Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2022/6/d/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2022 6 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Under the finite dilatation, , and . Keeping the couplings fixed givesThus the full finite change isFor invariance for arbitrary fields and all constant , the fixed nonzero kinetic term requires . Then the mass term requires , and every nonzero coupling must have . Henceincluding the free choice . At the canonical mass dimension is and , so only the quartic interaction has a dimensionless coupling. A mass introduces a scale. This recovers the same result from solution.
The fixed field weight in the question matters: if it were replaced by the general canonical weight , the kinetic term could be invariant in other dimensions, and a nonzero monomial interaction would require for . That is a different transformation from the one specified here. The result above is classical; quantum running generally breaks the quartic theory's scale invariance.
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