Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The rise of classical field theory
- Part I The geometrical programme for fundamental interactions
- Part II The quantum field programme for fundamental interactions
- Part III The gauge field programme for fundamental interactions
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Name index
- Subject index
Part II - The quantum field programme for fundamental interactions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The rise of classical field theory
- Part I The geometrical programme for fundamental interactions
- Part II The quantum field programme for fundamental interactions
- Part III The gauge field programme for fundamental interactions
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
In this part of the book an analysis of the formation of the conceptual foundations of the quantum field programme for fundamental interactions (QFP) will be given, with special concern for the basic ontology and the mechanism for transmitting fundamental interactions posited by QFR Chapter 6 reconstructs the history of quantum physics up to 1927 along two lines: (i) the quantization of the mechanical motions of atomic systems, and (ii) the quantization of wave fields. It also describes the basic ideas of uncertainty and complementarity, which were suggested by Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr to characterize quantum mechanics. Chapter 7 reviews, historically and critically, the positions adopted with respect to the conceptual foundations of quantum field theory (QFT), both by its founders and by later commentators. Its first three sections serve to analyze the ontological shift that occurred in the early history of QFT, namely, a shift from the particle ontology to an ontology of a new kind. Section 7.4 examines the dilemma facing the original ontological commitment of QFT, which was embodied in Dirac's notion of the vacuum. Section 7.5 reconstructs the evolution of the ideas about local coupling, the exchange of virtual quanta, and invariance principles, which were supposed to be obeyed by quantum interactions and thus to impose restrictions on the forms of the interactions. Section 7.6 reviews the recognition of divergences and the formulation of the renormalization programme in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Chapter 8 summarizes the essential features of QFP, its ups and downs, and various attempts to explore alternatives, until its revival, in the form of gauge field theories, in the early 1970s.
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- Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories , pp. 123 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997