Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/3/c/solution
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2018 3 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
In four dimensions set and retain the one-loop beta function . On an interval where , differentiate its inverse:Integrating between and yieldsThe solution is identically zero and is also the continuous limit of this expression. Expanding the denominator gives , directly checking the perturbative sign.
For positive , the running coupling decreases towards the infrared and increases towards the ultraviolet. The one-loop expression has a Landau pole atThis is the scale where the truncated solution diverges, not a controlled perturbative prediction of a physical singularity at arbitrarily strong coupling. The formula is quantitatively reliable while the running coupling remains small enough that omitted higher-loop terms are negligible. It resums the leading logarithms of that approximate renormalization group equation; it is not the exact all-orders solution of the theory.
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