Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-44/1/b/solution

Use the normalized Gaussian integral with action . Its Wick contraction is
There is no factor here: this part uses , whereas the following part uses . Expanding the normalized Hermitian matrix model integral to first order gives
The subtracted term removes Vacuum Feynman diagrams disconnected from the external pair. Since the one-point function vanishes by , the resulting two-point function is a connected correlation function.
Write the vertex as . Each external field must contract with a different vertex field, leaving the other two to form a tadpole diagram. Eight of the twelve connected pairings attach the external fields at adjacent cyclic positions. The remaining index loop gives in each case. The other four attach them at opposite positions and give , with no free index loop. Therefore
Both index structures are required at finite . For the answer is , agreeing with the ordinary zero-dimensional quartic integral. This is a formal perturbative quantum field theory expansion; the real integral is convergent for .

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