ENGLISH

Thermal field theory

By Michel Le Bellac

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1996
ISBN
9780521460408, 0521460409
LCC
QC174.17.P7 L4 1996
Open Library ID
OL809548M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
2 MB (1991361 bytes)
Series
Cambridge monographs on mathematical physics
Pages
269\269
Topic
Physics
Time added
2014-10-05 02:30:00

Description

This text introduces the theoretical framework for describing the quark-gluon plasma, an important new state of matter. The first part of the book is a self-contained introduction to relativistic thermal field theory. Topics include the path integral approach, the real and imaginary time formalisms, fermion fields and gauge fields at finite temperature. The author illustrates useful techniques such as the evaluation of frequency sums and the use of cutting rules. The second part of the book is devoted to recent developments, and gives a detailed account of collective excitations (bosonic and fermionic), showing how they give rise to energy scales that imply a reorganization of perturbation theory. The author also explains the relation with kinetic theory. He works out in detail applications to processes that occur in heavy ion collisions and in astrophysics. Each chapter ends with exercises and a guide to the literature. Graduate students and researchers in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics will benefit from this book.

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