition features several additional chapters, as well as an entirely new section describing recent developments in quantum field theory such as gravitational waves, the helicity spinor formalism, on-shell gluon scattering, recursion relations for amplitudes with complex momenta, and the hidden connection between Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity. Zee also provides added exercises, explanations, and examples, as well as detailed appendices, solutions to selected exercises, and suggestions for further reading. The most accessible and comprehensive introductory textbook available Features a fully revised, updated, and expanded text Covers the latest exciting advances in the field Includes new exercises Offers a one-of-a-kind resource for students and researchers Leading universities that have adopted this book include: Arizona State University Boston University Brandeis University Brown University California Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon College of William & Mary Cornell Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Northwestern University Ohio State University Princeton University Purdue University - Main Campus Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rutgers University - New Brunswick Stanford University University of California - Berkeley University of Central Florida University of Chicago University of Michigan University of Montreal University of Notre Dame Vanderbilt University Virginia Tech University

A close friend of physicist Richard Feynman chronicles his relationship with the scientist and describes their ten-year quest to reach the remote country of Tannu Tuva.

The life and work of Freeman Dyson—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—and his particular way of thinking about deep questions. Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—helped invent modern physics. Not bound by disciplinary divisions, he went on to explore foundational topics in mathematics, astrophysics, and the origin of life. General readers were introduced to Dyson’s roving mind and heterodox approach in his 1979 book Disturbing the Universe, a poignant autobiographical reflection on life and science. “Well, Doc, You’re In” (the title quotes Richard Feynman’s remark to Dyson at a physics conference) offers a fresh examination of Dyson’s life and work, exploring his particular way of thinking about deep questions that range from the nature of matter to the ultimate fate of the universe. The chapters—written by leading scientists, historians, and science journalists, including some of Dyson’s colleagues—trace Dyson’s formative years, his budding interests and curiosities, and his wide-ranging work across the natural sciences, technology, and public policy. They describe Dyson’s innovations at the intersection of quantum theory and relativity, his novel nuclear reactor design (and his never-realized idea of a spacecraft powered by nuclear weapons), his years at the Institute for Advanced Study, and his foray into cosmology. In the coda, Dyson’s daughter Esther reflects on growing up in the Dyson household. “Well, Doc, You’re In” assesses Dyson’s successes, blind spots, and influence, assembling a portrait of a scientist’s outsized legacy. Contributors Jeremy Bernstein, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Esther Dyson, George Dyson, Ann Finkbeiner, Amanda Gefter, Ashutosh Jogalekar, David Kaiser, Caleb Scharf, William Thomas