Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 b iv Solution 2026-10-25
For , the sole tree-level Feynman diagram has a Yukawa coupling interaction vertex producing an off-shell scalar field particle of four-momentum , followed by its cubic scalar field interaction vertex. Its invariant decay amplitude isTwo successive Yukawa coupling interaction vertices would change the fermion species twice and leave a , so they cannot produce this final state. Interchanging the two identical outgoing bosons does not create another Feynman diagram; the cubic factorial is already included in the Feynman rule. The integrated decay width instead includes the identical final-state symmetry factor .
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 a Solution 2026-10-25
The auxiliary field has quadratic kernel and no kinetic term. Inverting that kernel, rather than introducing an artificial scalar mass, gives the momentum space Feynman rulesThe auxiliary-field propagator is independent of momentum; in position space it is . At each interaction vertex attach for momentum conservation. Integrate independent loop momenta with , respect fermion flow, include the closed fermion loop sign , and use the appropriate symmetry factor. Incoming and outgoing fermions carry and ; incoming and outgoing antiparticles carry and . Exchanging external fermions introduces the fermionic sign. Here is Feynman slash notation.
For a dimensional check, , , in mass dimensions. Eliminating consequently produces a four-fermion interaction of negative coupling mass dimension, not a propagating scalar degree of freedom.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 b ii Solution 2026-10-25
Use incoming fermion and antiparticle , outgoing fermion and antiparticle . The two tree-level Feynman diagrams are the channel, with , and the channel, with . They occupy the lower row of the figure. In the channel the fermion flow follows and ; in the channel it follows at the incoming interaction vertex and at the outgoing interaction vertex.
The two contractions again have a relative fermionic sign. With the same harmless common-phase convention as i, their sum isThe auxiliary-field propagator is the same constant in both channels. There is no channel preserving the external fermion number assignments.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 b i Solution 2026-10-25
Label the incoming fermion momenta and outgoing fermion momenta , with . There are two tree-level Feynman diagrams: the channel connects to and to , with exchanged momentum ; the channel connects to and to , with . Both internal lines are auxiliary-field propagators. The upper row in the figure gives these labelled connections; the outgoing labels are exchanged in its second panel to avoid a visually unnecessary crossing.
Each tree-level Feynman diagram contains two factors and one factor , giving . The exchange of the two identical outgoing fermions gives the relative fermionic sign. Up to a common external-state phase, the corresponding scattering amplitude isThere is no annihilation channel: both incoming particles carry the same fermion number, whereas a interaction vertex couples one fermion to one antiparticle when both are incoming.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 c Solution 2026-10-25
Write and . With , chooseThe relative minus sign is fixed by the canonical anticommutation relations, not by the Mandelstam variables. It follows by crossing symmetry from the identical-fermion scattering amplitude in i, or directly by the two inequivalent external contractions of . For an explicit sign check, fix incoming state order and outgoing order . The direct contraction contains , whose coefficient in the ordered product is ; the annihilation contraction has coefficient . The common sign can change with the external-state convention, while their relative minus sign cannot.
Let . The external particles are on shell, so andUse the supplied spin sums and gamma matrix trace identities. The two diagonal terms in the initial spin average areFor the interference term, the spin sum is a single Dirac trace:Terms with an odd number of Dirac gamma matrices vanish. Expanding the remaining terms givesSubstituting the Mandelstam variables reduces this toIt is real. The initial spin average therefore yieldsThe displayed answer in the source is false. At threshold, , hence and . Then , while the spin sums give . The printed expression instead gives . This is also a counterexample in the continuous threshold limit from physical nonzero incoming momenta. At there is a further discrepancy: the correct result is , rather than the printed . Changing a common phase of the scattering amplitude cannot change either comparison.
