Thermal Field Theory

This text introduces the theoretical framework for describing the quark-gluon plasma, an important new state of matter. The first part of the book is a self-contained introduction to relativistic thermal field theory. Topics include the path integral approach, the real and imaginary time formalisms, fermion fields and gauge fields at finite temperature. The author illustrates useful techniques such as the evaluation of frequency sums and the use of cutting rules. The second part of the book...