Written by two of the most prominent leaders in particle physics, this text provides a classroom-tested introduction to the formal and conceptual foundations of quantum field theory. The book presents a step-by-step derivation of relativistic perturbation theory and its application to the calculation of observable quantities and demonstrates the mathematical tools necessary to derive detailed results. It also emphasizes the relationships between symmetry and conservation laws and explores the timely topic of neutrino oscillations.

The Symmetries of Space-Time. The Classical Free Particle. The Lagrangian Theory of Fields. Klein-Gordon Field Quantization. Electromagnetic Field Quantization. The Dirac Equation. Quantization of the Dirac Field. Free Field Propagators. Interactions. Time Evolution of Quantum Systems. Relativistic Perturbation Theory. The Discrete Symmetries: P, C, T. Weyl and Majorana Neutrinos. Applications: QED. Applications: Weak Interactions. Neutrino Oscillations. Appendix.

Luciano Maiani is a professor of physics at La Sapienza University of Rome. He was the president of Italy's Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and president of Italy's National Research Council (CNR). He is the author or coauthor of more than 200 scientific publications on the theory of elementary particles. In 1970, S. Glashow, J. Iliopoulos, and Dr. Maiani put forth the important Glashow-Iliopoulos-Maiani (GIM) mechanism, which predicted charmed particles. Dr. Maiani has also won numerous honors, including the Dirac Medal. Omar Benhar is the research director at INFN and a senior member of the High Energy Theory Group at La Sapienza University of Rome. Dr. Benhar has published more than 100 papers in the areas of astroparticle physics and particle phenomenology.