The requested symmetry nevertheless holds for the correct answer. Crossing symmetry exchanges the two ways of pairing the four external fermion lines; the momentum-independent auxiliary-field propagator supplies no channel-dependent denominator. The relative fermionic sign can reverse the crossed scattering amplitude, but disappears in its squared modulus. With , the boxed expression is manifestly symmetric under . This is an analytic crossing relation, not a statement that positive physical and negative physical have interchangeable scattering kinematics.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 d Solution 2026-10-25
Set , a Grassmann-even Dirac scalar bilinear. Completing the square givesIntroduce external Grassmann sources for the Dirac field, but no source for . The generating functional isAt a finite regulator the change of variable has unit Jacobian: it translates a bosonic integration variable by a Grassmann-even expression independent of that variable. Its oscillatory Gaussian integral can be defined with a convergence prescription and then continued. It is a constant independent of . ThusThe factor cancels in . Every normalized Green function with only external fermion lines is a Grassmann source derivative of this same normalized generating functional, soThis is an exact Hubbard–Stratonovich transformation in reverse, rather than just an approximation based on tree-level Feynman diagrams. At the diagrammatic level the contact auxiliary-field propagator collapses each exchanged line into the same local four-fermion interaction. The equality uses a common regulator and does not assert perturbative renormalizability of that four-dimensional four-fermion interaction.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 3 c Solution 2026-10-25
The Hamiltonian operator is invariant under the constant global phase symmetry , . The Noether current of this unitary group is the Dirac current obtained in b. For fields with vanishing flux at infinity, or periodic boundary conditions, the divergence theorem and that continuity equation implyThe canonical anticommutation relations also give and , hence . Reversing the parameter sign recovers the stated phase convention. Thus generates the global phase symmetry. With normal ordering, counts fermions minus antiparticles, rather than the sum of both populations. Its conservation law is Dirac fermion number conservation. A position-dependent phase produces derivative terms in this free Hamiltonian operator; the symmetry under discussion is global.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 e Solution 2026-10-25
First conjugate the Dirac equation: . A matrix taking into another solution of the same Dirac equation must obeyBecause anticommutes with the real and commutes with the purely imaginary , a unitary choice isAny constant overall phase is equally valid. To verify invariance of the action, rather than only of its equation, keep the fermion exchange signs. Define the charge-conjugation matrix . It obeysFor a classical Grassmann field, interchanging two components contributes a minus sign; equivalently use normal ordering for quantum fermionic operators. ThusandThe last term integrates to a boundary term, vanishing with the usual decay or compatible boundary conditions. Both the kinetic term and the Dirac mass term therefore leave invariant under charge conjugation. Treating the components as commuting numbers would give the wrong mass-bilinear sign; the fermion statistics is essential.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2025 3 b Solution 2026-10-25
The canonical anticommutation relations give , where each label includes both momentum and spin. ThereforeThus exchanging the complete labels of the two identical fermions changes the sign of their state. If the labels coincide, ; the state vanishes, which is the Pauli exclusion principle. A negative state vector describes the same isolated physical ray, but its relative sign matters when exchange alternatives interfere.
Let be the real-space area and use , with . There is one state per momentum cell, since the fermions are spinless. An annulus between and contains states. Near the Fermi surface, the quasiparticle dispersion relation has , so the total density of states isThe density of states per unit area and the occupied-state count are, respectively,In particular, . No factor of two for spin degeneracy is present. This counts Landau quasiparticle levels, so it is not multiplied by the quasiparticle residue of the microscopic particle Green's function.
The periodic boundary condition requires , so there are exactly independent wavevectors in a Brillouin zone:The inverse discrete Fourier transform, with the sign convention of the paper, isFourier orthogonality gives the tight binding dispersion relation . For the interaction, first use the canonical anticommutation relations at distinct sites to write . Summing its discrete Fourier transform over enforces crystal momentum conservation, givingEvery wavevector is reduced modulo . The phase comes from the displacement of the second site by one lattice spacing. Equivalently replace by : exchanging the two incoming and the two outgoing fermions changes to with two cancelling fermionic signs. Thus the usual interaction vertex is accompanied by the factor .
In the scalar two-particle model, the fermionic exchange symmetry and bosonic exchange symmetry conditions areFor particles with spin, exchange acts on all their labels; the stated coordinate-only model fixes the spatial symmetry sector. Define . Equal masses make the kinetic operator invariant under exchange, and the assumed potential is invariant too, so . Therefore implies . The componentsare respectively symmetric and antisymmetric eigenfunctions whenever nonzero. Their sum is the original nonzero quantum state, so at least one is nonzero. An eigenspace may contain both sectors if the energy is degenerate.
