Mark Swanson, received his PhD in physics from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1976. After a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he joined the physics department at the University of Connecticut in 1979. His research focused on the relationship between canonical quantization techniques and the functional approach of path integrals, which led to authoring the monograph 'Path Integrals and Quantum Processes'. In addition, he served in administrative capacity as the Stamford Campus director and an associate dean. He retired in 2014 and is now emeritus professor of physics. He lives in Connecticut with his wife where he continues to work on physics, programming computers, and amusing himself with the guitar.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Author biography

1 Basic field theory
Newtonian mechanics and Galilean relativity
The action principle
The stretched string as a field theory
The wave equation
Energy and moment．um in field theories
Point sources and Green's functions in field theory
Further reading

2 Newtonian fluid dynamics
Fluid flow from Newtonian physics
Basic applications of the Navier-Stokes equation
Viscosity
The action formulation of perfect fluids
Fluctuations around solutions and stability
Further reading

3 Special relativity， field theory and symmetry
Special relativity
Basic effects of special relativity
Relativistic mechanics
Relativistic tensor fields and quadratic actions
Relativistic spinor fields and quadratic actions
Symmetry in relativistic field theory
Further reading

4 Classical electrodynamics
Maxwell's equations
The gauge field and gauge conditions
The gauge field action and minimal coupling
The stress-energy tensor and electro dynamic force and energy
Electromagnetic waves and spin
Green's functions and electromagnetic racliation
The gauge field as a differential form
Further reading

5 General relativitv and gravitation
The metric tensor and the principle of equivalence
The affine connection and the covariant derivative
The curvature tensor
Variational techniques in general relativity
Einstein's equation
Vacuum solutions to Einstein's equation
Basic cosmology
Further reading

6 Yang-Mills fields and connections
Unitary symmetry and Yang-Mills fields
The Yang-Mills stress-energy tensor and force equation
Spontaneous breakdown of symmetry
Aspects of classical solutions for Yang-Mills fields
Yang-Mills fields， gravitation， forms and connections
Yang-Mills fields and confinement
Further reading
Appendix： Mathematics for field theory

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