Introduction and Essential Physics

Robert J. Lewis-Swan

Andrew N. Jordan, Irfan A. Siddiqi

This first chapter gives an introduction to the book and guides the reader through much of the history of the field of quantum mechanics, focusing on what we view as the most important episodes in the field. We discuss the essential properties of quantum mechanics and how they have been reimagined in the decades that followed the era of the founders.

E. Brézin

Knowledge of the renormalization group and field theory is a key part of physics, and is essential in condensed matter and particle physics. Written for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, this textbook provides a concise introduction to this subject. The textbook deals directly with the loop expansion of the free energy, also known as the background field method. This is a powerful method, especially when dealing with symmetries, and statistical mechanics. In focussing on free energy, the author avoids long developments on field theory techniques. The necessity of renormalization then follows.

Boris Nikolaevich Ivanov

Bruce W. Shore

The introductory chapter sets the stage for the narrative discussion by defining terminology and commenting on several basic concepts often taken for granted in expositions, but essential for any understanding of a technical subject: operational definitions and the scientific method; the difierence between physics, technology and engineering; the connection with art and philosophy; and the goals in modeling of physical phenomena with systems and observables.