The normal modes of two harmonically coupled identical particles provide the separation. The coordinate transformation to is orthogonal, with absolute Jacobian one. Exchanging the particles leaves fixed and changes to . Hence bosonic quantum states are even and fermionic quantum states odd in the relative coordinate. The chain rule givesAlso and . Combining the two trapping potentials with the interaction therefore gives the separated Hamiltonian operatorThese are independent oscillators of frequencies and . Both frequencies are positive in the stated range. Their product eigenstates have energiesThe parity of an oscillator level is . Consequently bosons allow even and fermions odd , while is unrestricted.
The bosonic ground state uses , and the fermionic ground state uses . The oscillator length in the relative mode isUsing the normalized Gaussian for each mode givesIndeed by differentiating the Gaussian, so it is the normalized odd first excited state. The ground energies are and .
Choose normalized factors for a normalized product quantum state; this can always be done by reciprocal rescaling of its factors. Since the coordinate Jacobian has absolute value one,If the supplied factors are not individually normalized, the general expression has an additional factor ; choosing normalized factors is the convention in the displayed formula.
For the ground states, put . Then and . Thus, for differentiable with suitable Gaussian integrability and vanishing boundary terms,This is integration by parts, and every polynomial satisfies the required endpoint conditions. The relative-coordinate moments in even and odd oscillator ground states follow by substituting :For odd , both expectations vanish by parity, so this is an equality of zeros rather than an increase in signed mean separation. The even moments show the physical difference. In particular and , so the fermionic root-mean-square particle separation is times the bosonic value. The fermionic probability density vanishes at coincidence , expressing Pauli exclusion principle in this spatial symmetry sector. This is an exchange constraint on the wave function, not an additional classical force. As approaches , the relative oscillator softens and its width diverges; the excluded endpoint would no longer have this normalizable oscillator ground state.
The orthogonal coordinate change preserves the kinetic energy and takes the particle exchange operator to . Thus the spatial wave function is even in for bosons and odd for fermions.
The total potential energy and Hamiltonian separate asAssume so the relative oscillator is confining. Its spectrum is , and its parity in the two-particle relative coordinate is .
The lowest boson state uses , whereas the lowest fermion state uses , . ThereforeFor an oscillator of frequency , . Since ,The factor three is the extra relative-coordinate excitation required by antisymmetry. The supplied oscillator wave functions correspond to kinetic energy ; the extra factor printed before that term in the hint is inconsistent with those functions and the stated energies. The calculation uses the conventional kinetic energy dictated by particle mass .
A permutation of identical particles multiplies a fermionic state by ; a bosonic state is invariant. Particle exchange keeps fixed and sends to . Consequently the spatial wave function is even in for the stated bosonic model and odd for the stated fermionic model. This assumes no additional spin variables in the supplied model; exchange of full particle states is the underlying rule.
The coordinate change is orthogonal, with unit Jacobian determinant, so the kinetic energy becomeson the square with zero boundary values. Product states have energyThe one-dimensional eigenfunction is even for odd and odd for even . Bosons therefore allow odd , whereas fermions require even . The lowest bosonic pair is ; its first excited pair is . The lowest fermionic pair is . ThusThe printed bosonic ground-energy claim omits the factor ; the value above follows directly from the supplied one-dimensional spectrum and kinetic energy.
The separation is . The normalized factor integrates out. In the fermionic ground state, the relative-coordinate density is , givingFor the bosonic ground state it is , givingBoth integrals follow by replacing squared trigonometric functions by their constant and cosine parts and integrating once by parts. Henceand the difference is . The odd relative state vanishes at coincidence, which increases its expected separation.
A permutation of identical particles multiplies a fermionic state by ; a bosonic state is invariant. Particle exchange keeps fixed and sends to . Consequently the spatial wave function is even in for the stated bosonic model and odd for the stated fermionic model. This assumes no additional spin variables in the supplied model; exchange of full particle states is the underlying rule.
The coordinate change is orthogonal, with unit Jacobian determinant, so the kinetic energy becomeson the square with zero boundary values. Product states have energyThe one-dimensional eigenfunction is even for odd and odd for even . Bosons therefore allow odd , whereas fermions require even . The lowest bosonic pair is ; its first excited pair is . The lowest fermionic pair is . ThusThe printed bosonic ground-energy claim omits the factor ; the value above follows directly from the supplied one-dimensional spectrum and kinetic energy.
