Solution (Fermi interaction)
ID: past-exam-of-the-gauge-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/3/solution-fermi-interaction
Past exam of the gauge field theory course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 1 3 Solution (Fermi interaction) by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Each Dirac current has mass dimension three, so their product has dimension six. Its coefficient therefore has dimension :The Fermi interaction is not power-counting renormalizable, but its success at low energies is explained by effective field theory. Exchange of a heavy W boson between the appropriate chiral weak currents has a propagator that expands as . The leading term is a local four-fermion interaction and further terms are suppressed by powers of . The complete spontaneously broken electroweak gauge theory resolves the pointlike approximation at higher energies. The source's vector-current product illustrates the operator dimension; the actual weak interaction also has its specific flavors and chiral structure.
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