Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-gauge-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/3/a/solution

The operator has mass dimension four, so . It is a power-counting renormalizable scalar quartic interaction. It describes scalar self-interactions, including the quartic term in the Higgs potential for the appropriate scalar representation. Its sign in the potential must be chosen for a stable large-field theory; dimension counting alone does not ensure stability.

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