The separation is . The normalized factor integrates out. In the fermionic ground state, the relative-coordinate density is , givingFor the bosonic ground state it is , givingBoth integrals follow by replacing squared trigonometric functions by their constant and cosine parts and integrating once by parts. Henceand the difference is . The odd relative state vanishes at coincidence, which increases its expected separation.
In the scalar two-particle model, the fermionic exchange symmetry and bosonic exchange symmetry conditions areFor particles with spin, exchange acts on all their labels; the stated coordinate-only model fixes the spatial symmetry sector. Define . Equal masses make the kinetic operator invariant under exchange, and the assumed potential is invariant too, so . Therefore implies . The componentsare respectively symmetric and antisymmetric eigenfunctions whenever nonzero. Their sum is the original nonzero quantum state, so at least one is nonzero. An eigenspace may contain both sectors if the energy is degenerate.
The normal modes of two harmonically coupled identical particles provide the separation. The coordinate transformation to is orthogonal, with absolute Jacobian one. Exchanging the particles leaves fixed and changes to . Hence bosonic quantum states are even and fermionic quantum states odd in the relative coordinate. The chain rule givesAlso and . Combining the two trapping potentials with the interaction therefore gives the separated Hamiltonian operatorThese are independent oscillators of frequencies and . Both frequencies are positive in the stated range. Their product eigenstates have energiesThe parity of an oscillator level is . Consequently bosons allow even and fermions odd , while is unrestricted.
The bosonic ground state uses , and the fermionic ground state uses . The oscillator length in the relative mode isUsing the normalized Gaussian for each mode givesIndeed by differentiating the Gaussian, so it is the normalized odd first excited state. The ground energies are and .
Choose normalized factors for a normalized product quantum state; this can always be done by reciprocal rescaling of its factors. Since the coordinate Jacobian has absolute value one,If the supplied factors are not individually normalized, the general expression has an additional factor ; choosing normalized factors is the convention in the displayed formula.
For the ground states, put . Then and . Thus, for differentiable with suitable Gaussian integrability and vanishing boundary terms,This is integration by parts, and every polynomial satisfies the required endpoint conditions. The relative-coordinate moments in even and odd oscillator ground states follow by substituting :For odd , both expectations vanish by parity, so this is an equality of zeros rather than an increase in signed mean separation. The even moments show the physical difference. In particular and , so the fermionic root-mean-square particle separation is times the bosonic value. The fermionic probability density vanishes at coincidence , expressing Pauli exclusion principle in this spatial symmetry sector. This is an exchange constraint on the wave function, not an additional classical force. As approaches , the relative oscillator softens and its width diverges; the excluded endpoint would no longer have this normalizable oscillator ground state.
A bosonic coherent state obeys and has expansion . Its occupation is Poisson distributed, with mean and variance . Its nonzero field amplitude makes phase coherence natural, although physically observable phase comparisons require a reference.
For paired fermions, the corresponding Cooper-pair pseudospin coherent state isIt coherently superposes empty and occupied pair states and has an anomalous average . It is not an ordinary complex-eigenvalue coherent state of a single fermion annihilation operator. The broken-symmetry state has indefinite particle number; number projection can restore a fixed-number description without discarding the underlying pairing correlations.
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory approximates a two-body interaction using both the normal density and anomalous pairing tensor . Direct and exchange contractions determine a normal one-particle field, while anomalous contractions determine the pair potential. The resulting quadratic Hamiltonian is diagonalized by a fermionic Bogoliubov transformation. In a homogeneous singlet case its Nambu block isThe fields are determined self-consistently, rather than selected independently of the quasiparticle state. For example,together with the particle-number equation. The pairing field extends ordinary Hartree-Fock theory to states with pair correlations. This mean-field treatment omits fluctuations beyond its self-consistent quadratic description.
For bosons, write the field as a coherent condensate plus fluctuations, . The same normal/anomalous strategy retains and , with a bosonic, commutation-preserving Bogoliubov transformation. In the leading weakly depleted contact-gas limit, the condensate density and effective coupling give , with . This Bogoliubov theory connects low-momentum sound to high-momentum particle excitations. More elaborate self-consistent truncations must respect the symmetry constraints needed for a gapless condensate mode.
