Field

In physics, a field is a physical quantity associated with each point of spacetime. A field can be classified as a scalar field, a vector field, a spinor field, or a tensor field according to whether the value of the field at each point is a scalar, a vector, a spinor (e.g., a Dirac electron) or, more generally, a tensor, respectively. For example, the Newtonian gravitational field is a vector field: specifying its value at a point in spacetime requires three numbers, the components of the gravitational field vector at that point. Moreover, within each category (scalar, vector, tensor), a field can be either a classical field or a quantum field, depending on whether it is characterized by numbers or quantum operators respectively. A field may be thought of as extending throughout the whole of space. In practice, the strength of every known field has been found to diminish with distance to the point of being undetectable. For instance, in Newton's theory of gravity, the gravitational field strength is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the gravitating object. Therefore the Earth's gravitational field quickly becomes undetectable (on cosmic scales). Defining the field as "numbers in space" shouldn't detract from the idea that it has physical reality. It occupies space. It contains energy. Its presence eliminates a true vacuum. The vacuum is free of matter, but not free of field. The field creates a "condition in space" so that when we put a particle in it, it feels a force. If an electrical charge is moved, the effects on another charge do not appear instantaneously. The first charge feels a reaction force, picking up momentum, but the second charge feels nothing until the influence, traveling at the speed of light, reaches it and gives it the momentum. Where is the momentum before the second charge moves? By the law of conservation of momentum it must be somewhere. Physicists have found it of "great utility for the analysis of forces" to think of it as being in the field. This utility leads to physicists believing that electromagnetic fields actually exist, making the field concept a supporting paradigm of the entire edifice of modern physics. That said, John Wheeler and Richard Feynman have entertained Newton's pre-field concept of action at a distance (although they put it on the back burner because of the ongoing utility of the field concept for research in general relativity and quantum electrodynamics). "The fact that the electromagnetic field can possess momentum and energy makes it very real... a particle makes a field, and a field acts on another particle, and the field has such familiar properties as energy content and momentum, just as particles can have".

The magnitude of an electric field surrounding two equally charged (repelling) particles. Brighter areas have a greater magnitude. The direction of the field is not visible.

Oppositely charged (attracting) particles.

Field theory
Field theory usually refers to a construction of the dynamics of a field, i.e. a specification of how a field changes with time or with respect to other independent physical variables on which the field depends. Usually this is done by writing a Lagrangian or a Hamiltonian of the field, and treating it as the classical mechanics (or quantum mechanics) of a system with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The resulting field theories are referred to as classical or quantum field theories. In modern physics, the most often studied fields are those that model the four fundamental forceswhich one day may lead to the Unified Field Theory

Field Theories
Classical fields Quantum fields Continuous random fields