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At second order in the coupling constant of a real phi cubed theory, the two-point numerator has eight fields, hence $7!!=105$ Wick contractions. Of these, six give a free external line times a vacuum theta graph, nine give a free line times a vacuum dumbbell, 36 give a two-line bubble, 36 give a connected tadpole attachment, and 18 give two separate one-point tadpoles. Dividing by $2!(3!{)}^2=72$ gives weights $1/12,1/8,1/2,1/2,1/4$. The normalized vacuum generating functional cancels the first two contributions, while the last remains in the full two-point correlation function as the product of one-point functions. Thus cancellation of vacuum bubbles does not, by itself, take the connected part.

Use units $\hslash =c=1$, the Minkowski metric ${\eta }_{ab}=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1,-1,-1)$, and the Fourier transform convention $f(x)=\int d^{4}p{e}^{-ip\cdot x}\tilde{f}(p)/(2\pi {)}^4$. Here gamma matrices satisfy $\{{\gamma }^a,{\gamma }^b\}=2{\eta }^{ab}{I}_4$, and $\bar{\psi }={\psi }^{†}{\gamma }^0$ is the Dirac adjoint. A single Dirac field describes both electrons and Positrons; these are the particle and antiparticle sectors of that field.

The free Maxwell Lagrangian and Dirac action, with a linear covariant gauge condition for the photon, giveBefore gauge fixing, the Maxwell Lagrangian has zero modes in field theory along $A_a\mapsto A_a+{\partial }_a\lambda$, so its quadratic operator cannot be inverted on all potentials. In the linear Lorenz gauge, the Faddeev-Popov determinant is $\det \square$. It is independent of $A$ and may be absorbed into the normalization; the corresponding Faddeev-Popov ghost fields have no interacting vertices in this Abelian linear gauge. A residual gauge symmetry is removed by the specified boundary conditions.

The free generating functional isThe Dirac field variables and their sources are independent Grassmann fields in this path integral. They anticommute; replacing them by ordinary commuting fields would give the wrong statistics and the wrong functional determinant. The bosonic Gaussian functional integral contributes an inverse square root of a determinant, and the Grassmann Gaussian integral contributes a determinant. If $K_A$ is the photon quadratic operator and $K_D=i{\gamma }^a{\partial }_a-m$, completing the square givesIn the last expression $D_F=i{K}_A^{-1}$ and $S_F=i{K}_D^{-1}$ are the photon propagator and Dirac propagator, with Feynman i-epsilon prescription. The products include the appropriate spacetime integrals and index contractions. Functional derivatives with respect to $J$, and consistently ordered left or right Grassmann derivatives with respect to the fermionic sources, generate the time ordering of the corresponding fields. In Feynman gauge, $\alpha =1$, the momentum-space two-point functions areThe Feynman i-epsilon prescription specifies vacuum boundary conditions rather than an arbitrary inverse of the differential operator.

The covariant photon propagator uses four potential components. Its operator formalism counterpart is Gupta-Bleuler quantization: impose $({\partial }_a{A}^a{)}^{(+)}|\mathrm{phys}⟩=0$ and take the Gupta-Bleuler null-state quotient. This leaves a positive physical state space with two transverse photon polarization vectors. The temporal and longitudinal oscillator components occur in intermediate covariant expressions; the Ward identity removes their dependence from physical amplitudes. The free Dirac field uses the canonical anticommutation relations, producing the same fermionic signs as its Grassmann fields in the path integral.

The operator-path-integral equivalence can be seen directly with a regulator. Divide time into small intervals and insert complete sets of field-coordinate states for bosons, and resolutions in fermionic coherent states for fermions. The bosonic matrix elements produce the phase-space factor $\exp i\sum [\pi \Delta \varphi -H\Delta t]$; integrating out the quadratic canonical momentum produces the bosonic action. The fermionic coherent state overlaps produce the first-order term $i{\psi }^{†}\dot{\psi }$ and the Berezin integral measure. Multiplying the short-time kernels recovers the path integral. Projecting the remote endpoints onto the Fock vacuum with an infinitesimal damping selects the same Feynman propagators as the operator formalism. Field insertions become time-ordered products under this construction. Conversely, their quadratic generating functional obeys the canonical free-field equations and has precisely the oscillator two-point functions, so its higher free correlators agree by the Wick theorem. This establishes the equivalence for the regulated free theory and order by order in the perturbation series.

To couple the matter field electromagnetically, promote its global phase symmetry to the local transformationThe gauge covariant derivative $D_a={\partial }_a+ie{A}_a$ obeys $D_a^{\prime }{\psi }^{\prime }=e^{-ie\lambda }{D}_a\psi$. Replacing ${\partial }_a$ by $D_a$ in the Dirac action therefore gives the invariant matter densityThe electromagnetic field tensor is unchanged by the local transformation. Thus the unfixed quantum electrodynamics action is gauge-invariant. The Dirac current $j^a=\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^a\psi$ is conserved by the matter equations, and the electron and Positron excitations carry opposite charges. The added gauge fixing density selects a representative and is not itself invariant under arbitrary local transformations; it does not change gauge-invariant observables. At a free fermion vertex,For external on-shell Dirac spinors the corresponding current contraction vanishes. The quantum extension is the Ward identity, which makes physical amplitudes insensitive to adding a multiple of the photon momentum to its polarization vector. A gauge-compatible regularization preserves this vector-current identity.

