Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics

490 Pages·2005·2.33 MB·English

by  David Kaiser

Drawing Theories Apart

Drawing Theories Apart
TheDispersionofFeynmanDiagramsinPostwarPhysics
david kaiser
TheUniversityofChicagoPress chicago and london
DavidKaiser isassociateprofessorinthePrograminScience,
Technology,andSocietyandlecturerintheDepartmentof
PhysicsattheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:1)C 2005byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2005
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5
isbn:0-226-42266-6(cloth)
isbn:0-226-42267-4(paper)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kaiser,David.
Drawingtheoriesapart:thedispersionofFeynman
diagramsinpostwarphysics/DavidKaiser.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-226-42266-6(alk.paper)—isbn0-226-42267-4(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Feynmandiagrams. 2.Physics—UnitedStates—History—
20thcentury. 3.Physics—History—20thcentury. I.Title.
QC794.6.F4K35 2005
530(cid:2).0973(cid:2)0904—dc22
2004023335
(cid:1)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimum
requirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformation
Sciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ansiz39.48-1992.
Heteacheshistheory,notasabodyoffact,butasasetoftools,
tobeused,andwhichhehasactuallyusedinhiswork.
JohnClarkeSlaterdescribingPercyBridgmanafter
BridgmanwontheNobelPrizeinPhysics,11January1947

Contents
PrefaceandAcknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xvii
Chapter1. Introduction:PedagogyandtheInstitutionsofTheory 1
RichardFeynmanandHisDiagrams 1
PaperToolsandthePracticeofTheory 7
PedagogyandPostwarPhysics 14
Overview:TheTwoMeaningsofDispersion 16
part i. dispersing the diagrams, 1948–54
Chapter2. AnIntroductioninthePoconos 27
QuantumElectrodynamicsandtheProblemofInfinities 28
InitialReceptionandLingeringConfusion 43
EvidenceofDispersion 52
Chapter3. FreemanDysonandthePostdocCascade 60
TheRiseofPostdoctoralTraining 61
DysonasDiagrammaticAmbassador 65
LifeandPhysicsattheInstituteforAdvancedStudy 83
ThePostdocCascade 93
APedagogicalFieldTheory 108
viii contents
Chapter4. InternationalDispersion 112
TheDiagrams’Diaspora 112
FeynmanDiagramsinGreatBritain 115
FeynmanDiagramsinJapan 125
FeynmanDiagramsintheSovietUnion 149
TacitandExplicitKnowledges 167
part ii. dispersion in form, use, and meaning
Chapter5. SeedsofDispersion 173
TheFeynman-DysonSplit 175
PerturbativeMethodsFail,FeynmanDiagramsFlourish 195
Chapter6. FamilyResemblances 208
Kroll’sPerturbativeBookkeepers 209
Marshak’sMesonMarkers 220
ClimbingBethe’sLadder:FeynmanDiagramsandtheMany-Body
Problem 230
TrainingTheoristsforHouseandField 244
part iii. feynman diagrams in and out
of field theory, 1955–70
Chapter7. TeachingtheDiagramsinanAgeofTextbooks 253
ThePostwarAgeofTextbooks 255
TheNewDiagrammaticTextbooks 259
PedagogyandthePictures’Place 270
Chapter8. DoodlingtowardaNew“Theory” 280
DispersionRelations 282
CrossingtoaNewRepresentation 288
FromBookkeeperstoPoleFinders:PolologyandtheLandauRules 296
ChewtheProgramBuilder:NuclearDemocracyandtheBootstrap 306
DiagrammaticBootstrappingandtheEmergenceofNewTheories 314
Chapter9. “Democratic”DiagramsinBerkeleyandPrinceton 318
GeoffreyChew:AScientist’sPoliticsofDemocracyin1950sAmerica 322
PedagogicalReforms:“SecretSeminars”and“WildMerrymaking” 332
TheViewfromPrinceton 346
ConditionsofDiagrammaticPossibilities 352
contents ix
Chapter10. PaperToolsandtheTheorists’WayofLife 356
WhyDidtheDiagramsStick?InculcationandReification 359
InSearchoftheVanishingScientificTheory 377
AppendixA. FeynmanDiagramsinthePhysicalReview,1949–54 389
AppendixB. FeynmanDiagramsinProceedingsoftheRoyalSociety,
1950–54 395
AppendixC. FeynmanDiagramsinProgressofTheoreticalPhysics,
1949–54 397
AppendixD. FeynmanDiagramsinSoryu¯shi-ronKenkyu¯,1949–52 402
AppendixE. FeynmanDiagramsinZhurnaleksperimental’noii
teoreticheskoifiziki,1952–59 406
AppendixF. FeynmanDiagramsinOtherJournals,1950–54 415
Interviews 419
Bibliography 421
Index 461