An elementary introduction to hadronic properties at finite temperature and density that develops real-time methods of thermal field theory.

Samirnath Mallik is an Emeritus Scientist at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He previously worked at the University of Bern, the University of Karlsruhe and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. His research interests are thermal field theory and heavy ion collisions.

Preface; Notation; 1. Free fields in vacuum; 2. Spontaneous symmetry breaking; 3. Chiral perturbation theory; 4. Thermal propagators; 5. Thermal Perturbation Theory; 6. Thermal parameters; 7. Two-loop results; 8. Heavy ion collisions; 9. Non-equilibrium processes; Appendix A. General fields; Appendix B. Global symmetries; Appendix C. Exponential operator; Appendix D. Propagator at origin of coordinates; Appendix E. Reaction rates in vacuum and medium; Appendix F. Coupling constants; Appendix G. Imaginary time method; Appendix H. Quark condensate from partition function; Appendix I. Quark condensate from density expansion; Index.