Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/iii/paper-304/3/i/solution

Fix the measure conventions before evaluating this zero-dimensional supersymmetric field theory. Take to mean ordinary positive area measure , and choose Berezin integration orientations with . A different overall measure normalization multiplies all the unnormalized answers by the same constant. Assume , so at infinity and all polynomial insertions converge. An affine or constant does not give this confining integral and is outside this convergence hypothesis.
The Grassmann variables truncate the fermionic exponential. The coefficient of is , so the partition function becomes
The Jacobian determinant of the holomorphic map is . Away from its finitely many critical values, a polynomial of polynomial degree has preimages counted with multiplicity. The change of variables formula therefore gives
Critical values form a set of area zero and do not affect the integral. This partition function measures the covering degree, even when some zeros of are repeated.

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