Selected Topics in Field Quantization

Foreword by Victor F. Weisskopf Preface by the Editor 1. Quantization of the Electron-Positron Field 1. The Heisenberg and interaction representations 2. Quantization of the harmonic oscillator 3. Second quantization for spin-1/2 particles 4. Sign of the energy; hole theory 5. Construction of the invariant functions 6. Charge-conjugated quantities 2. Response to an External Field: Charge Renormalization 7. Vacuum expectation values of expressions bilinear in the current 8. Vacuum polarization in an external field 9. Particles with zero spin 10. Evaluation of the Kernals K and L 11. "The "causal" kernels Kcµv and Lcµv" 12. Impossibility of canceling the self-charge 3. "Quantization of Free Fields: Spin 0 and 1/2, Quantum Electrodynamics" 13. The invariant functions 14. "Quantization of force-free, uncharged, spin-0 fields" 15. Quantum electrodynamics in vacuum 16. Quantum electrodynamics in canonical notation 17. Various representations 18. Theory of positrons (spin-1/2 particles) 4. Interacting Fields: Interaction Representation and S-Matrix 19. Electrons interacting with the electromagnetic field 20. Charged particles with zero spin 21. The interaction representation 22. Dyson's integration method 23. The P* product for spin-zero 5. Heisenberg Representation: S-Matrix and Charge Renormalization 24. The S-matrix and the Heisenberg representation 25. Renormalized fields in the Heisenberg representation 6. The S-Matrix: Applications 26. The relation between the S-matrix and the cross-section 27. An application of the Dyson formalism: Moller scattering 28. Discussion of the Dc function 29. The electron self-energy in an external homogeneous electromagnetic field 7. Feynman's Approach to Quantum Electrodynamics 30. The path integral method Supplementary Bibliography Appendix. Comments by the Editor Index