Quantum Field Theory

"This is a fantastic book!" ---nrqed
"Best book ever" ---Hot Meaning
"The perfect introductory book to QFT" ---Mars
"Very clearly and fully explained" ---Wikipedia



Mark SrednickiMy textbook on QFT, published by Cambridge University Press, is now available at amazon (check out the customer reviews) and elsewhere.

The Cambridge web page for the book includes some nice comments about it from some well-known physicists; click on "Reviews" to see them.

Try before you buy!  Click here to download a pdf file of a prepublication draft of the text.  This draft contains a number of errors (mostly minor) that got corrected on the pages proofs (either by me or the copy editor) for the published version, but you can find out if you think it's worth your money. 

And if you find any errors, please let me know: mark@physics.ucsb.edu

Errata for the published version will be collected on this page as they are found. 
Scroll down to see them.




Back to my home page.




Errata

by page number.  Last update: 15 April 2010Go here for a list of errata organized by date added.

Thanks to Mark Alford (MA), Curtis Asplund (CA), David Berenstein (DB), Hee-Joong Chung (HJC), Claudio Coriano (CC), Daniel J. Feldman (DJF),
Edson Fernando Ferrari (EFF), Steve Giddings (SG), Gregory Giecold (GG), Idse Heemskerk (IH), Tae Min Hong (TMH), Ziyang Hu (ZH), Shu-Ping Lee (SPL), Nathan Johnson-McDaniel (NJM), Yevgeny Kats (YK), Guilin Liu (GL), Hwasung "Mars" Lee (HML), Joyce Myers (JM), Matan Mussel (MM), Hiromichi Nishimura (HN), Chris Pagnutti (CP), Ari Pakman (AP), Jess Riedel (JRi), Jorge Rocha (JR), Mauricio Romo (MR), Miles Stoudenmire (MSt), Daniel Vangheluwe (DV), Brian Willett (BW), Masaru Watanabe (MWa), Mark Weitzman (MWe), Ting Yu (TY), Jianhui Zhou (JZ), and Fabio Zocchi (FZ) for finding these.  Uncredited errors were found by me. 

Errata for the 2nd and 3rd printings:

