I went to college a long time ago. Since then the LHC verified the higgs boson. The higgs field and the higgs bubbles that separated quarks from antiquarks is something I’ve been looking at.
However I never took quantum mechanics and have little understanding of quantum fields. I would like to rectify that problem.
Can someone with knowledge give me a push in the right direction… What books to start with, are there online lectures?
Thank you
For a popular level explanation, try Feynman’s “QED” lecture series,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED:_The_Strange_Theory_of_Light_and_Matter
A more technical understanding is a lot more work and I never got anywhere near this level, the “theoretical minimum”:
https://theoreticalminimum.com/
Actually for the stuff you are asking about, the theoretical minumum isn’t really enough, but it’s a start. Here’s some more:
Stanford has a lot of freely available information that might be useful for you to study.
The book “Quantum field theory for the gifted amateur” is really good. It’s helped me understand quantum fields a lot better, and I work with quantum mechanics every day.
PBS SpaceTime has a lot of good videos that slowly broach the subject
https://youtube.com/@pbsspacetime?
Viascience series have a little more of the math
Videos on Quantum Dynamics https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL193BC0532FE7B02C
Videos on Quantum Field Theory https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsp_BbZBIk_6_5pi9tHHmoVJzjqpfBkgJ
I’ve really been enjoying the podcast series Crash Course : The Universe. It’s helped me to understand what quantum fields are a little better. It’s probably not going inti much depth, but I love the way John Green hosts it, and I’m having a blast!
I’ll need to check that out, I absolutely loved the Crash Course World History he did. Thanks for the heads up!
I gotchu
I’d really recommend going through the basics about learning QM. Specifically: classical mechanics, a very good stats & probability math course, calc prereqs, intro to QM, intro to thermal/stat physics, maybe an atomic course, intro chem course. I’m not sure of the exact steps, but as a physics undergrad major, it’ll “click” after a certain amount of prereqs and if you need any help, feel free to PM me and I’ll gladly be of assistance (as far as I can remember, at least).
It’s also really important to remember that QM is really a formalized algebra of probability/stats, so it’s really really important to get a good grasp of that. QFT and all that comes after understanding the basics. It’s a fuck ton of work, but I think it’s rewarding.
