Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/2/c/solution

Assume . At zero source, the vacuum manifold is the sphere of radius . The source tilts the scalar potential by . Its force should be small compared with the radial restoring-force scale , so a useful quantitative condition is
For nonzero , the exact global symmetry in field theory of the Lagrangian is , rotating . The global vacuum aligns with the source:
This vacuum preserves the entire remaining symmetry. There is therefore no exact Goldstone boson for . Expanding the scalar potential to quadratic order gives
Thus there are degenerate light pseudo-Goldstone bosons and one heavy radial scalar. The small-source condition makes their squared masses parametrically smaller than the radial squared mass. Sending to zero restores the original massless modes.

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