{{Short description|Physics textbook (1995)}} {{Infobox book | author = Michael Peskin<br>Daniel V. Schroeder | isbn = 0-201-50397-2 | pub_date = 1995 | subject = Quantum field theory<br>Particle physics | publisher = Addison-Wesley | language = English | country = Massachusetts, United States | image = File:An_Introduction_to_Quantum_Field_Theory.jpg }}
'''''An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory''''' is a graduate textbook on quantum field theory and particle physics, written by Michael Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder. Commonly known as '''''Peskin and Schroeder''''' for short, it was originally published by Addison-Wesley in 1995.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory |url=https://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/qftbook.html |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=physics.weber.edu}}</ref>
== Table of contents == The book is divided into three portions. The first covers quantum electrodynamics using Feynman diagrams, the second the Wilsonian approach to renormalization, and the third non-Abelian gauge theories and the Standard Model.<ref name="mangano"/> These parts are divided into chapters as follows:<ref name=":3"/>
{{ordered list | type = upper-roman|Feynman Diagrams and Quantum Electrodynamics{{ordered list |Invitation: Pair Production in e<sup>+</sup> e<sup>-</sup> Annihilation |The Klein–Gordon Field |The Dirac Field |Interacting Fields and Feynman Diagrams |Elementary Processes of Quantum Electrodynamics |Radiative Corrections: Introduction |Radiative Corrections: Some Formal Developments <br>Final Project: Radiation of Gluon Jets }}|Renormalization{{ordered list|start=8 |Invitation: Ultraviolet Cutoffs and Critical Fluctuations |Functional Methods |Systematics of Renormalization |Renormalization and Symmetry |The Renormalization Group |{{efn|name=omit|Sections suggested to be omitted in less formal courses on particle physics.}}Critical Exponents and Scalar Field Theory <br>{{efn|name=omit}}Final Project: Coleman–Weinberg Potential }}|Non-Abelian Gauge Theories{{ordered list|start=14 |Invitation: The Parton Model of Hadron Structure |Non-Abelian Gauge Invariance |Quantization of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories |Quantum Chromodynamics |{{efn|name=omit}}Operator Products and Effective Vertices |{{efn|name=omit}}Perturbation Theory Anomalies |Gauge Theories with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |Quantization of Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theories <br>Final Project: Decays of the Higgs Boson }}|Epilogue{{ordered list|start=22 |Quantum Field Theory at the Frontier }} }}
== Reception == The textbook was well received when it was released and it has become a standard textbook in the field.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lancaster |first1=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0rkVDAAAQBAJ&q=peskin+schroeder+%22an+introduction+to+quantum+field+theory%22 |title=Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur |last2=Blundell |first2=Stephen |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969932-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lellouch |first=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lTnLFQAfZ5QC&pg=PA15 |title=Modern Perspectives in Lattice QCD: Quantum Field Theory and High Performance Computing: Lecture Notes of the Les Houches Summer School: Volume 93, August 2009 |date=2011-08-25 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-969160-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Reviews {{!}} Quantum Field Theory and Standard Model |url=https://schwartzqft.fas.harvard.edu/reviews |access-date=2025-06-11 |website=schwartzqft.fas.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Berg |first=Michael |date=2016 |title=MAA Review: An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory |url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/an-introduction-to-quantum-field-theory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603033655/https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/an-introduction-to-quantum-field-theory |archive-date=3 June 2019 |website=Mathematical Association of America}}</ref> Emil Martinec praised how theory was developed in order to connect with experiments.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Martinec |first=Emil |date=1996-08-01 |title=An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=49 |issue=8 |pages=69–72 |doi=10.1063/1.2807734 |bibcode=1996PhT....49h..69P |issn=0031-9228}}</ref> Martinec said that before the book, his students needed to consult many different sources.<ref name=":0" /> Michelangelo Mangano writing for the ''CERN Courier'' indicated that the third chapter could be a book by itself and was previously not available in textbook form.<ref name="mangano">{{Cite journal |last=Mangano |first=Michelangelo |date=March 1997 |title=Bookshelf: Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, by Michael Peskin and Daniel Schroeder, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0 201 503972 |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1732651/files/vol37-issue2.pdf |journal=CERN Courier |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=19–20}}</ref>
Tom Banks praised Peskin and Schroeder's treatment of quantum electrodynamics (chapter 5) and Wilsonian renormalization.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Banks |first=Tom |date=1998-07-01 |title=Post-Use Review. An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory |journal=American Journal of Physics |language=en |volume=66 |issue=7 |pages=646 |doi=10.1119/1.18927 |bibcode=1998AmJPh..66..646P |issn=0002-9505}}</ref> Banks only criticized that Feynman rules were derived twice in the book, and that it omitted topics in the non-perturbative treatment of quantum field theory like color confinement and chiral symmetry breaking.<ref name=":1" />
Nima Arkani-Hamed considers the book by Peskin and Schroeder one of the two classics in the field, along with the 1964 ''Relativistic Quantum Mechanics'' by Sidney Drell and James Bjorken.<ref name=":2" />
==See also== {{Portal|Books|Mathematics|Physics}} * ''Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell'' by Anthony Zee
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Physics textbooks Category:1995 non-fiction books Category:Works about quantum mechanics Category:Addison-Wesley books