Overview

The aim of this book is to make accessible to mathematicians, physicists and other scientists interested in qunatum theory, the beautiful but mathematically difficult subjects of the Feynman integral and Feynman's operational calculus. Some advantages of the approaches to the Feynman integral which are treated in detail in this book are the following: the existence of the Feynman integral is established for very general potentials in all four cases; under more restrictive but still broad conditions, three of these Feynman integrals agree with one another and with the unitary group from the usual approach to quantum dynamics; these same three Feynman integrals possess pleasant stability properties. Much of the material covered here was previously available only in the research literature, and the book also contains some new results. The background material in mathematics and physics that motivates the study of the Feynman integral and Feynman's operational calculus is discussed, and detailed proofs are provided for the central results.

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9780198515722

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Reviews

<br> A most scholarly text which is comprehensive, detailed and very clearly written. It embraces the whole of the topic not just one part of it, and the historical references give an insight into the development of the ideas behind this fascinating approach to quantum theory. Written by experts who are also good teachers. --Aslib Book Guide<p><br> The idea behind the Feynman path integral goes back to a paper by P. A. M. Dirac published in 1933 in Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion. It formed the core of Richard Feynman's space-time approach to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Although the path integral was not mathematically well defined, it was widely used in quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and string theory. Recently, path integrals have been the heuristic guide to spectacular developments in pure mathematics. It was clear to Feynman that his 'path integral' was no integral in the ordinary sense of the word, and that what he called its 'summation o

The second one [part of the final chapter] is a most welcome presentation of recent extensions and applications of Feynman's approach to a whole range of physical models of major interest ... it is here that the power of Feynman's approach of inspiring both mathematicans and physicists is best evidentiated. * Zentrablatt Mathematik * Review from previous edition: The last chapter deals with other work related to the book's topics, ranging from alternative approaches to the path integral (so-called Fresnel integrals) to a very readable survey of the influence of Feynman integrals on contempary mathematics and physics. In particular, the authors discuss low dimensional topology and Edward Witten's approach to knot invariants, and they end with a discussion of Maxim Kontsevich's work on deformation quantization. I would recommend this book to serious students of the subject. * Physics Today * Review from previous edition: Accessible, even for beginners ... this book should serve as a standard reference for anybody interested in the mathematical theory of Feynman path integrals and the related operational calculus. * EMS *

<br> A most scholarly text which is comprehensive, detailed and very clearly written. It embraces the whole of the topic not just one part of it, and the historical references give an insight into the development of the ideas behind this fascinating approach to quantum theory. Written by experts who are also good teachers. --Aslib Book Guide<p><br> The idea behind the Feynman path integral goes back to a paper by P. A. M. Dirac published in 1933 in Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion. It formed the core of Richard Feynman's space-time approach to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Although the path integral was not mathematically well defined, it was widely used in quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and string theory. Recently, path integrals have been the heuristic guide to spectacular developments in pure mathematics. It was clear to Feynman that his 'path integral' was no integral in the ordinary sense of the word, and that what he called its 'summation over histories' did not involve a measure in the usual sense. ... The book by Johnson and Lapidus deals with various approaches to making the Feynman path integral into a mathematically meaningful object. ... I would recommend this book to serious students of the subject ... --Physics Today<p><br>

<br> A most scholarly text which is comprehensive, detailed and very clearly written. It embraces the whole of the topic not just one part of it, and the historical references give an insight into the development of the ideas behind this fascinating approach to quantum theory. Written by experts who are also good teachers. --Aslib Book Guide<br> The idea behind the Feynman path integral goes back to a paper by P. A. M. Dirac published in 1933 in Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion. It formed the core of Richard Feynman's space-time approach to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Although the path integral was not mathematically well defined, it was widely used in quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and string theory. Recently, path integrals have been the heuristic guide to spectacular developments in pure mathematics. It was clear to Feynman that his 'path integral' was no integral in the ordinary sense of the word, and that what he called its 'summation over

A most scholarly text which is comprehensive, detailed and very clearly written. It embraces the whole of the topic not just one part of it, and the historical references give an insight into the development of the ideas behind this fascinating approach to quantum theory. Written by experts who are also good teachers. --Aslib Book Guide<br> The idea behind the Feynman path integral goes back to a paper by P. A. M. Dirac published in 1933 in Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion. It formed the core of Richard Feynman's space-time approach to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Although the path integral was not mathematically well defined, it was widely used in quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and string theory. Recently, path integrals have been the heuristic guide to spectacular developments in pure mathematics. It was clear to Feynman that his 'path integral' was no integral in the ordinary sense of the word, and that what he called its 'summation over histories' did not involve a measure in the usual sense. ... The book by Johnson and Lapidus deals with various approaches to making the Feynman path integral into a mathematically meaningful object. ... I would recommend this book to serious students of the subject ... --Physics Today<br>

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