An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory

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.^[1]

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.^[2] These parts are divided into chapters as follows:^[1]

The textbook was well received when it was released and it has become a standard textbook in the field.^[3][4][5][6] Emil Martinec praised how theory was developed in order to connect with experiments.^[7] Martinec said that before the book, his students needed to consult many different sources.^[7] 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.^[2]

Tom Banks praised Peskin and Schroeder's treatment of quantum electrodynamics (chapter 5) and Wilsonian renormalization.^[8] 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.^[8]

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.^[5]

• Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by Anthony Zee