Phys 624 - Quantum Field Theory
University of Maryland, College Park
Fall 2016, Professor: Ted Jacobson

Supplements

The Big Picture:

Theory Vision, LHCP 2016,  Frank Wilczek

Unification of Force and Substance
, 2015, Frank Wilczek

Asymptotic freedom as a magnetic effect:

Asymptotic freedom as a spin effect
N. K. Nielsen, Am. J. Phys. 49, 1171 (1981)
 

Some Comments On Asymptotic Freedom
Richard J. Hughes, Phys.Lett. 97B (1980) 246-248 
More Comments On Asymptotic Freedom
Richard J. Hughes, Nucl.Phys. B186 (1981) 376-396

Some Observable Effects of the Quantum-Mechanical Fluctuations of the Electromagnetic Field
Theodore A. Welton, Phys. Rev. 74, 1157 (1948)

Toward an understanding of the spin-statistics theoremIan Duck and E. C. G. Sudarshan, Am. J. Phys. 66, 284 (1998)

The Quantum Theory of the Electron, 
P.A.M. Dirac, 1928 (open the pdf from Proc. Roy. Soc. A website)

The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory,
by Anthony Duncan:  (Click on the book image to open the book. You can read it online.) I recommend this in general, and in particular, if you are interested in the history of the subject, for Chapter 2: Gestation and birth of interacting field theory: from Dirac to Shelter Island.

Relativistic Anyons?
An interesting question was raised Tues. Sept. 13 concerning anyons: when I mentioned that although causality seems to require commutators to vanish at spacelike separation, for fermions actually the anti-commutators vanish, but it all turns out to be ok. I should have said why: because the Hamiltonian must be constructed from operators with an even number of fermion fields in order to be hermitian, and to be a scalar. A student asked what about anyons? I found a couple of references proving that there can be no relativistic free theory of anyons. I haven't studied these yet, but thought I would pass them along:

https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9712119
No-Go Theorem for ``Free'' Relativistic Anyons in d=2+1

Jens Mund

https://arxiv.org/abs/1112.5785
Braid group statistics implies scattering in three-dimensional local quantum physics

Jacques BrosJens Mund

This paper on charged field seems to get around the obstruction in some sense. Unfortunately it doesn't talk about observables and causality, but there is something rather nonlocal about the whole construction:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1208.6141
Wedge Local Deformations of Charged Fields leading to Anyonic Commutation Relations
Matthias Plaschke

Here's an article that might be of interest for those inclined to the most general and mathematically precise formulations. It is based on an axiomatic approach to quantum field theory, which has in particular the advantage of showing how general certain results are, and sidesteps complications related to divergences and renormalization in interacting theories:
Localization and Entanglement in Relativistic Quantum Physics
Jakob Yngvason
Abstract: The combination of quantum theory and special relativity leads to structures that differ in several respects from non-relativistic quantum mechanics of particles. These differences are quite familiar to practitioners of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory but less well known outside this community. The paper is intended as a concise survey of some selected aspects of relativistic quantum physics, in particular regarding localization and entanglement.

The Lamb Shift

Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Atom by a Microwave Method, Willis E. Lamb, Jr. and Robert C. Retherford, Phys. Rev. 72, 241 – Published 1 August 1947

The Electromagnetic Shift of Energy Levels, H. A. Bethe, Phys. Rev. 72, 339 – Published 15 August 1947