Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-advanced-quantum-field-theory-for-particle-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/3/d/solution
Past exam of the advanced quantum field theory for particle physics course of the University of Oxford 2025 3 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Let , , and , so the given contributes . Its quadratic cross term is , which cancels from the scalar kinetic term after integration by parts. The free vector and would-be Goldstone boson propagators are therefore diagonal; has gauge-dependent mass squared .
The field-dependent factor cancels more than just the constant-coefficient mixing, but a residual derivative interaction remains. Indeed,Thus the nonlinear R-xi gauge in polar Higgs variables removes quadratic mixing; it does not remove every interaction containing and .
Use the gauge transformation in part b. Since is invariant,The factor in is field independent and is absorbed into the partition function normalization. Exponentiating the remaining Faddeev-Popov determinant with the sign convention of part a givesThe ghost coupling in the Abelian Higgs model therefore survives even though the gauge group is Abelian: these Faddeev-Popov ghosts interact with and do not decouple for generic . The distinction from part a is the scalar dependence of the gauge fixing function. In the Landau gauge limit these particular ghost interactions vanish.
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