Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 50 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose boundary states with nonzero overlap with the lowest-energy state in the vacuum sector and in the one-kink topological sector . In a finite spatial box, a fixed scalar field configuration eigenstate may be used formally, with temporal endpoints equal to the chosen configuration. More generally, smear the endpoints with wavefunctionals . Their unitary time evolution kernels areThe inner scalar field path integral remains in the chosen topological sector, with . A zero-total-momentum projection can be included to select the rest state; alternatively, the translational prefactor does not change the large-time exponential. After a Wick rotation to physical Euclidean time , the energy eigenstate expansion gives . Thus the exact vacuum-subtracted soliton mass isEquivalently it is at large time with a damping prescription. The ratio subtracts the vacuum energy; the Hamiltonian operator and action here are the fully regulated and renormalized ones, not merely their classical approximations.
With the dimensionless coordinates of this paper, the correctly normalized classical action isFor the static Sine-Gordon kink, and , so . Write . Expanding and integrating by parts givesThe first variation is , plus boundary terms. It vanishes because the kink satisfies the Euler-Lagrange field equation and the fluctuations have the prescribed temporal endpoints and admissible spatial boundary behavior. This is the principle of stationary action, not a symmetry assumption about .
The printed expansion omits despite the stated Lagrangian density. Its displayed form is the expansion of ; it is not the physical at arbitrary coupling. Alternatively, writing puts the quadratic term in canonical normalization, while leaving the classical term unchanged. This normalization repair does not change or the physical fluctuation frequencies.
The Sine-Gordon kink fluctuation operator has the useful factorizationIt is nonnegative, and gives the normalized translational zero mode of a sine-Gordon kink:A displacement changes by . Thus the zero mode in field theory is the position collective coordinate of the kink, reflecting translation invariance. It has no restoring force and no oscillator zero-point energy. Integrate that collective coordinate separately rather than inserting a zero factor into the Gaussian functional determinant.
Sine-Gordon kink fluctuation potential and normalized translational zero mode
. Details. In the Gaussian fluctuation approximation, the formal oscillator contribution to the one-loop soliton mass correction, before adding any counterterm, isUse a common regulator for the two sums, include all discrete modes, and treat the translation mode as above. The vacuum sum is essential: subtracting only classical vacuum energy would leave an extensive oscillator energy. A periodic fluctuation and its derivative are matched at the two ends of the large box; the one-kink background lies in the twisted topological sector, and its infinite-line profile is accurate up to exponentially small boundary corrections.
For a continuum scattering wavefunction, equality of its two asymptotic values gives the periodic-box phase-shift quantizationAway from the threshold, expand at a matched mode number:Since consecutive free wave numbers are separated by , replacing the continuum-mode sum by an integral proves the displayed continuum contribution:The ultraviolet cutoff is retained until the counterterm is added.
There is a finite threshold issue if this expression is identified with the complete oscillator correction. It can be settled directly using the factorization: a continuum eigenfunction is . Its transmission phase obeyswith the odd phase branch that tends to zero at large . For , the continuum roots have labels ; there is no periodic continuum root at , since the limiting eigenfunction has opposite signs at the two ends. The bound state at replaces the free oscillator with . Consequently, in mode-number regularization of soliton masses,The PDF's continuum-only formula misses this finite under this standard phase and mode-counting convention. It has the correct logarithmic ultraviolet divergence, but the missing term is not suppressed by large . Changing the phase branch requires changing the mode labels and endpoint terms consistently; it cannot erase a physical mode from the formal spectrum sum.
