Classical Field Theory

Horaƫiu Năstase

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781108477017
• eBook ISBN: 9781108753210
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Mathematical & Computational Physics

Classical field theory predicts how physical fields interact with matter, and is a logical precursor to quantum field theory. This introduction focuses purely on modern classical field theory, helping graduates and researchers build an understanding of classical field theory methods before embarking on future studies in quantum field theory. It describes various classical methods for fields with negligible quantum effects, for instance electromagnetism and gravitational fields. It focuses on solutions that take advantage of classical field theory methods as opposed to applications or geometric properties. Other fields covered includes fermionic fields, scalar fields and Chern–Simons fields. Methods such as symmetries, global and local methods, Noether theorem and energy momentum tensor are also discussed, as well as important solutions of the classical equations, in particular soliton solutions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I General Properties of Fields; Scalars and Gauge Fields
• Part II Solitons and Topology; Non-Abelian Theory
• Part III Other Spins or Statistics; General Relativity
• References
• Index