Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-301/1/e/solution

For the chiral transformation , one also has . The massless kinetic and vector-current terms are invariant because . Since commutes with , the Pauli bilinear transforms with and is not invariant. Thus the continuous classical axial symmetry requires .
A fermion mass also breaks the symmetry, so in the massive theory one additionally needs , which contradicts a genuinely massive fermion. Making local produces . No choice of the vector coupling or Pauli coupling cancels this term; gauging it requires an axial gauge field, and at the quantum level one must also address the chiral anomaly.

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