Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-condensed-matter-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/paper-1/3/c/solution

On the physical density-phase contour put . Direct differentiation gives
Integrating the Laplacian by parts with the stated bulk boundary convention, and dropping the periodic total derivative of , produces the density-phase action of a Bose gas,
Write and , where is constant. To quadratic order,
The uniform static density fluctuation has positive curvature . Its inverse static susceptibility at wavevector is , which remains nonzero at . This is the sense in which the amplitude or density fluctuation is massive. The phase has no term proportional to without derivatives; a uniform phase rotation costs no action. It is the massless direction required by global symmetry.
The term shows density-phase conjugacy. It is important to distinguish static density stiffness versus an excitation gap: the density and phase do not form two independent normal-mode branches with one gapped and one gapless particle. In this nonrelativistic first-order theory they supply the conjugate variables of one positive Bogoliubov branch, derived below. The omitted cubic terms include and corrections from the density-gradient denominator.
There is also a background term . It vanishes for smooth fluctuations with zero temporal winding. Periodicity of , however, permits . The compact phase winding term must be retained when such sectors are included; it is not generally the same constant in all sectors. The local Gaussian phonon calculation concerns the smooth zero-winding sector and does not describe vortices or points where the density vanishes.

New to topics? Read the docs here!