Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 48 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let the masses of and be and , respectively. Write their external four-momenta as , with and . The condition opens the two-body decay phase space. Use mostly-minus Minkowski spacetime, the Dirac propagator , and the convention that an amputated connected diagram contributes .
There is no tree-level three-scalar Feynman vertex in the displayed interaction. The leading decay amplitude has one Yukawa interaction and two Yukawa interactions, so is of order . The Yukawa fermion triangle is:
The two inequivalent cyclic orderings around the fermion loop are related by reversal and interchange of . They give equal integrals: reversing all internal four-momenta leaves the masses and denominators unchanged, and the scalar gamma matrix trace identities below give the same numerator. Both must be included. The closed fermion loop sign supplies , and each ordering has the productThere is no extra in the decay amplitude. Such a factor belongs to integration over the identical-particle final phase space when calculating a decay rate.
Route , , and define , and similarly for . A regulated leading decay amplitude isHere dimensional regularization preserves translation of the loop momentum, and is its reference mass scale. Factors account for the loop's dimension; dimensionally continued couplings can equivalently carry these powers. No occurs in this scalar loop, so there is no regularization ambiguity.
Using gamma matrix trace identities, traces with an odd number of gamma matrices vanish, while and . Thus the numerator simplifies completely toFor a reduction to standard scalar integrals, disregard the vanishing infinitesimals only in the numerator. Since up to those infinitesimals,Define the scalar bubble and scalar triangle Feynman integral byCancelling each denominator in turn gives two bubbles with external invariant and one with invariant . ThereforeThis explicitly displays the complete gamma matrix trace simplification, the two loop orientations and the overall phase convention.
There is a renormalization qualification to this answer. For the loop is logarithmically divergent; retaining just the unregulated four-dimensional integral would not specify a finite physical decay amplitude. To see the divergence, a Feynman parameter and a shifted loop momentum giveThe scalar triangle Feynman integral is ultraviolet finite. HenceA cubic counterterm from a Yukawa fermion triangle, , contributes to and cancels the pole with . This is an instance of counterterm closure of a massive Yukawa theory. After subtraction the physical answer is , where a renormalization condition fixes the finite cubic coupling . The displayed interaction alone does not supply that condition. For example, setting at a specified subtraction scale defines one prescription for the loop-induced decay. The regulated expressions above remain the lowest-order loop answer without such extra data. For the trace, and therefore this scalar triangle contribution, vanishes identically.
Now take the Hermitian pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction with the sign printed in the PDF. Varying with respect to the Dirac adjoint gives the Dirac equationVarying with respect to and integrating by parts gives the adjoint Dirac equationThe factor in the coupling matters: is anti-Hermitian, so this factor makes the interaction Hermitian for real .
For the axial-current divergence for scalar and pseudoscalar backgrounds, set and . The two equations are equivalentlyIn the divergence of the axial current, use and :ThusThis is the classical field-equation identity requested here. It includes explicit breaking by both backgrounds; it is not a claim that a renormalized quantum axial current has no chiral anomaly when gauge interactions are present.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 44 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Normalize the vacuum path integral by . The scalar two-point correlation function is , and the spinor two-point correlation function is . Vacuum boundary conditions make these time-ordered Feynman propagators. After integration by parts, the scalar quadratic action is .
The Schwinger-Dyson equation follows by integrating a functional derivative of : the derivative of the insertion supplies , and the action derivative supplies the kinetic operator. The analogous left Grassmann derivative calculation, or differentiation of the Grassmann Gaussian integral, givesUsing and the Clifford algebra, . ConsequentlyThe free quantum effective action is quadratic, so all scalar one-particle-irreducible vertices with vanish. Its two-point vertex is the stated inverse kinetic form .
