This book demonstrates that fundamental concepts and methods fromphenomenological particle physics can be derived rigorously from welldefinedgeneral assumptions... » 

This book demonstrates that fundamental concepts and methods fromphenomenological particle physics can be derived rigorously from welldefinedgeneral assumptions in a mathematically clean way. Starting with the Wightmanformulation of relativistic quantum field theory the perturbative formulationof quantum electrodynamics is derived avoiding the usual formalism based on thecanonical commutation relations. A scattering formalism based on the localobservables approach is developed directly yielding expressions for theobservable inclusive crosssections without having to introduce the Smatrix.Neither ultraviolet nor infrared regularizations are required in this approach.Although primarily intended for researchers working in this field anyone witha basic working knowledge of relativistic quantum field theory can benefit fromthis book. «