5 ms·

Sadly, despite having read about them about a dozen times, I still don't understand how they work, or rather how to use them. Apparently, that's because of insu

Sadly, despite having read about them about a dozen times, I still don't understand how they work, or rather how to use them. Apparently, that's because of insufficient knowledge of the relevant part of physics.

louthy 7y ago
Feynman's own QED book is a fantastic introduction to QED and his diagrams https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange-Theory-Penguin-Science/dp/0140125051/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28BZ2MNIPKCP4&keywords=feynman+QED&qid=1557848107&s=gateway&sprefix=Feyn%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange-Theory-Penguin-Science/...
- guillaumec 7y ago
  Yes! I just finished it. Best vulgarization book I have ever read. Not a single equation, but still telling you exactly how the physics work, without any hand waving. I can't recommend it enough.
mlevental 7y ago
you need to understand perturbation theory in the context of qft. that's no small feat but since it's a pretty universally studied grad core subject there's a lot of material. this book was actually suggested to me here https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David-McComb/dp/0199236526 https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David... two good (Gentle) senior undergrad books are https://www.amazon.com/Student-Friendly-Quantum-Field-Theory/dp/0984513957 https://www.amazon.com/Student-Friendly-Quantum-Field-Theory... https://www.amazon.com/Field-Quantization-Walter-Greiner/dp/3540780483 https://www.amazon.com/Field-Quantization-Walter-Greiner/dp/... and then there's always griffiths https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Elementary-Particles-David-Griffiths/dp/3527406018 https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Elementary-Particles-Dav... note that you don't need to read this cover to cover if you're not interested in actually doing calculations. you can skim.
- mhh__ 7y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd02pSRrecAVFOPjB-bfv-Q https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd02pSRrecAVFOPjB-bfv-Q This guy (Dietterich Labs), does in depth (steps) derivations of cool QFT stuff. This is slightly unique as they are less handwavey than lectures (Which are often supporting written material, or at least harder to follow online) and also more informative than the calculations in some books (I think Peskin and Schroeder can be horrific unless you have someone to ask stupid questions too, if you're like me [Well read, but not that sharp on the bell curve of academic bragging rights]) Quantum Field Theory for the gifted amateur is also pretty great (And Pretty actually), Zee for the working man or something like that
mnl 7y ago
They're just a pictorial way of arranging calculations involving pretty technical stuff really. You're not expected to make sense of it without going through the (roughly grad school level physics) groundwork. I get that this can be frustrating, but maybe it's not a good idea sticking them in popsci just because they look intuitive. I mean, they are, but only after you've learnt about the machinery behind them. For instance I wouldn't know how to convey the difference between fermionic lines and the bosonic ones without working through commutation and anticommutation relations, the gamma matrices, spinors, the different propagators and so on. Saying simply that fermions are straight lines with oriented arrows, bosons are wiggly lines and we'll draw them like this... doesn't help much when it comes to understanding what they mean, in my opinion.
evanb 7y ago
No better source than the master: http://www.feynman.com/science/qed-lectures-in-new-zealand/ http://www.feynman.com/science/qed-lectures-in-new-zealand/

louthy 7y ago

Feynman's own QED book is a fantastic introduction to QED and his diagrams https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange-Theory-Penguin-Science/dp/0140125051/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28BZ2MNIPKCP4&keywords=feynman+QED&qid=1557848107&s=gateway&sprefix=Feyn%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange-Theory-Penguin-Science/...

guillaumec 7y ago
Yes! I just finished it. Best vulgarization book I have ever read. Not a single equation, but still telling you exactly how the physics work, without any hand waving. I can't recommend it enough.

mlevental 7y ago

you need to understand perturbation theory in the context of qft. that's no small feat but since it's a pretty universally studied grad core subject there's a lot of material. this book was actually suggested to me here https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David-McComb/dp/0199236526 https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David... two good (Gentle) senior undergrad books are https://www.amazon.com/Student-Friendly-Quantum-Field-Theory/dp/0984513957 https://www.amazon.com/Student-Friendly-Quantum-Field-Theory... https://www.amazon.com/Field-Quantization-Walter-Greiner/dp/3540780483 https://www.amazon.com/Field-Quantization-Walter-Greiner/dp/... and then there's always griffiths https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Elementary-Particles-David-Griffiths/dp/3527406018 https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Elementary-Particles-Dav... note that you don't need to read this cover to cover if you're not interested in actually doing calculations. you can skim.

mhh__ 7y ago
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd02pSRrecAVFOPjB-bfv-Q https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd02pSRrecAVFOPjB-bfv-Q This guy (Dietterich Labs), does in depth (steps) derivations of cool QFT stuff. This is slightly unique as they are less handwavey than lectures (Which are often supporting written material, or at least harder to follow online) and also more informative than the calculations in some books (I think Peskin and Schroeder can be horrific unless you have someone to ask stupid questions too, if you're like me [Well read, but not that sharp on the bell curve of academic bragging rights]) Quantum Field Theory for the gifted amateur is also pretty great (And Pretty actually), Zee for the working man or something like that

mnl 7y ago

They're just a pictorial way of arranging calculations involving pretty technical stuff really. You're not expected to make sense of it without going through the (roughly grad school level physics) groundwork. I get that this can be frustrating, but maybe it's not a good idea sticking them in popsci just because they look intuitive. I mean, they are, but only after you've learnt about the machinery behind them. For instance I wouldn't know how to convey the difference between fermionic lines and the bosonic ones without working through commutation and anticommutation relations, the gamma matrices, spinors, the different propagators and so on. Saying simply that fermions are straight lines with oriented arrows, bosons are wiggly lines and we'll draw them like this... doesn't help much when it comes to understanding what they mean, in my opinion.

evanb 7y ago

No better source than the master: http://www.feynman.com/science/qed-lectures-in-new-zealand/ http://www.feynman.com/science/qed-lectures-in-new-zealand/