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Introduction: Origin, Use and Interpretation of Feynman Diagrams

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The Genesis of Feynman Diagrams

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 26))

Abstract

“Like the silicon chip of more recent years, the Feynman diagram was bringing computation to the masses.” Thus Julian Schwinger, displaying a hint of both disdain and admiration, appraises the enormous impact of Feynman diagrams as a mathematical tool on the daily work of theoretical physicists. And indeed, since Richard P. Feynman (1918–1988) invented them, around the year 1948, and Freeman J. Dyson subsequently systematized them, these diagrams have undeniably become an indispensable tool for performing calculations in modern quantum field theory. They are omnipresent in the theoretical treatments of an important class of elementary particle phenomena, in particular quantum electrodynamics (QED). In modern textbooks on quantum field theory—I will quote from one of them below—they take centre stage, while the teaching of their use is one of the essential components in courses on the subject.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Schwinger (1983, p. 343).

  2. 2.

    See, for instance, Tödtli (2004).

  3. 3.

    Kaempffer (1965, p. 209), emph. in the orginal; cf. Kaiser (2005, p. 369).

  4. 4.

    Baeyer (1999, p. 14); cited in Meynell (2008)

  5. 5.

    Feynman (1966, p. 706).

  6. 6.

    Weiner (1966a, pp. 41–42), reprinted with permission. Copyright 1966, American Institute of Physics.

  7. 7.

    Miller (1984, e. g., p. 159).

  8. 8.

    The case of dual diagrams is discussed in Kaiser (2005, p. 366ff).

  9. 9.

    RadTh.

  10. 10.

    Dyson (2006).

  11. 11.

    Dyson (2006, p. 100); see also Sakurai (1967, pp. 240–241).

  12. 12.

    Wüthrich (2007), cf. Goodman (1968).

  13. 13.

    Cf. Graßhoff et al. (2002), Nickelsen (2002).

  14. 14.

    For a comprehensive account of the history of QED, see Schweber (1994).

  15. 15.

    STQED, p. 776.

  16. 16.

    Feynman (1966, p. 707).

  17. 17.

    Tomonaga (1973, p. 411); Dancoff (1939); Schweber (1994, p. 90); Pais (1986, p. 455); Brown (1993, p. 12).

  18. 18.

    Ct. Lacki, Ruegg and Telegdi (1999).

  19. 19.

    Pais (1986, pp. 455–456).

  20. 20.

    For instance Pasternack (1938).

  21. 21.

    See Lamb and Retherford (1947).

  22. 22.

    Kusch and Foley (1948).

  23. 23.

    Schwinger (1948a).

  24. 24.

    Schwinger (1948b, abstract)

  25. 25.

    See, e. g., Feynman’s letter to Mr and Mrs Corben, cited in Schweber (1994, p. 426): “Actually, the self-energy comes out finite and invariant and is therefore representable as a pure mass.”

  26. 26.

    Weinberg (1995, p. 37); cf. Sakurai (1967, p. 240).

  27. 27.

    SM, p. 1754.

  28. 28.

    Here Schwinger refers to particles like mesons which were not yet incorporated into a theory together with electrons, positrons and photons at the end of the 1940s; or even not yet discovered at that time.

  29. 29.

    RadReacI; RadReacII; RadReacIIIa; RadReacIIIb.

  30. 30.

    Although, since some time, mainly working in the field of the history of physics, Schweber was long enough a practising physicist and made notable contributions also to this discipline (Bethe and Schweber 1955, to mention but one of them).

  31. 31.

    Dresden (1993, p. 55).

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    Adrian Wüthrich

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Wüthrich, A. (2010). Introduction: Origin, Use and Interpretation of Feynman Diagrams. In: The Genesis of Feynman Diagrams. Archimedes, vol 26. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9228-1_1

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