p.xxi, Sam Treiman is misspelled (sorry Sam!) (elsewhere in the book it is correct). (TY)
p.6, "this requires" should be "the simplest possibility is for" (but note that if ψ is a scalar, then |ψ|^2 cannot be a probability density) (EFF).
p.27, 7th line of eq.(3.26), change the sign of the exponent in both exponentials.  (NJM)
p.65, the footnote is wrong; W1(J) has both real and imaginary parts.  (MWe)
p.100, eq.(14.21), 2nd line, +A should be -A.  (MWe)
p.114, problem 16.1, V4 = λ should be V4 = -λ.  (JR,MWe)
p.152, 2nd line from the bottom, Im ln D = -iπ should be Im ln D = -π.  (MA)
p.172, 1st line after eq.(28.23), the reference to eq.(28.12) should be to (28.11).  (MA)
p.175, eqs.(28.44) and (28.46), the exponents -1 and -1/2 on Z_φ and Z_χ should be switched.  (JR)
p.177, eq.(29.9), ∫  Jφ should be +∫  Jφ.  (GG)
p.180, eq.(29.23), 16
π^2 should be 32π^2.  (GG)
p.182, eq.(29.32), 16π^2 should be 32π^2.  (GG)
p.184, 6th line of the 2nd full paragraph, "coefficients of the operators with negative mass dimension" should be "coefficients with negative mass dimension".  (MA)
p.192, eqs.(31.2)-(31.4), and p.195, eq.(31.17), ~Δ(0) should be Δ(0).
p.195, below eq.(31.18) and in eq.(31.19), κ_B - κ_C should be κ_B - _C.  (HN)
p.196, the discussion after eq.(31.22) is incorrect; Π(k²) depends on k² through D, and so we need an O(λ) finite part for the A counterterm that we adjust to make Π'(-m²)=0.  (JH)
p.197, 2nd line of the 1st full paragraph, the reference to fig.(31.1) should be to fig.(31.2).  (MA)
p.205, eq.(33.3), on the left-hand side of eq.(33.3), A^ρ(x) should be A^μ(x)(DJF)
p.213, after eq.(34.31), Levi-Civita is misspelled (elsewhere it is correct). (CC)
p.214, on the right-hand side of eq.(34.34), -i should be +i.  (CLL)
p.221, 3rd line, ψ
should be ψ_a.  (MWa)
p.265, eqs.(41.24) and (41.25), the argument p of the u and v spinors should be in bold type.  (YK)
p.283, 4th line of 1st full paragraph, ig should be igd4x.  (MA)
p.303, eq.(49.5), there is an extra factor of e^{-ip'x} that should be removed.  (JM)
p.303, equation at the end of the 2nd line below eq.(49.5), there should be a left arrow over the ∂ on the right-hand side.  (JM)
p.304, footnote, the problems mentioned do not exist (they were in early drafts, but I eventually decided that they were too hard and removed them).  (YK)
p.310, 1st line below eq.(50.15), -(p^0)^2+p^2 should be (p^0)^2-p^2.  (CA)
p.311, the 2nd & 3rd lines of eq.(50.24) should be = (Φ_a Φ^*_adot)(κ^*adot κ^a) = p_{a adot} k^{adot a}.  (MA)
p.320, eq.(51.39) should be over 4 dimensions instead of d dimensions.  (JM)
p.322, fig.51.4, the leftmost internal propagator should have momentum l, rather than the bottommost, to match eq.(51.49).  (SG)
p.337, 2nd line of eq.(54.22), the first term on the right-hand side should have a plus sign.  (BW)
p.366, 1st line of 1st full paragraph and 2nd line of 2nd full paragraph, fig.60.2 should be fig.60.1.  (SG)
p.368, line above eq.(60.30), k-slash_3 should be p-slash_1.  (DV)
p.388, last line of first full paragraph, -p'^2 should be +p'^2.  (JRe)
p.406, eq.(66.25), 24 should be 48.  (SPL)
p.406, eq.(66.28), -6 should be -12.
p.407, eq.(66.31), min should be max.  (SPL)
p.424, eq.(70.20), plus and minus signs should be swapped for consistency with (70.17) and (70.19).  (YS)
p.424, 1st line after eq.(70.20), "This existence" should be "The existence".  (YK) p.440, in the 2nd diagram in fig.(73.2), ρ and ν should be swapped to agree with eq.(73.6).  (CLL)
p.439, 3rd line of eq.(73.1), the C's should be lower case to match the ghost-field notation used in previous sections.  (IH)
p.440, in the 2nd diagram in fig.(73.2), ρ and ν should be swapped to agree with eq.(73.6).  (CLL)
p.458, eq.(75.10), the p-slash in the numerator on the left-hand side should be minus p-slash.  (YK)
p.462, eq.(75.29), +(p,μ↔q,ν) is wrong; we do this exchange, and then contract with p_μ.
p.462, eq.(75.33), +(p,μ↔q,ν) should be -(ν,lρ,-l); you need to do some work to see this.
p.464, eq.(75.44), +(p,μ↔q,ν) should be -(νρ).
p.464, eq.(75.45), there should be a minus sign on the right-hand side.  (YS)
p.470, eq.(76.21), the 2nd index
μ on the right-hand side should be ν. (YK)
p.484, eq.(78.32), the g's and δ's at the end of the first line should have all their indices up.  (CA)
p.484, last line, the A in T(A) should be in roman type, not italic.  (YK)
p.506, problem (81.2), 3- 4+ should be 3+ 4-.  (MR)
p.518, 1st full paragraph, 7th line, "one third of" should be "three times".  (YK)
p.521, 2nd line before eq.(83.16), the reference to eq.(83.7) should be to eq.(83.9).
  (YK)
p.523, 1st line after eq.(83.25). the reference to problem 11.5 should be to problem 10.5.  (YK)
p.534, in the last line of eq.(85.23), the g in the first term should be g².  (CLL)
p.541, eqs.(86.25)-(86.27), R and S should be replaced by their transposes.  (CLL)
p.548, 2nd line, the reference to Table 88.2 should be to Table 88.1.  (YK)
p.559, 1st line, the fields u-bar and d-bar should each have a superscript α (color index).  (YK)
p.586, 2nd line below eq.(92.50), K_a K_i should be eK_a K_i.  (JZ)
p.639, index entry for "Lehmann-Kallen form" should be on its own, not part of the entry for "left-handed Weyl field".  (SG)
p.699, in Lehman-Symanzik-Zimmerman, Lehman and Zimmerman should both end in "mann" rather than "man".

