Lectures on Field Theory and the Many-Body Problem is a 23-chapter lecture series on the developments in the understanding of the structure and axiomatics of Field Theory, which has proved to be a most useful tool in the study of many-body problems. This book starts with a brief introduction to the TCP theorem, followed by a discussion on the gauge properties of the quantum electrodynamical quantities. The subsequent chapters describe the features and applications of unstable and composite particles to quantum field theory. These topics are followed by significant chapters on other aspects of the field theory, including the configuration space method, Wightman functions, vacuum expectation value, Pais doublets, time reversal in nuclear forces, and symmetry operations in quantum mechanics. This text also covers the ground state theory of many-particle systems and the many body problems at non-zero temperature. The last chapters explore the behavior of a Boson system, the polaron model, and the mathematical aspects of the Hilbert spaces. Physicists and researchers in allied sciences will find this book of great value.

Lectures on the Many-Body Problem is a compilation of papers delivered at the Fifth International School of Physics, held at Ravello, Italy in April 1963. The book is devoted to the techniques of many-body theory, which are used in finding solutions to difficult problems encountered in solid-state physics. The text discusses such topics as the discontinuities in the drift velocity of ions in liquid helium; density fluctuation excitations in many-particle systems; tunneling from a many-particle point of view; the mathematics of second quantization for systems of fermions; and correlation functions and macroscopic equations. Theoretical physicists will find the monograph invaluable.

Vols. 1-2 consist of lectures delivered at the 2nd and 5th Schools respectively.

The book is an introduction to quantum field theory applied to condensed matter physics. The topics cover modern applications in electron systems and electronic properties of mesoscopic systems and nanosystems. The textbook is developed for a graduate or advanced undergraduate course with exercises which aim at giving students the ability to confront real problems.

This revised second edition of the author’s classic text offers readers a comprehensively updated review of relativistic atomic many-body theory, covering the many developments in the field since the publication of the original title. In particular, a new final section extends the scope to cover the evaluation of QED effects for dynamical processes. The treatment of the book is based upon quantum-field theory, and demonstrates that when the procedure is carried to all orders of perturbation theory, two-particle systems are fully compatible with the relativistically covariant Bethe-Salpeter equation. This procedure can be applied to arbitrary open-shell systems, in analogy with the standard many-body theory, and it is also applicable to systems with more than two particles. Presently existing theoretical procedures for treating atomic systems are, in several cases, insufficient to explain the accurate experimental data recently obtained, particularly for highly charged ions. The main text is divided into three parts. In Part I, the standard time-independent and time-dependent perturbation procedures are reviewed. This includes a new section at the end of chapter 2 concerning the so-called ”Fock-space procedure” or ”Coulomb-only procedure” for relativistic-QED calculations . This is a procedure on an intermediate level, frequently used in recent time by chemists on molecular systems, where a full QED treatment is out of question. Part II describes three methods for QED calculations, a) the standard S-matrix formulation, b) the Two-times Green’s-function method, developed by the St Petersburg Atomic Theory group, and c) the Covariant-evolution operator (CEO) method, recently developed by the Gothenburg Atomic Theory group. In Part III, the CEO method is combined with electron correlation to arbitrary order to a unified MBPT-QED procedure. The new Part IV includes two new chapters dealing with dynamical properties and how QED effects can be evaluated for such processes. This part is much needed as there has been an increasing interest in the study of QED effects for such processes. All methods treated in the book are illustrated with numerical examples, making it a text suitable for advanced students new to the field and a useful reference for established researchers.

Original publication and copyright date: 2011.