Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 304 2 Solution 2026-09-28
- a propagator ;
- a propagator ;
- a vertex with two legs and one leg equal to ;
- one integration for each loop momentum, with division by the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor.
The one-loop one-particle-irreducible diagrams with at most three external legs can be classified by their external species. There is a one-point tadpole diagram made from a loop. There are two two-point bubble diagrams: the self-energy has one internal and one internal , while the self-energy has two internal lines and symmetry factor . For three external legs, three vertices make a triangle: one triangle corrects the vertex and contains two internal lines and one internal line; another has three external legs and a loop, generating a interaction. The symmetry forbids amplitudes with an odd number of external legs. The classical vertex is the corresponding tree-level three-point diagram.
Adopt the self-energy conventionThis follows by summing the geometric series of exact propagators separated by amputated one-particle-irreducible two-point insertions. At one loop, after writing ,Introduce a Feynman parameter and shift the loop momentum. Withdimensional regularization givesUsing produceswhereand one convenient integral form of the finite part isChanging the definition of the dimensional-regularization scale only moves a finite constant between and the counterterm.
To make the two-point function finite, write , express in terms of a renormalized mass and a mass counterterm, and choose the pole parts of and to cancel and . In the minimal subtraction scheme no additional finite pieces are removed. The physical mass is the pole mass, so with the self-energy convention above it obeysThe explicit dependence of the finite self-energy cancels the running of , leaving independent of the renormalization scale.
The superficial degree of divergence counts the ultraviolet power before subdivergences and symmetry cancellations are considered. At , a connected graph made from cubic vertices haswhere is its number of external legs. Hence one-, two-, and three-point functions can have quartic, quadratic, and logarithmic superficial divergences, whereas graphs with more external legs are superficially convergent.
Full renormalization also requires the mass and wave-function counterterms from its two-point function, a linear counterterm cancelling the tadpole, a coupling counterterm from the divergent triangle, and a counterterm from the three- triangle. A vacuum-energy counterterm removes divergent vacuum diagrams. These are precisely the local operators allowed by power counting in quantum field theory and the exact symmetry.
The leading quartic correction is the one-loop bubble diagram with two quartic vertices joined by two fast propagators. The four external legs can be distributed in the three exchange channels. One family of index contractions contains a freely summed closed component loop and contributes ; the other contractions contribute eight, giving the factor .