A gentle introduction to the physics of quantized fields and manybody physics.Based on courses taught at the University of Illinois it concentrates on thebasic ... » 

A gentle introduction to the physics of quantized fields and manybody physics.Based on courses taught at the University of Illinois it concentrates on thebasic conceptual issues that many students find difficult and emphasizes thephysical and visualizable aspects of the subject. While the text is intendedfor students with a wide range of interests many of the examples are drawnfrom condensed matter physics because of the tangible character of suchsystems. The first part of the book uses the Hamiltonian operator language oftraditional quantum mechanics to treat simple field theories and relatedtopics while the Feynman path integral is introduced in the second half whereit is seen as indispensable for understanding the connection betweenrenormalization and critical as well as nonperturbative phenomena. «