Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 44 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
All three fields have mass . In the interaction picture the quantum fields evolve with the free Hamiltonian operator, so their equations areThe interactions evolve the states instead. For the appropriate mode expansion of a free field isIndependent species have commuting creation and annihilation operators. The full set of canonical commutation relations isThese follow from the separate equal-time canonical commutation relations for the three real scalar fields. For comparison, in the Heisenberg picture the full Euler-Lagrange field equations contain interactions: , , and . These are distinct from the free equations used in the interaction picture.
There are no derivative couplings, so the interaction Hamiltonian is . The interaction picture evolution operator obeysIterating its integral equation gives the Dyson seriesThe ordered integration region is equivalent to the unrestricted region with time ordering and the factor . Taking the scattering limit , , with the usual adiabatic prescription for perturbation theory, therefore yields the S-matrixAll fields inside this expression are interaction picture fields.
Use relativistic normalization of a one-particle state and take , . Define the connected scattering amplitude by . The identity contribution describes no scattering; the term linear in cannot connect these four external particles. At quadratic order, the connected term in the Dyson series isBy Wick theorem, a connected Wick contraction must attach the two external legs to at one vertex, the two external legs to at the other, and contract the remaining two fields. The two assignments of species to cancel the Dyson factor . At either vertex, the assignments of its identical fields to the incoming and outgoing particle cancel the interaction factor . Equivalently, the coefficient is multiplied by , giving . Therefore, writing ,Insert the Feynman propagator . The two vertex integrals impose and . With the Mandelstam invariant , this givesThis is distinguishable scalar scattering by a shared mediator with mediator mass . In physical elastic kinematics , so the denominator has no pole for . There is only the displayed -channel tree-level Feynman diagram: an - or -channel would require an absent mixed vertex. Each vertex contributes and the exchanged contributes , agreeing with the direct Wick contraction calculation.
