Nonstandard Approximation Schemes for Lower Dimensional Quantum Field Theories.

The purpose of this thesis has been to apply two different non-standard approximation schemes to a variety of lower-dimensional schemes. In doing this, we show their applicability where (e.g., Feynman or Rayleigh-Schroedinger) approximation schemes are inapplicable. We have applied the well-known mean-field approximation scheme by Guralnik et al. to general lower dimensional theories--the (phi)('4) field theory in one dimension, and the massive and massless Thirring models in two dimensions. In each case, we derive a bound-state propagator and then expand the theory in terms of the original and bound-state propagators. The results obtained can be compared with previously known results thereby show, in general, reasonably good convergence. In the second half of the thesis, we develop a self-consistent quantum mechanical approximation scheme. This can be applied to any monotonic polynomial potential. It has been applied in detail to the anharmonic oscillator, and the results in several analytical domains are very good, including extensive tables of numerical results.