At high momentum, , so both expressions have divergent part . The canonical field has a quartic interaction with coupling . Its vacuum tadpole diagram shifts the squared mass by , whereThe Sine-Gordon vacuum tadpole counterterm has and adds potential energy density . Since , its vacuum-subtracted kink energy iswhich cancels the logarithmic ultraviolet divergence. Finite parts require a specified renormalization condition. As a consistency check, with this tadpole subtraction and matched mode-number cutoff, integration by parts yieldsThe complete semiclassical soliton mass is then in that convention. This last finite result uses the bound-mode term and is additional to the requested ultraviolet cancellation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 304 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
There is an interpretation issue in this clause. A proper quartic vertex, defined as the fourth derivative of the quantum effective action, has no additional tree or reducible contribution in the bare cubic theory: the three boxes exhaust its one-loop diagrams. The strict local zero-momentum vertex of a Wilsonian effective action also has no high-mode exchange bridge, since the momentum carried by that bridge would be zero, outside the shell. Thus
If “other diagrams” means the amputated connected correlation function, there are additional one-particle-reducible Feynman diagrams. Specify full external-propagator amputation and a vacuum with tadpole subtraction. The three tree exchange channels each contribute at zero momentum. At one loop, a triangle Feynman diagram can replace either cubic end of any exchange, giving six diagrams; a bubble diagram can be inserted in the internal exchange line, giving three diagrams with symmetry factor . The proper lower-point vertices at zero momentum, from the same trace-log expansion, areTherefore the reducible part of the connected four-point amplitude isAdding the three boxes gives in this convention. This is the cubic-scalar exchange corrections at zero momentum result, obtained equivalently from .
If the tadpole has not been subtracted, it is an additional one-loop subgraph that must not be forgotten. The proper one-point function is . Its attachment to the internal exchange line gives another three reducible diagrams, contributing ; equivalently the stationary background shifts by and changes the exchanged mass by . A linear counterterm enforcing cancels this contribution. External self-energy or tadpole diagram attachments are removed by the stated full-propagator amputation; using bare external amputation would retain them instead. In that convention the four external-line decorations add to the displayed full-amputated result, with the part absent after tadpole subtraction. If the expansion is expressed in renormalized parameters, also include the corresponding counterterm diagrams: replacing either cubic exchange vertex gives , and a mass insertion on the bridge gives . A linear counterterm adds through the same tadpole attachment and cancels it when . The kinetic counterterm has zero insertion at zero exchanged momentum. At one loop these exhaust the possibilities: the single cycle has length four, three, two or one, corresponding respectively to box, triangle, bubble or tadpole, with tree branches attached.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 304 3 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
At fixed and , the radial integrands in the scalar shell integral in six dimensions behave as in the ultraviolet. ThusConsequently the proper box quartic vertex is ultraviolet finite. The reducible triangle insertion contains the logarithmic cubic-vertex divergence. The internal bubble contains the mass divergence; its nonzero-momentum expansion additionally has a logarithmic kinetic-term divergence. An unsubtracted tadpole attachment has the quartic one-point divergence and is canceled by tadpole subtraction, or incorporated consistently in the chosen stationary background.
These divergent lower-point subgraphs require counterterms, not a new independent divergent coupling. More generally, cubic graph identities give the superficial degree of divergenceVacuum, one-, two-, and three-point functions need vacuum-energy, linear, mass, wave-function renormalization and cubic-coupling counterterms. Proper higher-point functions have negative superficial degree and are finite after subtraction of divergent subgraphs. Hence the perturbative renormalizability of cubic scalar theory in six dimensions permits a continuum perturbative expansion with finitely many renormalized parameters; induced irrelevant higher-field and derivative interactions are finite predictions at finite scale, not an infinite list of ultraviolet parameters.
This perturbative statement does not establish a nonperturbative real Euclidean measure. For any nonzero real , tends to in one field direction, so even its constant-field integral is divergent. Thus Stability or a specified analytic continuation would be additional input beyond these loop calculations.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 306 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The conformal condition is a quantum worldsheet Weyl anomaly cancellation, not the classical metric equation of the Polyakov action. Assume a smooth target metric, no antisymmetric background field, and curvature/gradient scales large compared with . Use and , consistent with the Ricci-scalar Weyl transformation in the hint.
