Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/4/d/solution

Choose the current convention corresponding to . Noether's theorem gives
For the requested terms with no and , the Lagrangian is and the current becomes . The supplied covariant oscillator normalization cancels the invariant measure when the annihilation operator contracts with , so
The momentum is on the massless shell, . Differentiating once more therefore gives
This Goldstone current matrix element in a phase-only scalar theory shows that a conserved current can have a nonzero matrix element proportional to a null momentum. Thus current conservation is fully consistent with the current creating a massless one-particle state from the vacuum; the nonzero coefficient is its Goldstone-current coupling. It is the divergence that vanishes, not the current matrix element. Reversing the current convention reverses the nonzero matrix element but leaves this zero divergence unchanged.

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