The Genesis of Feynman Diagrams

2011. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-90-481-9227-4
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, Band 26, 210 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 243 mm, Gewicht: 1100 g

Reihe: Archimedes

In a detailed reconstruction of the genesis of Feynman diagrams the author reveals that their development was constantly driven by the attempt to resolve fundamental problems concerning the uninterpretable infinities that arose in quantum as well as classical theories of electrodynamic phenomena. Accordingly, as a comparison with the graphical representations that were in use before Feynman diagrams shows, the resulting theory of quantum electrodynamics, featuring Feynman diagrams, differed significantly from earlier versions of the theory in the way in which the relevant phenomena were conceptualized and modelled. The author traces the development of Feynman diagrams from Feynman's "struggle with the Dirac equation" in unpublished manuscripts to the two of Freeman Dyson's publications which put Feynman diagrams into a field theoretic context. The author brings to the fore that Feynman and Dyson not only created a powerful computational device but, above all, a new conceptual framework in which the uninterpretable infinities that had arisen in the old form of the theory could be precisely identified and subsequently removed in a justifiable manner.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wüthrich, Adrian

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Theoretische Physik, Mathematische Physik, Computerphysik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents.- Acknowledgements.- 1. Origin, use and interpretation of Feynman diagrams.- 2. Quantum electrodynamics without Feynman diagrams.- 3. Quantum mechanics without a Hamiltonian operator.- 4. The Dirac equation: Feynman’s great struggle.- 5. Free propagation and successive scattering.- 6. The held theoretical systematization of Feynman’s theory.- 7. The development of a new means of representation.- Appendix A Diagrammatic induction.- Appendix B Synopsis of manuscripts and principal publications.- List of figures.- Bibliography.