A sign convention in the printed action must be made explicit. With worldsheet signature , continuation and sends its negative kinetic term to a positive Euclidean kinetic term, while its positive Lorentzian curvature coupling becomes a negative Euclidean curvature coupling. Define the conventional Euclidean dilaton by for this literal action. Then . The Lorentzian dilaton coupling sign convention is therefore important: a convention with a negative Lorentzian curvature coupling would instead use and reverse every term linear in the printed below.
For completeness, the metric part of the one-loop calculation can be obtained by a geodesic background field expansion of a string sigma model. Write . Its quadratic Euclidean action containsHere . In dimension , the ultraviolet coincident contraction has pole with an infrared regulator. Contracting the curvature term gives a divergence . It is cancelled by the metric counterterm , giving the one-loop sigma-model beta function before the dilaton improvement. Equivalently its local Euclidean Weyl variation is , with terms proportional to the embedding equations understood as field redefinitions.
Set in the supplied curvature transformation. On a closed string worldsheet, integration by parts givesThe chain rule and leading string embedding map equation implyThe kinetic embedding equation suffices for extracting the leading metric coefficient. More precisely, the full Euclidean embedding equation makes the parenthesis , giving a curvature contribution to the Weyl variation. This contributes to the scalar coefficient below rather than to the leading metric tensor coefficient. Combining the curvature counterterm anomaly with this variation gives the leading metric-dilaton Weyl condition:This is the gravitational equation in the string frame, rather than an ordinary Einstein equation with a minimally coupled scalar. In terms of the field and signs literally printed in this Lorentzian action it readsThe frequently used is obtained if the printed is identified with the conventional Euclidean dilaton, which requires the opposite Lorentzian curvature-coupling sign. Both conventions describe the same mathematics after , but one cannot change only the field equation silently. Also, vanishing of this tensor coefficient is the metric part of Weyl invariance; the dilaton curvature coefficient and central-charge condition remain to be checked.
Now derive the scalar consequence without presupposing its integration constant. The contracted Bianchi identity gives . The Ricci identity applied to the gradient of a scalar givesDiverging the metric equation and then substituting yieldsThus the bracket is constant on each connected target component. Its trace equation is , so the dilaton equation from contracted Bianchi identity becomesThe second equation uses the literal printed sign convention. These are nonlinear scalar wave equations analogous to the Klein-Gordon equation. For the exponentiated dilaton wave equation, put ; differentiating twice givesHere is the Lorentzian Laplace-Beltrami operator, and is a Lorentzian contraction, not necessarily nonnegative.
The Bianchi and Ricci identities alone do not imply . The linear dilaton counterexample to zero integration constant is flat target space with : the tensor equation holds for every constant , while . A non-null disproves any deduction of the zero-constant scalar equation from that tensor equation alone.
The leading dilaton Weyl anomaly coefficient is obtained as follows. The matter and reparameterization-ghost central charges give the constant . Expanding the curvature coupling along the same geodesic fluctuation gives the quadratic term ; its coincident contraction is cancelled by , giving the term . The full embedding-equation contribution identified above supplies . Therefore full leading-order bosonic-string Weyl invariance also requiresIt fixes . Hence in the critical theory, or under boundary conditions making the constant vanish,This explains precisely the extra input needed for a zero-mass Klein-Gordon-type equation. In noncritical dimension the corresponding equation has the central-charge-deficit constant, subject to the usual controlled-background assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Literal absence of new interaction vertices in the full quantum effective action holds only for Gaussian field theories.
For every interacting , the one-loop scalar effective action already contains counterexamples. On a constant background, with a positive auxiliary mass to control infrared divergences, its field-dependent part isThe term of order has external scalar fields and is a one-loop polygon one-particle-irreducible Feynman diagram. Choose and . Then , its loop momentum integral is ultraviolet convergent, and its coefficient is nonzero. Removing the ultraviolet cutoff does not remove this finite higher-point scalar vertex. For , generic nonexceptional external momenta give the same conclusion without retaining the auxiliary mass. In , the massless theory still needs an infrared prescription; removing the ultraviolet cutoff does not remove that need or the induced vertices. Hence there are no interacting pairs under the literal wording. For the functional determinant is field independent; merely shifts a Gaussian integral when an infrared prescription exists.
