Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/iii/paper-46/3/solution

Use and normalize the interaction of quartic scalar field theory as . For a renormalized -point connected correlation function, adopt and . Independence of bare quantities from the renormalization scale gives the Callan-Symanzik equation
where and , with bare parameters fixed. A convention using proper vertices reverses the field-normalization term, so the choice of Green's function must be stated.
Solve it by characteristics: set , , and . At fixed external momenta,
This is the characteristic solution of the multiplicative Callan-Symanzik equation. If the field anomalous dimension vanishes, the function is constant along the running-parameter characteristics. At a massless fixed point with constant anomalous dimension, the normalization factor is a power of . Choosing the scale close to a characteristic external momentum avoids large perturbative logarithms.
For the supplied minimal subtraction scheme relation in dimensional regularization with , let and write . Differentiating at fixed bare coupling gives
A consistent expansion yields . The term must be retained while it multiplies the pole; setting prematurely loses the finite result. In four dimensions the one-loop quartic scalar beta function is
The one-loop two-point diagram is a momentum-independent tadpole diagram, so there is no field wavefunction renormalization at this order and . Differentiating the supplied bare-mass relation in the same way gives .
Integrating gives the running coupling
For positive coupling it grows toward the ultraviolet and decreases toward the infrared: the theory is not asymptotically free. Its one-loop Landau pole lies at . Perturbation theory fails before reaching that pole, so the pole in this approximation alone does not prove the existence of an exact physical divergence. The corresponding one-loop running mass satisfies
It follows from . The mass-independent subtraction scheme keeps these beta functions independent of the mass; physical low-energy matching can still require threshold treatment. Running parameters resum the leading logarithms within the regime of small coupling.

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