Errata for the 1st printing, corrected in the 2nd printing:

p.xxi, Arkady Tseytlin has pointed out that his last name is misspelled; my abject apologies to Professor Tseytlin, who provided a number of helpful suggestions when the book was in draft form.
p.6, eq.(1.18), a^μ should be a^σ(CP)
p.7, eq.(1.22), Λ^
μ_σ should be Λ^ν_σ(CP)
p.18, 2nd line: P^0 should be cP^0.  (YK)
p.18, eq.(2.19), in the 3rd line, hbar should be hbar c, and in the 4th line, hbar should be hbar/c.  (CP)
p.19, 1st line after eq.(2.22), Hct should be Ht.  (YK)
p.27, eq.(3.27), the x in the exponent should be in bold type.  (YK)
p.29, 4th line, hbar c m should be hbar m/c.  (YK)
p.50, eqs.(7.2) and (7.3), the D in Dq should be in caligraphic type.  (YK)
p.58, eq.(9.4), the gradient term is missing.  (YK)
p.59, above eq.(9.8), the cited equation should be 9.6, not 9.7.  (YK)
p.59, next to last line, the cited equation should be 9.6, not 9.7.  (YK)
p.68, eq.(9.25), Z_1(J) now includes the Y counterterm.  (HML)
p.73, second line of eq.(10.3), the minus sign should be plus.  (HML)
p.73, 1st line after eq.(10.3), δ_j W should be δ_j iW.  (YK)
p.74, eq.(10.4), the right-hand side of the first line should be evaluated at J=0.  (YK)

