 Infrared spin-wave correlations of the XY model

For the Gaussian functional integral with dimensionless phase stiffness $K$ and a microscopic cutoff $a$, the Gaussian phase averaging identity gives the displayed correlation function. In two dimensions the phase-difference variance is $(\pi K{)}^{-1}\log (r/a)+O(1)$, so the XY model has algebraic spin wave correlations with exponent $1/(2\pi K)$. In one dimension the variance is $r/K$, giving exponential decay. Above two dimensions the variance has a finite large-distance limit within the low-temperature spin wave approximation. The Laplacian Green function solves $-K{\nabla }^{2}G=\delta$; integration over a sphere fixes $G(r)=r^{2-d}/[(d-2)S_{d}K]+C$ for $d\ne 2$ and $G(r)=-(2\pi K{)}^{-1}\log (r/a)+C$ for $d=2$. A fixed uniform phase and ultraviolet regularization are required to define $G$ itself; phase differences eliminate the constant.