There is a different conventional interpretation: absence of new independent divergent counterterms. The superficial degree of divergence of a connected diagram isThe standard perturbative counterterm closure criterion is , with the same pairs as in part ii, provided one includes all symmetry-allowed lower-degree potential terms, the kinetic term, and the vacuum energy. A pure monomial family need not itself have counterterm closure: a sextic interaction in three dimensions generates a quartic counterterm, and a quartic interaction generates a mass counterterm. This interpretation concerns the local divergent part or the continuum defining action, not the complete quantum effective action with its finite interaction vertices and derivative expansion.
For the massive four-dimensional quartic scalar field theory, write for the bare quartic coupling, for its renormalized value, and for the mass held fixed by a renormalization condition. Define the scalar bubble integralThe quartic one-particle-irreducible correlation function, defined as a derivative of the Euclidean quantum effective action, isThere are three bubble diagrams, one for each pairing of external momenta, and each has Feynman-diagram symmetry factor . The minus sign follows equivalently from the quadratic term in the functional determinant .
Radial integration at zero external momentum givesThe bare quartic vertex is not finite at fixed bare coupling. Its logarithmic ultraviolet divergence must be subtracted. Impose the momentum-subtraction scheme condition . To one loop this requiresFor the finite difference, a Feynman parameter and a shift of loop momentum giveThe boundary error due to shifting a sharp cutoff vanishes in this limit. Substitution yields the finite renormalized quartic scalar vertexThus finiteness requires holding the renormalized coupling fixed and allowing the bare coupling to depend on . The unsubtracted assertion would be false.
The same one-loop scalar effective action explains the other effective interactions. For a constant background its expansion isThe tadpole diagram gives a mass correction , withIt requires a mass counterterm. The field-independent vacuum energy also requires subtraction. The term is the quartic logarithm already treated. There is no one-loop wave-function renormalization from the quartic tadpole diagram.
For the polygon diagrams generate finite higher-point scalar vertices, withFor example, the induced sextic term in the effective potential is , or a six-point interaction vertex when normalized by . These finite terms survive the removal of the ultraviolet cutoff at fixed .
The external-momentum dependence of the bubble diagrams also generates a derivative expansion of quartic interactions. At small , the subtracted scalar bubble integral is , giving finite derivative couplings. At order these are the new field-dependent interactions beyond the mass and quartic terms; the sextic and higher interaction vertices require higher powers of , though they still occur at one loop. Such coefficients are suppressed by powers of the physical mass or external momentum, not by powers of . The calculation establishes an order-by-order perturbative limit; it does not establish a nonperturbative interacting continuum limit of a quantum field theory in four dimensions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Take integer and positive integer , so the interaction is genuinely non-Gaussian. For a connected two-point Feynman diagram with interaction vertices and internal lines, counting half-edges and using the loop order givesAt one loop , hence . There are only two possibilities: a two-interaction vertex bubble diagram for , or a one-interaction vertex tadpole diagram for . The latter is independent of external momentum and changes the mass, not the kinetic term.
For cubic scalar field theory, introduce a positive auxiliary mass if needed to separate infrared divergences from ultraviolet divergences. The one-loop self-energy in the quantum effective action is , withThis Feynman parameter representation follows by shifting the loop momentum; it is directly valid for a translation-invariant regulator, or for the convergent subtracted integral. Differentiating at givesThus the coefficient of the kinetic term changes by .