p.82, eq.(11.23), the subscript on the summation sign should be i=1, not j=1. (GL).
p.99, 5th line below eq.(14.14), "clockwise" should be "counterclockwise".  (MA)
p.100, 3rd line from the bottom, Z=1+A should be Z_φ=1+A.  (YK)
p.102, in the denominator on the right-hand side of eq.(14.25), 2^n should be 2^(2n).  (HML)
p.102, in the line above eq.(14.30), the reference to eq.(14.26) should be to eq.(14.27).  (MA)
p.108, eqs.(15.12) and (15.13), "+ Re" should be "– Re".  (MA)
p.121, 3rd paragraph, the two sentences "That is, we include only diagrams ... more complicated.)" should be "That is, we omit any 1PI diagram that contains a subdiagram with two or three external lines that is more complicated than a single tree-level propagator (for a subdiagram with two external lines) or tree-level vertex (for a subdiagram with three external lines)."  (MA)
p.127, eq.(21.1), the 1st line on the right-hand side should have an overall minus sign, and the x in the denominator sholud be deleted. (YK)
p.129, eqs.(21.15-21.17), d^6y should be d^dy.  (YK,GL)
p.137, 6th line from the top, Takahashi is misspelled as Yakahashi.  (This embarrassing error is not in my original draft and was apparently made by someone at CUP; my apologies to Professor Takahashi!)
p.137, in the two lines above eq.(22.28), the minus signs on the right-hand sides of the two inline equations should be removed.  (GG) 
p.152, 2nd line after eq.(25.13), m_χ^2/k^2 should be 4m_χ^2/k^2.  (GG)
p.155, 3rd line of the last paragraph: the internal propagator cannot be χ, since there is no χ^3 vertex.  (YK)
p.173, eqs.(28.30)-(28.31), e^ikx should be e^-ikx.  (YK)
p.176, eq.(29.4), −∫  Jφ should be +∫  Jφ.  (YK)
p.183, 3rd line from the bottom, and p. 184, first line, the references to eq.(29.33) should be to eq.(29.35).  (AP)
p.194, 1st line of eq.(31.14), (3/4)Z_λ-(1/4)Z_m should be
(3/2)Z_λ-(1/2)Z_m.  (GG)
p.195&196, eqs.(31.20)&(31.21), (3/4)C-(1/4)B should be
(3/2)C-(1/2)B.  (GG)
p.196, 3rd line of eq.(31.21),
λ should be 3λ.  (GG)
p.196, eq.(31.22), there should be a factor of 3 in front of the integral sign, and
+(1/2)(9κ_C - κ_B) should be -(9κ_C - κ_B).  (GG)
p.199, 7th line below eq.(32.9), χ(x) + α should be χ(x) + vα(YK)
p.199, 3rd line from the bottom, Π(0)=0 should be Π_χ(0)=0.  (YK)
p.200, 1st line after eq.(32.12), "where φ runs" should be "where a runs".  (YK)
p.232, 2nd line of eq.(37.3) is missing d_0 acting on ψ_a.  (HJC)
p.233&234, after eqs.(37.12) and (37.20), the reference to eq.(37.5) should be to both eqs.(37.4) and (37.5).  (YK)
p.250, eqs.(39.39) and (39.40) are true only if Λ is a boost in the direction of p.  In other cases, there is a rotation matrix R_ss' acting on the spin index on the right-hand side.  New problem: find a formula for this matrix, and show that it is the same for electrons and positrons.
p.266, problem 41.1 should refer to eqs.(41.24) and (41.25) instead of (41.23) and (41.26). 
Note the above correction to eq.(39.40) is necessary as well.  (MSt) 
p.267, the last line should be "this is because the fields anticommute at spacelike separations".  (DB)
p.278, line above eq.(44.23), "then, we have" should be "then, dropping the primes, we have".  (GG)
p.280,
line above eq.(44.37), "Then we get" should be "Then, dropping the primes, we get".  (GG)
p.287, figure 45.5, the momenta of the internal fermion lines are incorrect; in the first diagram it should be -p-k and in the second diagram it should be -p+k'.  (DB)
p.280, second line after eq.(44.37) zbar should be zbar_i.  (GG)
p.284, eq.(45.8), S(x-w_1)S(w_1-w_2)S(w_2-y) should be
S(x-w_2)S(w_2-w_1)S(w_1-y) to agree with figure 45.2.  (GG)
p.287, eq.(45.19), -ipy in the exponent should be -ip'y.
p.287, eq.(45.21), -ikz_2 in the exponent should be -ik'z_2.  (HJC)
p.289, figure 45.6, the internal line in the second diagram should be solid (not dashed), and each k_i should be k'_i.  (HML)
p.290, eq.(45.25), in the last term, -u+M^2 should be -s+M^2.  (GG)
p.301, last line, "overall minus sign" should be "factor of -1/2".  (MSt,GG)
p.305, figure 49.1, the label on the lower solid line in the 2nd diagram should be p'_2 instead of -p'_2.
p.305, 3rd line above eq.(49.6), the two equations should be iT_1 = ig ubar'_1 v'_2 and iT_2 = ig ubar'_2 v'_1.  (GG)
p.305, eq.(49.6), swap u and v throughout.  (GG)
p.311, 3rd line after eq.(50.24), "section 44" should be "section 45".  (GG)
p.322, eq.(51.51), λ should be λ^2.  (DB)
p.327, 8th line, "section 70" should be "section 71".  (YK)
p.344, eq.(56.6), e^ikx should be e^-ikx.  (GG)
p.372, last line, <0|φ(x)|k> should be <k'|φ(x)|0>.  (GG)
p.387, eq.(63.6), there should be a plus sign in front of the final m.  (GG,MA)
p.389, eq.(63.21), 1-y(1-y)... should be 1+y(1-y)...  (GG)
p.394, eq.(65.5), 2nd line, a factor of 1/i is missing.  (GG)
p.396, 2nd line after eq.(65.11), D=(1-(1/4)y^2)... should be D=((1/4)-y^2)...  (GG,MM)
p.396, 3rd line after eq.(65.11), "even" should be "odd".  (GG,MM)
p.397, eq.(65.19), 3rd line, (-iλ) should be (-i Z_λ
λ).  (GG)
p.397, eq.(65.20), 3rd line, d^4l/(2π)^4 should be
d^dl/(2π)^d.  (GG)
p.402, eq.(65.34), 2nd line, P_ρμ should be P_σμ.   (GG)
p.405, eqs.(66.13)-(66.15), Z_φ should be Z_2. 
(GG)
p.405, eq.(66.14), the exponents of Z_3 and Z_
φ  should be -1 instead of -2 (and Z_φ should be Z_2).  (GG)
p.406, eqs.(66.23)-(66.24), in the last term of each equation, e should be ε.  (GG)