For the Yukawa interaction, two vertices contribute , and a closed fermion loop contributes an extra minus sign. Tracing the two spinor numerators gives , since the one-gamma traces vanish. Removing the overall from the amplitude gives the displayed loop integral. DefineThe numerator decomposition and translation invariance of dimensional regularization reduce it toThe supplied tadpole pole is . A Feynman parameter combines the two bubble denominators. Shifting its loop momentum gives mass squared ; differentiating the tadpole integral with respect to this squared mass gives the double-denominator pole , independent of . Thus andThe counterterms contribute , so their minimal pole parts areCombining the kinetic terms gives wavefunction renormalization , and combining the mass terms gives . ThereforeThese are the Yukawa scalar self-energy pole coefficients; finite parts depend on the chosen renormalization condition.
The four-point graph is a Yukawa fermion box, with four external scalar legs attached to a closed spinor loop:
Each high-momentum dirac propagator is . The product of four is , and the leading gamma matrix trace identities is nonzero. The four-dimensional radial integral therefore contains : a logarithmic ultraviolet divergence. This local four-scalar divergence cannot be absorbed by scalar mass or field normalization. Add , and, using the stipulated four-point pole normalization, take so that cancels it.
For literal cancellation of every one-loop divergence with , counterterm closure of a massive Yukawa theory also requires the allowed scalar linear and cubic terms. A constant scalar background shifts the fermion mass to ; the divergent local fermion contribution contains a polynomial proportional to . Its linear and cubic terms are not forbidden by a symmetry when the fermion mass is nonzero. A closed renormalizable family therefore haswith field, mass and coupling redefinitions for both scalar and spinor fields. A tadpole condition can set the renormalized to zero, but its counterterm still exists. The vacuum constant is needed if vacuum energy is retained. If an exact discrete chiral symmetry is imposed with , the scalar potential can be even and the odd terms are forbidden; the essential new interaction is then the quartic one.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2020 1 d Solution 2026-10-25
For a connected amputated Feynman diagram, write for the number of independent loop momenta. Each loop momentum integration scales as , each internal scalar propagator as , and each internal Dirac propagator as when both four-momenta and mass are scaled. The Yukawa coupling has mass dimension zero. ThusCounting the two fermion ends and one scalar end at each interaction vertex, and using connectedness, givesConsequently , , andThe requested exponent requires amputation and removal of the overall momentum delta function. An ordinary unamputated connected Green function has an additional external scalar propagators, giving mass dimension after stripping that delta function, or if it is retained. For a concrete check, the free two-point scalar propagator scales as , not . The exponent is the engineering result for the amputated object. A fixed renormalization scale introduces logarithms; the displayed homogeneity is a naive power counting statement rather than an exact quantum scaling law at fixed subtraction scale.
More generally, with external scalar ends and external fermion ends, the same counting gives the superficial degree of divergenceThis is an upper bound on the overall ultraviolet divergence. Numerator cancellations and Lorentz invariance may lower it; an apparently convergent whole Feynman diagram can still have ultraviolet subdivergences. Local subtraction of those ultraviolet subdivergences is required first.
For pure scalar ends, can require counterterms. Lorentz invariance reduces the two-point terms to a mass counterterm and wave-function renormalization; derivatives of a single scalar field are total derivatives, and a one-derivative cubic scalar term cannot be a Lorentz scalar. With two external fermions, requires their kinetic term and mass counterterm, while requires Yukawa coupling renormalization. Four external fermions give , so no independent four-fermion counterterm is required.
A complete counterterm Lagrangian consistent with the species symmetry can therefore be writtenThe vacuum energy density term matters for an unnormalized vacuum functional and cancels from normalized Green functions. The tadpole counterterm can impose . There is no symmetry of the massive Yukawa interaction, so linear, cubic and quartic scalar terms cannot be excluded. For instance, in a constant background the divergent fermion loop contribution contains , exhibiting all these powers. This is counterterm closure of a massive Yukawa theory.
The two species have identical couplings, so their common unitary flavour rotations preserve the Lagrangian density and their counterterms can be chosen species independent. Equality of the scalar and fermion masses, however, is not protected: and are independent. Including the displayed finite set of operators yields a renormalizable quantum field theory. Restricting the bare Lagrangian density to the terms printed in the question is not closed under renormalization.

