Lectures on Cosmology and Action at a Distance Electrodynamics

This book describes the subject of electrodynamics at classical as well as quantum level, developed as an interaction at a distance. Thus it has electric charges interacting with one another directly and not through the medium of a field. In general such an interaction travels forward and backward in time symmetrically, thus apparently violating the principle of causality. It turns out, however, that in such a description the cosmological boundary conditions become very important. The theory therefore works only in a cosmology with the right boundary conditions; but when it does work it is free from the divergences that plague a quantum field theory. Contents:Classical Electrodynamics:Historical BackgroundThe Problems of Classical Field Theorynman Absorber Theory of RadiationAction at a Distance in Curved SpacetimeCosmological ModelsResponse of the Expanding UniverseQuantum Electrodynamics Non-Relativistic Processes:The Path-Integral Approach to Quantum MechanicsPerturbation Theory and the Influence FunctionalAbsorption and Stimulated EmissionSpontaneous EmissionThe Complete Influence Functional and the Level Shift FormulaRelativistic Quantum Electrodynamics:Path Integrals for Relativisitc ParticlesMany Particle Interactions and the Quantum Response of the UniverseSelf ActionCosmological Cut-Offs to Radiative CorrectionsConcluding Remarks Readership: Undergraduates and research students in physics and cosmology. keywords:Action at a Distance;Electrodynamics;Wheeler-Feynman Theory;Response of the Universe;Direct Particle Fields;Arrow of Time;Cosmology and Quantum;Electrodynamics;QED without Fields