Only the cubic interaction has a momentum-dependent one-loop two-point correction.There is a terminology qualification: if “wave-function renormalization” means a required ultraviolet counterterm, rather than a finite correction to the field normalization, the large- radial integral behaves as , and the answer isIt is logarithmically divergent at and power divergent above with a momentum cutoff. Among interactions with a relevant coupling or marginal coupling, the divergent case is uniquely . The massless low-dimensional amplitude needs an infrared divergence prescription; one cannot take a local expansion at zero momentum without one. The cases, if admitted, are a source and a Gaussian mass term and have no interaction-induced wave-function renormalization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let the charge parameter depend on position temporarily. Using the gauge-covariant derivative of a charged scalar field, the variation of the matter action is . The resulting Noether current isHere . The potential does not contribute, and . Because has not been rescaled to a canonical kinetic term, there is no factor in this Noether current or in the matter interaction vertices.
A local change of variables in the path integral gives . Integration by parts in the term containing produces the two opposite contact terms of the Ward identity.
For clarity about phases, transform the current correlator with and suppress its overall momentum conservation Dirac delta function. Denote the result by . The coordinate Ward identity becomesAmputation of the two external quantum field theory propagators then fixes the longitudinal part of the current interaction vertex. Since the action couples to , the gauge interaction vertex has the opposite sign. The phase convention for the paper's gauge interaction vertices is , where is the corresponding derivative of the Euclidean quantum effective action.
One can derive the exact one-particle-irreducible correlation function directly, without assuming the entire connected current correlator is one-particle irreducible. Local gauge invariance of the quantum effective action impliesA linear covariant gauge fixing adds a breaking term independent of the scalars, which disappears after the scalar differentiations below. The identity requires a regularization in quantum field theory and counterterms preserving the Abelian gauge theory Ward identity; scalar quantum electrodynamics has no gauge anomaly.
Differentiate with respect to and , then set all background fields to zero. The two-point derivative is the inverse exact quantum field theory propagator. Use the Fourier transform convention , , with the photon momentum incoming. This givesAt tree level , so , and the identity reduces to .
To obtain the two-photon scalar Ward identity, differentiate the same functional Ward identity also with respect to . In terms of Euclidean action derivatives it readsThis construction automatically includes the seagull vertex: the Noether current depends on , with . It cannot be discarded when differentiating a current insertion.
Take the first photon momentum to be incoming , and the second incoming . On the first scalar leg the contact term shifts to ; on the other it shifts to . ConsequentlyWith , the result isThere is a momentum-routing sign error in the printed second identity. With the scalar momentum convention of the first identity, its first shifted argument must be , not . This is already forced at tree level: the seagull vertex has and hence . The corrected right-hand side is , matching the left-hand side, whereas the printed right-hand side is . Changing to an all-incoming scalar convention would also change the first identity, so it does not fix both printed formulas simultaneously.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 312 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use signed one-dimensional external momenta , with nonzero . Let be the linear cosmological density power spectrum at the time of evaluation, normalized by . Using absorbs the factor multiplying a product of three initial power spectra. All kernels below are symmetrized one-dimensional cosmological density kernels.
The connected B222 contribution to the one-loop matter bispectrum has a triangular Feynman diagram: each second-order external field has two Gaussian inputs, joined pairwise to the other two vertices. The connected B411 contribution to the one-loop matter bispectrum has a fourth-order vertex joined to both linear external fields, with its remaining two inputs contracted into a loop at that vertex. External stubs indicate the measured momenta; blue internal lines represent linear power spectra.
There are connected Wick contractions in the triangle, givingFor a fixed fourth-order external field, attaching the two labelled linear fields gives choices; the remaining pair contracts uniquely. ThereforeThese are contributions to the reduced connected one-loop matter bispectrum, with its external momentum-conserving Dirac delta function removed. Disconnected contractions have a zero external momentum and are excluded.
For the ultraviolet behaviour, the three denominators multiply to a negative square. In factThus for and a smoothly varying high-momentum spectrum,Each second-order vertex exhibits the ultraviolet softness of the second-order density kernel, so this term contains six powers of external momentum.
