The Theory of fundamental processes

Richard P. Feynman0201360772, 9780201360776, 9781429485142

In these classic lectures, Richard Feynman first considers the basic ideas of quantum mechanics, treating the concept of amplitude in special detail and emphasizing that other things, such as the combination laws of angular momenta, are largely consequences of this concept. Feynman also discusses relativity and the idea of anti-particles, finally returning to a discussion of quantum electrodynamics, which takes up most of this volume.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 10
Editor’s Foreword……Page 6
Preface……Page 8
1 Review of the Principles of Quantum Mechanics……Page 14
2 Spin and Statistics……Page 20
3 Rotations and Angular Momentum……Page 24
4 Rules of Composition of AnguIar Momentum……Page 32
5 Relativity……Page 36
6 Electromagnetic and Fermi Couplings……Page 42
7 Fermi Couplings and the Failure of Parity……Page 46
8 Pion-Nucleon Coupling……Page 51
9 Strange Particles……Page 56
10 Some Consequences of Strangeness……Page 61
11 Strong Coupling Schemes……Page 64
12 Decay of Strange Particles……Page 68
13 The Question of a Universal Coupling Coefficient……Page 73
14 Rules for Strangeness Changing Decays: Experiments……Page 77
15 Fundamental laws of Electromagnetics and β-Decay Coupling……Page 80
16 Density of Final States……Page 86
17 The Propagator for Scalar Particles……Page 91
18 The Propagator in Configuration Space……Page 96
19 Particles of Spin 1……Page 101
20 Virtual and Real Photons……Page 108
21 Problems……Page 114
22 Spin-1/2 Particles……Page 119
23 Extension of Finite Mass……Page 125
24 Properties of the Four-Component Spinor……Page 131
25 The Compton Effect……Page 138
26 Direct Pair Production by Muons……Page 144
27 Higher-Order Processes……Page 147
28 Self-Energy of the Electron……Page 152
29 Quantum Electrodynamics……Page 158
30 Meson Theory……Page 165
31 Theory of β Decay……Page 169
32 Properties of the β-Decay Coupling……Page 177
33 Summary of the Course……Page 181
References……Page 183
Table of the Fundamental Particles……Page 184