Textbooks

The ideas covered in this course are subtle, and their implementation can get technically complicated. It is well worth consulting several textbooks to get other viewpoints on them, as well as additional examples. The ones highlighted in bold are recommended. The abbreviations are the ones used in the detailed course structure to refer to specific sections of these books.

Complete course

Gro

F. Gross, Relativistic quantum mechanics and field theory (Wiley, 1993)
Probably the best single book available for a course at this level. Clear and readable. Covers essentially the whole course (except for deep-inelastic scattering). Also contains an introduction to gauge theories.

AH3

I. J. R. Aitchison and A. J. G. Hey, Gauge theories in particle physics, Volume 1: From relativistic quantum mechanics to QED, 3rd edition (IOP, 2003)
Also a very good book at this level, with a particularly clear introduction to scattering processes in particle physics and how to calculate them. Takes a slightly more advanced approach to field theory than Gross. Covers essentially the whole course (except for relativistic particles in potentials). Volume 2 provides an introduction to gauge theories at a similar level and so it could be useful for Symmetries in physics (PC4702).

GW

K. Gottfried and V. Weisskopf, Concepts of Particle Physics, Vol. II (Oxford, 1986)
Similar in scope to Aitchison & Hey (2nd ed.). Idiosyncratic in places but the only book apart from Gross to treat the MIT bag model (which Weisskopf helped to invent). Also contains a good treatment of deep-inelastic scattering.

Sak

J. J. Sakurai, Advanced quantum mechanics (Addison-Wesley, 1967)
Advanced level, but a classic with much physical insight. Even though the perverse choice of metric can make the formulae difficult to follow, the text around them is well worth reading.

Sca

M. D. Scadron, Advanced quantum theory (Springer, 1991)
Rather terse and dull, but does cover nearly all of the material for this course.

Sch

F. Schwabl, Advanced quantum mechanics (Springer, 1998)
Similar in scope to Scadron. Has a clear introduction to field theory.

Ynd

F. J. Yndurain, Relativistic quantum mechanics and introduction to field theory (Springer, 1996)
Similar in scope to Scadron and Schwabl, but even more dull and formal.

Wave equations

Gre

W. Greiner, Relativistic quantum mechanics: wave equations (Springer, 2000)
Lots of helpful examples and exercises, but generally too many equations and not enough words. No field theory or scattering.

Hol

B. R. Holstein, Topics in advanced quantum mechanics (Addison-Wesley, 1992)
Messy presentation, but some interesting examples. Very little on field theory or scattering.

Lan

R. H. Landau, Quantum mechanics II (Wiley, 1996)
Contains a good discussion of relativistic wave equations (Chapters 13-16). Also has the rudiments of field theory and its applications to scattering.

Str

P. Strange, Relativistic quantum mechanics (Cambridge, 1998)
Good on relativistic wave equations, with interesting examples, but no field theory or scattering processes in particle physics. (By a condensed matter physicist.)

Field theory

BLP

V. B. Berestetskii, E. M. Lifshitz and L. P. Pitaevskii, Quantum Electrodynamics (Pergamon, 1982)
Part of the classic course on theoretical physics by Landau and Lifshitz. Very advanced level, but with a lot of interesting physics.

BS

N. N. Bogoliubov and D. V. Shirkov, Quantum fields (Benjamin/Cummings, 1983)
A good introduction to quantum field theory, but at a more advanced level than this course. (Not to be confused with the same authors' intimidating monograph, "Introduction to the theory of quantized fields".)

GR

W. Greiner and J. Reinhardt, Field quantization (Springer, 1996)
An introduction to quantum fields at the right level for part 2 of this course.

IZ

C. Itzykson and J.-B. Zuber, Quantum field theory (McGraw-Hill, 1980)
Very advanced level, but one of the best reference books on field theory. Chapters 2 to 5 contain material relevant to this course.

Kak

M. Kaku, Quantum field theory (Oxford, 1993)
Advanced level, but a good qualitative introduction to field theory and many interesting applications.

MS

F. Mandl and G. Shaw, Quantum field theory (Wiley, 1984)
A straightforward introduction to the basic calculational techniques in field theory.

Applications to scattering

AH2

I. J. R. Aitchison and A. J. G. Hey, Gauge theories in particle physics, 2nd edition (IOP, 1989)
Older version of this book with much less on field theory but the same good coverage of scattering processes.

BD

J. D. Bjorken and S. D. Drell, Relativistic quantum mechanics (McGraw-Hill, 1964)
Old and therefore regarded by some people as a classic. Deliberately avoids using field theory!

HM

F. Halzen and A. D. Martin, Quarks and leptons (Wiley, 1984)
Like Bjorken and Drell, gets relativistic scattering amplitudes without quantising fields. Apart from the lack of field theory, similar in scope to Aitchison & Hey (2nd ed.) and Gottfried & Weisskopf.

Quantum mechanics

Gas

S. Gasiorowicz, Quantum physics (Wiley, 1974)
Covers the background material on nonrelativistic quantum mechanics needed for this course. In particular, you should have met the following ideas: probability flux conservation for the Schrödinger equation, the Schrödinger and Heisenberg pictures, raising and lowering operators for the harmonic oscillator, interactions of charged particles and spins with magnetic fields, and basic ideas of scattering theory, such as cross sections. These are contained in Chapters 3, 4, 7, 13, 14 and 24.

Special relativity

Rin

W. Rindler, Introduction to special relativity, 2nd edition (Oxford, 1991)
Most of the books above contain brief summaries of 4-vector notation for relativity. More details can be found here in Chapter IV and the Appendix. Chapter V treats relativistic kinematics and Chapter VI electromagnetism.

Background reading

A. Pais, Inward bound: Of matter and forces in the physical world (OUP, 1986)

R. P. Feynman and S. Weinberg, Elementary particles and the laws of physics (Cambridge, 1987)

J. Gleick, Genius: Richard Feynman and modern physics (Pantheon, 1992)

G. Johnson, Strange beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the revolution in 20th-century physics (Knopf, 1999)