Theory of Fundamental Processes

In these classic lectures, Richard Feynman first considers the basic ideas of quantum mechanics, treating the concept of amplitude in special detail and emphasizing that other things, such as the combination laws of angular momenta, are largely consequences of this concept. Feynman also discusses relativity and the idea of anti-particles, finally returning to a discussion of quantum electrodynamics, which takes up most of this volume.

Richard P. Feynman was raised in Far Rockaway, New York, and received his Ph.D. from Princeton. He held professorships at both Cornell and the California Institute of Technology. In 1965 he received the Nobel Prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He died in 1988.

Editor's Foreword

v

(2)

Preface

vii

1 Review of the Principles of Quantum Mechanics

1

(6)

2 Spin and Statistics

7

(4)

3 Rotations and Angular Momentum

11

(8)

4 Rules of Composition of Angular Momentum

19

(4)

5 Relativity

23

(6)

6 Electromagnetic and Fermi Couplings

29

(4)

7 Fermi Couplings and the Failure of Parity

33

(5)

8 Pion-Nucleon Coupling

38

(5)

9 Strange Particles

43

(5)

10 Some Consequences of Strangeness

48

(3)

11 Strong Coupling Schemes

51

(4)

12 Decay of Strange Particles

55

(5)

13 The Question of a Universal Coupling Coefficient

60

(4)

14 Rules for Strangeness Changing Decays: Experiments

64

(3)

15 Fundamental laws of Electromagnetics and Beta-Decay Coupling

67

(6)

16 Density of Final States

73

(5)

17 The Propagator for Scalar Particles

78

(5)

18 The Propagator in Configuration Space

83

(5)

19 Particles of Spin 1

88

(7)

20 Virtual and Real Photons

95

(6)

21 Problems

101

(5)

22 Spin-1/2 Particles

106

(6)

23 Extension of Finite Mass

112

(6)

24 Properties of the Four-Component Spinor

118

(7)

25 The Compton Effect

125

(6)

26 Direct Pair Production by Muons

131

(3)

27 Higher-Order Processes

134

(5)

28 Self-Energy of the Electron

139

(6)

29 Quantum Electrodynamics

145

(7)

30 Meson Theory

152

(4)

31 Theory of Beta Decay

156

(8)

32 Properties of the Beta-Decay Coupling

164

(4)

33 Summary of the Course

168

(2)

References

170

(1)

Table of the Fundamental Particles

171

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Theory of Fundamental Processes

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials