LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Quantum Field Theory: Methods
built 640 days ago
The real quantum field theory is in this semester (at least literally). The emphasis is on evaluation of Feynman diagrams: cross sections, β functions, etc. Choice of methods is based on efficiency, rather than history or beauty --- getting the most answers quickest (without computers).
Source:
There have been various studies on the historical development of QFT and in particular Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). This is partly due to some charismatic figures involved, especially Richard Feynman, and some spectacular successes of methods like renormalization theory, Feynman diagrams and the extensive use of symmetry groups. For the preference of historical studies on QFT over philosophical ones it might have been more important... that history does not change afterwards like theories do. QFT as an object of philosophical reflection only began to receive wider attention in the late 1980s when the two above-mentioned arguments against QFT as a philosophical topic became less important for the following reasons. First, careful analyses of the specifically relativistic traits of QFT led to results, e.g., about localizability, which at least aggravate the conceptual problems of QM severely and possibly even give rise to qualitatively new problems. Second, due to the development of QFT and of the theory of superstrings in the last two decades the initial hope is fading away that QFT is near to its final completion and this fact speaks against a further postponement of philosophical analyses of QFT.
Source:
The study of quantum field theory is alive and flourishing, as are applications of this method to many physical problems. It remains one of the most vital areas of theoretical physics today, providing a common language to many branches of physics.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Methods