Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-304/3/c/i/solution

At lowest derivative order, a general invariant effective Lagrangian through fourth order in the fields has the schematic form
Here is any invariant symmetric rank-four tensor, the run over invariant contractions such as and , and the run over gauge- and Lorentz-invariant four-fermion contractions. The two sign symmetries forbid scalar cubic terms and Yukawa terms . The covariant kinetic terms automatically contain the allowed cubic and quartic interactions involving .
The canonical dimensions are
and hence
A coupling is relevant, marginal, or irrelevant when its dimension is positive, zero, or negative at the Gaussian fixed point. Thus gauge and scalar-quartic interactions are marginal in , the mixed two-scalar fermion bilinear is marginal in , and four-fermion interactions are marginal in . Quantum corrections replace this engineering classification near an interacting fixed point by the eigenvalues of its RG stability matrix.

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