With ${\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{int}}=-e\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^a\psi A_a$, expand $\exp (i\int {\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{int}})$ in powers of $e$. A term of order $n$ contains $n$ spacetime integrations and $1/n!$. Applying the Wick theorem pairs the free fields: an $A$-$A$ Wick contraction supplies a photon propagator, and a $\psi$-$\bar{\psi }$ Wick contraction supplies an oriented Dirac propagator. Each insertion supplies an interaction vertex. The permutations of contractions cancel the expansion factorials except for the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor. Interchanging Grassmann fields produces the fermionic sign, including a minus sign for every closed fermion loop. This is how Feynman diagrams arise from expectation values, rather than an extra dynamical assumption.

The normalized vacuum generating functional removes components with no external insertions. In the operator formalism, for an interacting-vacuum expectation value of an inserted product $\mathcal{O}$, the same cancellation appears asVacuum projection and the Feynman i-epsilon prescription are implicit. The linked-cluster theorem exponentiates all connected vacuum bubbles into the same factor in numerator and denominator, so it cancels. Normalize by $Z[0]$ to remove every vacuum component. This cancellation of vacuum bubbles still leaves products of disconnected diagrams that each contain external insertions. If only connected correlators are wanted, differentiate the connected generating functional $W=-i\log [Z[J,\bar{\eta },\eta ]/Z[0]]$.

The resulting momentum-space QED Feynman rules for the bare theory can be stated in Feynman gauge as follows:

The illustrated interaction vertex has incoming fermion momentum $p$, incoming photon momentum $k$, and outgoing fermion momentum $p^{\prime }=p+k$. Its solid-line arrows indicate fermion flow. The photon wavy line has no fermion-flow arrow. The propagators, the vertex $-ie{\gamma }^a$, momentum conservation, and the fermionic signs determine the perturbative amplitudes.

Use the notation ${\Delta }_{12}=\Delta (y_1-y_2)$, ${\Delta }_{xz}=\Delta (x-z)$ and ${\int }_{xz}=\int d^{D}x{d}^{D}z$. The order-$\lambda$ term vanishes because it has five fields. At order ${\lambda }^2$, enumerate the eight-field Wick contractions, whose expansion denominator is $2!(3!{)}^2=72$.

If the two external fields contract with each other, the remaining vacuum diagrams are a pair of cubic vertices joined by three lines, with six Wick contractions, and a pair joined by one line with a tadpole diagram at each end, with nine Wick contractions. Define their combined integrated weight byThus $Z/Z_0=1+(-i\lambda {)}^2{V}_2+O({\lambda }^4)$. The numerator isThe three latter terms have respectively 36, 36 and 18 Wick contractions. Together with the six and nine Wick contractions, they exhaust all $7!!=105$ pairings.

Dividing by $Z/Z_0$ cancels the two vacuum diagrams, givingThe first correction is the two-line bubble diagram, with symmetry factor $S=2$. The second is the connected tadpole contribution to a cubic-theory two-point function: both external lines meet one vertex, joined by a single line to a second vertex bearing a tadpole diagram; its symmetry factor is also $S=2$. Interchanging the two integrated vertices is already included in the 36 contractions and gives no extra factor.

The final term is the disconnected Feynman diagram consisting of two separate one-point tadpole diagrams, with coefficient $1/4$. It survives cancellation of vacuum bubbles, since each component touches an external point. Indeed it is precisely the leading $⟨\varphi (y_1)⟩⟨\varphi (y_2)⟩$. It would disappear from the connected two-point correlation function, but the question defines the full correlation function. No normal ordering or tadpole subtraction of the interaction was specified. All terms are depicted in solution, and all spacetime integrals remain unevaluated.

For the interacting vacuum state defined perturbatively by the same Feynman i-epsilon prescription, the normalized time-ordered product isEach functional derivative inserts $i\varphi$, accounting for $i^{-m}$. The denominator implements cancellation of vacuum bubbles, while disconnected pieces carrying external insertions still contribute. The lower limit $i=i$ in the printed product is a typographical error; the product here runs from 1 to $m$.

At order $V$ in the cubic scalar field interaction term, the expansion of the generating functional supplies $1/[V!(3!{)}^V]$. The $V!$ counts permutations of indistinguishable integrated interaction vertices, and $3!$ counts permutations of the three field slots at each interaction vertex. Applying the Wick theorem pairs fields into Feynman propagators. Several pairings produce the same Feynman diagram; their number $N_G$ multiplies the expansion coefficient. For fixed labelled external points, the net combinatorial weight isHere $S_G$ is the order of the graph's automorphism group when the external labels are fixed, with permutations of identical parallel lines and reversal of a self-loop included as applicable. This is the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor convention in which a Feynman diagram is divided by $S_G$. Each cubic interaction vertex then contributes $-i\lambda$, each line contributes ${\Delta }_F$, and each internal vertex is integrated over its position. External labelled points are not divided by $m!$.