Nonlocal quantum field theory and stochastic quantum mechanics (Q1083136)

The book is devoted to a modern powerful approach to the quantum field theory (QFT), called usually stochastic quantization method (SQM). This method is based on ideas and techniques of probability theory and permits to treat nonlocal quantum field models. Though the stochastic quantization requires many exquisit probabilistic tools, the book is essentially self-consistent from the mathematical point of view and at the same time not too special. After giving some basic definitions and preliminaries the author discusses main problems of QFT and the advantages of SQM. Then the method is applied to the quantum electrodynamics and to some partial models of weak interactions. The functional integration techniques in QFT based on SQM are also developed including the integration over Grassmanian (or odd) variables. This completes the first part of the book. The second part is devoted to an exposition of more complicated probabilistic problems specific to SQM, including random walks and diffusion processes in stochastic space-time, stochastic differential equations etc. Finally, several physical consequences of the hypothesis of stochasticity of space-time are discussed in detail. The book can be useful for a wide class of specialists both in mathematical physics and in QFT, as well as for post-graduates specialized in probability theory, mathematical and theoretical physics.