Abstract
Quantum field theory is the basic tool to understand the physics of the elementary constituents of matter. It is both a very powerful and a very precise framework: using it we can describe physical processes in a range of energies going from the few millions electrovolts typical of nuclear physics to the thousands of billions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). And all this with astonishing precision.
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Notes
- 1.
We use natural units \(\hbar=c=1.\) A summary of the units and conventions used in the book can be found in Appendix A.
- 2.
In Sect. 13.1 we will see how, in the case of the Dirac field, this exponential behavior can be associated with the creation of electron–positron pairs due to a constant electric field (Schwinger effect).
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Álvarez-Gaumé, L., Vázquez-Mozo, M.Á. (2012). Why Do We Need Quantum Field Theory After All?. In: An Invitation to Quantum Field Theory. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 839. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23728-7_1
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