The fourth-order kernel is even simpler:With a hard-loop cutoff , defineThe B411 contribution to the one-loop matter bispectrum from this range is exactlyFor fixed momentum ratios, it has two external derivative powers multiplying two long-mode power spectra, rather than the six-derivative stochastic structure of . It is the leading deterministic UV-sensitive contribution for external modes below the nonlinear wavenumber. This is a comparison of derivative orders and generic cutoff sensitivity; an arbitrary specially chosen spectrum or vanishing shape can change their numerical ranking. A convergent integral can still depend on nonperturbative short scales. For a high- power law , the integral diverges for , whereas the integral diverges only for , with logarithmic divergences at the thresholds.
At the field level, there are six ways to contract a hard pair within . Comparing with givesThe appropriate second-order density Laplacian counterterm is thereforeIndeed its contribution with two linear fields is , which cancels the displayed hard-loop term. The counterterm sign follows from . Its finite coefficient must be matched to short-scale dynamics, as in the effective field theory of large-scale structure. A term proportional to similarly renormalizes a linear response, but a purely linear insertion cannot by itself cancel this shape, since an odd Gaussian three-point function vanishes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 304 2 a Solution 2026-09-28
At one loop, the four-point one-particle-irreducible correlation function receives the three bubble diagrams in the , , and channels. If is the momentum through one channel, its contribution isUsing a Feynman parameter, shifting the loop momentum, and writing gives, up to terms caused by shifting the boundary of a hard cutoff,Thus every channel has the logarithmic ultraviolet divergenceThe complete one-loop vertex isLet denote the bracket evaluated at the chosen on-shell kinematic point. The on-shell renormalization scheme requires , hence the perturbative solution isThe cutoff dependence of is the coupling counterterm needed to hold the measured coupling fixed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 304 3 d Solution 2026-09-28
Taking in the Ward-Takahashi identity givesup to the displayed Euclidean conventions. The ultraviolet divergence of the zero-momentum vertex is therefore exactly the derivative of the fermion self-energy divergence. In renormalization-constant notation this isso the vertex and fermion wave-function renormalization are not independent. The remaining charge renormalization is controlled by photon wave-function renormalization; in a common convention .
The derivation used only an exact change of variables, invariance of the action, and invariance of the measure. It therefore holds nonperturbatively whenever the regulator and definition of the theory preserve the vector symmetry. A symmetry-breaking regulator requires symmetry-restoring counterterms; a genuine quantum anomaly would obstruct the identity, but vector QED has no such anomaly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 304 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The first three terms are the renormalized kinetic, mass, and quartic interaction terms. The remaining three are counterterms: gives wave-function renormalization, renormalizes the mass, and renormalizes the four-point coupling. With all momenta entering a vertex, the momentum-space Feynman rules aretogether with momentum conservation at every vertex and an integral for each independent loop momentum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 304 4 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The gluon two-point function through one loop contains the tree propagator and these one-particle-irreducible insertions: a gluon loop with two three-gluon vertices, a gluon tadpole with one four-gluon vertex, a Faddeev-Popov ghost field loop, a fermion loop, and the gluon two-point counterterm. Gauge fixing is required before these Feynman diagrams and the propagator are defined.
Only the fermion loop changes when the fermion representation changes. Its two gauge vertices contain the representation matrices , and its color factor isWith the conventional normalization, for the fundamental representation and for the adjoint representation of . The momentum and spinor integral is otherwise the same, apart from the number and type of fermion species; the pure-gluon and ghost diagrams are unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 304 3 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The first three terms are the scalar kinetic, mass, and -point interaction terms. The remaining terms are the field-strength, mass, and coupling counterterms. The momentum-space rules arefor a propagator, an -leg interaction vertex, a two-leg counterterm insertion, and an -leg counterterm vertex, respectively, together with momentum conservation at every vertex.

