By Herbert M Fried
World Scientific
Hardback: £65
E-book: £49
These pages offer a simple, analytic, functional approach to non-perturbative QFT, using a frequently overlooked functional representation of Fradkin to calculate explicitly relevant portions of the Schwinger generating functional. In QED, this corresponds to summing all Feynman graphs representing virtual photon exchange between charged particles. It is then possible to see, analytically, the cancellation of an infinite number of perturbative, UV logarithmic divergences, leading to an approximate but reasonable statement of finite-charge renormalization. A similar treatment of QCD is then able to produce a simple, analytic derivation of quark-binding potentials. An extension into the QCD binding of two nucleons to make an effective deuteron presents a simple, analytic derivation of nuclear forces. Finally, a new QED-based solution of vacuum energy is presented as a possible candidate for dark energy.