In three dimensions an ideal Bose gas can saturate its excited-state population at chemical potential zero, with the remaining particles forming a Bose-Einstein condensate. The transition follows from the Bose-Einstein distribution integrated against its density of states; below the ideal-gas transition, . Condensation alone does not supply the finite Landau critical velocity of an interacting superfluid: the ideal quadratic spectrum has .
By contrast, a weak attractive interaction near a Fermi surface produces the Cooper instability and the BCS gap equation. Its logarithmic enhancement permits pairing at arbitrarily weak attraction in the ideal model. The low-temperature excitations have , and in weak coupling . This transition is controlled by pair formation when phase fluctuations are small; deeply bound pairs instead motivate a Bose-condensation description with their own density and effective mass.
For the given ellipsoidal dispersion, set , and . Then while the integration measure is . Thus the anisotropic ideal-gas density of states per unit volume and per internal state isThe full continuum momentum range is assumed; this is an anisotropic three-dimensional gas, not yet a discrete stack of two-dimensional bands.
At the Bose transition, substitute :The integral is . Solving for the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature for an anisotropic effective mass givesThe heavier -direction effective mass increases the available excited-state count and lowers the condensation temperature at fixed number density.
For a balanced two-spin Fermi gas, let denote total fermion number density and take to be the single-spin density of states used in the conventional gap equation. Counting the filled ellipsoid givesIf a spin-summed density of states is used instead, the coupling convention in the supplied integral must change accordingly; inserting a factor two into only one side would change the exponent incorrectly.
For , replace the density of states across the interaction window by . Writing , the zero-temperature integral becomesand thereforeThe second expression additionally requires . The explicit density dependence is . This mass-anisotropy enhancement of a weak-coupling BCS gap initially raises the pairing scale, while the ideal Bose condensation scale decreases as .
Formal anisotropy-dependent gap and Bose scales, with a schematic coherence-limited transition
. Details. Large anisotropy weakens transport and coherence in the heavy direction. The separation of pair formation and phase ordering then matters, so a large mean-field gap need not imply a large actual . A qualitative sketch has initially rising with the pairing scale and eventually turning down when coherence is the smaller scale. If preformed fermion pairs behave as bosons, use and pair mass about ; in this continuum model this gives .
The turnover cannot be located reliably by taking the weak-coupling formulas to : falls, grows, the narrow-window assumption fails and the pair chemical potential and mass require a self-consistent treatment. The smooth curve in the figure is explicitly an illustrative interpolation of two extrapolated scales, not such a calculation. If actual decoupled two-dimensional layers are approached, ordinary ideal-gas finite-temperature condensation is absent and interacting phase order requires a different analysis, including the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition when appropriate.
The cuprates make the distinction between pairing and phase coherence relevant: they are layered and have anisotropic motion, but their strong correlations, lattice band structure and predominantly d-wave superconductivity are outside this attractive continuum -wave model. Anisotropy by itself is therefore not an explanation or quantitative fit of cuprate transition temperatures.
A bosonic coherent state is an annihilation-operator eigenstate,It has , a selected complex amplitude, and Poisson-distributed particle number. A coherent-field condensate variational state extends this construction to a spatial field with . Evaluating a normal-ordered interacting Bose Hamiltonian in that state gives a classical-field energy functional; its variational equation is the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. This connects a macroscopic phase to interference, quantized circulation and neutral Josephson effects. A fixed-number condensate instead has vanishing one-point field expectation; off-diagonal long-range order identifies the condensate without requiring exact number fluctuations.
The BCS ground state has the pair-coherent formIt is a product of Cooper-pair pseudospin coherent states: each paired momentum sector mixes its empty and doubly occupied configurations. The anomalous pair expectation is , while an ordinary single-electron expectation vanishes by fermion parity. Pair operators are not unrestricted canonical boson operators, so this state must not be identified with a naive oscillator coherent state of individual electrons. Number projection gives a fixed-even-number description with pair correlations. Phase differences between condensates enter the Josephson effect; in a charged condensate that phase difference must be gauge invariant.
