January 3, 2020 9:10 From Classical Mechanics to Quantum Field Theory 9in x 6in b3742-main page v
Preface
This book grew out of the mini courses delivered at the Fall Workshop on Geometry
and Physics, in Granada, Zaragoza and Madrid.
The Fall Workshop on Geometry and Physics takes place in the Iberian Penin-
sula since 1992. The aim of this workshop is to introduce advanced graduate
students, PhD students and young researchers, both in mathematics and physics,
with current aspects of mathematics and physics. The International Fall Work-
shop on Geometry and Physics is normally held over four days around the first
week of September and attracts many young participants. Two main speakers
each deliver a 4-hour mini course, and the rest of the programme is made up of
talks by invited speakers and contributed speakers.
The large number of young participants each year, many of them attending year
after year, convinced the Scientific Committee that it would be a good idea to or-
ganize correlated mini courses over different years. In particular, it was thought
that a reasonable exposition to quantum formalism would allow the young partic-
ipants to properly benefit from seminars and talks dealing with various aspects of
quantum theories along with their impact on modern mathematics and mathemat-
ical methods. The first of these courses was given in Granada by Elisa Ercolessi
(University of Bologna) on Methods of Quantization and it was followed, in the
meeting in Zaragoza, by Valter Moretti (University of Trento) with a course on
Advanced Quantum Mechanics, while inthe meeting in Madrid Manuel Asorey
(University of Zaragoza) conluded the series with an Introduction to Quantum
Field Theory. The lecturers did an excellent job, obviously with different degrees
of sophistication according to their own taste, to present quantum theory from
classical mechanics to quantum field theory. Even though these papers have ap-
peared in print, separately in special issues devoted to the proceedings, we felt
that collecting them in a single volume would render better the continuity, the
spirit and the aim for which they were delivered.v