Functional Integration: Action and Symmetries

Functional integration successfully entered physics as path integrals in the 1942 PhD dissertation of Richard P. Feynman, but it made no sense at all as a mathematical definition. Cartier and DeWitt-Morette have created, in this book, a fresh approach to functional integration. The book is self-contained: mathematical ideas are introduced, developed, generalised and applied. In the authors' hands, functional integration is shown to be a robust, user-friendly and multi-purpose tool that can be applied to a great variety of situations, for example: systems of indistinguishable particles; Aharonov-Bohm systems; supersymmetry; non-gaussian integrals. Problems in quantum field theory are also considered. In the final part the authors outline topics that can be profitably pursued using material already presented.

Author: Pierre Cartier, Cecile Dewitt-Morette
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/30/2006
Pages: 476
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.12lbs
Size: 9.96h x 7.10w x 1.19d
ISBN: 9780521866965