Quantum Field Theory (2026)

This spring, I will be delivering a series of lectures on quantum field theory as part of the Jizhi (集智) project (see this link). The lecture series will run from February 11 to May 6, consisting of two-hour sessions held every Wednesday from 19:00 to 21:00.

Syllubas

The following is a rough outline of the course. I will also incorporate some advanced topics—such as anomalies, generalized symmetries, topological terms, etc.—alongside the lectures.

• Lecture 1: Physical Motivation and Preliminaries of Quantum Field Theory
• Lecture 2: Foundations of Classical Field Theory
• Lecture 3: Quantum Harmonic Oscillator and Second Quantization
• Lecture 4: Path-Integral Formulation of Quantum Mechanics
• Lecture 5: Spacetime Symmetries and the Lorentz Group
• Lecture 6: Continuous Symmetries and Noether’s Theorem
• Lecture 7: Canonical Quantization of Free Scalar Fields
• Lecture 8: Canonical Quantization of Dirac Fields
• Lecture 9: Electromagnetic Field and U(1) Gauge Theory
• Lecture 10: Path-Integral Quantization of Free Fields
• Lecture 11: Interacting Field Theory and Feynman Diagrams
• Lecture 12: Overview of Advanced Topics

Recommended books and lecture notes

There are now many excellent books for learning quantum field theory (QFT); below is a concise list:

• Tom Lancaster & Stephen J. Blundell, Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur (Oxford University Press, 2014). This is a very nice introductory book for QFT, which is good for learning big picture and basics.
• Anthony Zee, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell (Princeton University Press, 2010). This is a nice book containing many good explainations of varous topics.
• Lewis H. Ryder, Quantum Field Theory, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1st ed, 1996). 
• Mark Srednicki, Quantum Field Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2007). This book is organized in a very nice way, thus suit for learning QFT.
• Michael E. Peskin & Daniel V. Schroeder., An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Addison-Wesley, 1995). This is one of the standard textbook of QFT.
• Steven Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields, Vols. I, II, III (Cambridge University Press, 1995–2000). This is a masterpiece.
• Matthew D. Schwartz, Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model (Cambridge University Press, 2013). This is a standard textbook oriented to particle physics.
• Pierre Ramond, Field Theory: A Modern Primer, 2nd ed. (Avalon Publishing 1997).
• Tom Banks, Modern Quantum Field Theory: A Concise Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
• Michele Maggiore, A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory. This is a concise introduction to QFT.
• Franz Mandl & Graham Shaw, Quantum Field Theory, 3rd Edition. (Wiley, 1st ed, 1975). This is an old book for QFT, but still a good reading material.
• Sidney Coleman, Aspects of Symmetry (Cambridge University Press, 1985).
• Sidney Coleman, Lectures on Quantum Field Theory, (World Scientific Publishing, 2018)

There are also many pdf lecture notes available online:

• David Tong, Lectures on Quantum Field Theory.
• David Tong, Lectures on Gauge Theory.
• John Preskill, Field Theory Lecture Notes

Videos lectures:

• Hong Liu, MIT: Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I, 2023.
• Yi Wang, Weinberg’s QFT.
• David Tong, Video Lectures on Quantum Field Theory.