p.406, problem 66.2 should end with "in Lorenz gauge".
p.410, 5th line from the bottom, Takahashi is misspelled as Yakahashi.  (This embarrassing error is not in my original draft and was apparently made by someone at CUP; my apologies to Professor Takahashi!)
p.412, eq. (68.3), there should be a factor of Z_1 on the right-hand side.  (GG)
p.414, 2nd line after eq. (68.13), Ŝ(p) should be Ŝ(p)^(-1). (GG)
p.419, eq.(69.24), the fields in the mass term should have an extra index i.  (FZ)
p.422, 2nd line below eq.(70.3), "satisfies eq.(70.2)" should be "satisfies T^a_A = -(T^a_A)^*".  (HML)
p.448, eq.(74.1), D^ab should be D^ab_
μ.  (ZH)
p.449, eq.(74.8), the minus sign should be a plus sign.  (HML)
p.465, eq.(75.46), in the numerator, each a should be slashed.  (MA)
p.465, eqs.(75.48)-(75.49), factors of (l+a-q) and (l-q) in the numerators should be (l+a+q) and (l+q), respectively.  (GG)

p.467, SO(2) and SO(6) have representations with A(R)≠0.  (YK)
p.468, eq.(76.3), F_μν
should not have an adjoint index a.  (YK)
p.514, eq.(82.38) should be c(g)=-(1/2)β(g)c'(g).  (FZ)
p.514&515, in eqs.(82.40) and (82.41), exp(1...) should be exp(-1...
).  (FZ)
p.517, eq.(83.5), the last index on the right should be j instead of i.  (FZ)
p.519, eq.(83.9), the state should be some particular low-energy state rather than the vacuum |0>.  (YK)
p.527, 2nd line above eq.(84.9), g_a should be g.  (FZ)
p.527, 2nd line above eq.(84.9), d(R) should be D(R).  (YK)
p.528, 4th line from the bottom, φ^a T^a should be Φ^a T^a.  (YK)
p.528, 3rd line from the bottom, "VEV of φ" should be "VEV of Φ".  (YK)
p.532, eq.(85.14), remove the superscript μ.  (YK)
p.535, in eq.(85.34) and each of the first two lines of eq.(85.35), +(1-ξ^-1) should be -(1-ξ^-1).  (FZ)
p.539, eq.(86.6), the last index on the right should be i instead of k. 
(FZ)
p.545, 3rd paragraph, "87 and 88" should be "88 and 89".  (GG)
p.556, eq.(89.1), in the last term on the first line, q_βj should be q_αj. (GG)
p.559, eq.(89.31), D_LK should be D_LJ. 
(GG)
p.574, eq.(91.13), E_
LK should be E_LJ(GG)
p.578, last line, U(
φ) is defined to be exp[iα(φ)].  (YK)
p.598, eq.(93.40), in the exponent, in_ should be n_.  (YK)
p.615, eq.(95.41), the first term on the right-hand side should be A^dagger(x).  (FZ)
p.618, 1st line after eq.(95.69), the D in D_a V should be in caligraphic font.  (YK)
p.618, eq.(95.71), the superscript c should be b.  (YK)
p.621, Iliopoulos is misspelled; my apologies to Professor Iliopoulos!  (YK)
p.622, eq.(96.1), there is a missing ε^{ij} in the 2nd and 3rd terms on the right-hand side; also, in the 3rd term, the superscript i on Hbar should be replaced with a subscript j.  (YK)
p.622, 3rd line below eq.(96.1), Hbar^i L_i should be
ε^{ij}Hbar_i L_j.
p.626, eq.(97.4), the last term on the 1st line should be (1,3,+1)_S, and the last term on the 2nd line should be (1,1,+1)_A.  (FZ)
p.626, eq.(97.6), the last term should be (1,1,+1).  (FZ)

p.626, 1st line after eq.(97.6), "From eqs.(97.2)" should be "From eqs.(97.3)".  (YK)
p.636, Ta-Pei Cheng is misspelled; my apologies to Professor Cheng!  (TMH)

There are also some spelling and grammar errors whose corrections are obvious.

Please let me know if you find any others: mark@physics.ucsb.edu