Selected Topics in Field Quantization (Pauli Lectures on Physics Volume 6)

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Summary: A master teaches the basics of quantum field theory
Review: These are notes taken from the Pauli lectures on field quantization at Zurich, where he taught for many years. They are magnificent in their clarity and succint as only Pauli could be. Basically they explain how to quantize the basic free fields and introduce in a beautiful way the Dyson method of introducing (perturbative) interactions, renormalization comprised. Fine points, like the Gupta-Bleuler method, get a critical and clear treatment. The language is surprisingly modern, with emphasis in vacuum expectation values, kernels, etc. The last chapter treats the Feynman method of path integrals. This must have been one of the very first published reviews of this method: it is done, of course, quite originally. One should read every scrap of paper left by Pauli, a deep and original thinker who expressed himself with unsurpassed clarity, let alone this lovingly produced book.