The sources are independent odd Grassmann variables and anticommute with the Dirac field. Use and the same mostly-plus gamma matrices and Dirac adjoint as in the interaction calculation. The inverse is selected with vacuum Feynman i-epsilon prescription boundary conditions. With integral kernels and spinor contractions understood, the exponent can be completed to a square:
Translations preserve the Berezin integral, so the Gaussian generating functional for a Dirac field is
The positions of the sources matter. To extract the Dirac propagator, use a left Grassmann derivative with respect to followed by a right Grassmann derivative with respect to :
The leading minus sign removes the two insertion factors . It can also be checked by differentiating the quadratic source exponential: its ordered second derivative is .
For the Fourier transform , and the Clifford algebra gives
Therefore
This equals . The fermionic time ordering is explicitly
with the minus sign supplied by exchanging odd fields. The poles put positive energy forward in time and negative energy backward, which is the antiparticle contribution. Finally, checks the numerator and overall sign. All formulas are distributional limits with the indicated boundary prescription.
Choose in Euclidean signature. The inverse quadratic kernel is the smooth-cutoff scalar propagator
The subscript records the explicit cutoff dependence implied by the condition at small . For , this reduces to , the usual Euclidean scalar propagator. For , the kernel grows rapidly and its inverse tends to zero.
High-momentum modes are strongly suppressed. For a finite smooth regulator they are not literally identically zero; that statement would require a sharp cutoff. The field variance carried by those Fourier transform modes is correspondingly negligible.
Use the Minkowski metric, path-integral weight and the Abelian gauge theory transformation . The gauge functional varies as
Thus the Faddeev-Popov operator is . It depends on the gauge field despite the gauge group being Abelian: the ghosts interact because this gauge condition is nonlinear.
Choose the gauge-fixing fermion . The gauge-fixed action is
Here the tensor is distinct from the scalar gauge functional . With , integrating over imposes the exact printed constraint. For nonzero , eliminating instead gives
This version displays the additional gauge-dependent cubic and quartic gauge-field vertices as well as the ghost interaction; the strict condition is its limit.
For the Fourier transform convention , the quadratic ghost kernel is . With the ordering ,
The term has Fourier coefficient , where is the incoming ghost momentum. Multiplication by in the Feynman rule gives
These signs refer to the displayed action, Fourier convention and ghost ordering. Reversing the ghost/antighost convention changes corresponding signs consistently. A closed ghost loop has the additional minus sign from Grassmann variables.
The quantum harmonic oscillator has , with . Using and the canonical commutation relation gives
For , the Wronskian normalization is
Consequently
Equality requires and . The minimum-energy normalized oscillator mode is therefore
The constant phase is irrelevant. This mode also solves the oscillator equation of motion; an arbitrary squeezed mode would have larger vacuum energy.
For inflation, introduce the Mukhanov-Sasaki variable . Since depends only on conformal time,
Integrating the cross term by parts gives the canonical bulk action
up to the boundary term . The resulting Euler-Lagrange field equation and its Fourier transform are
At leading order in the slow-roll approximation, retain a small positive, nearly constant in , while approximating and as constant. Then , so
Strict exact de Sitter spacetime would have and would not supply the nonzero curvature kinetic coefficient assumed here; the calculation is the leading quasi-de Sitter limit, not a substitution of zero into .
For , the expansion correction is negligible and each canonical mode is a quantum harmonic oscillator of conformal frequency . The Bunch-Davies vacuum selects its positive-frequency, minimum-energy mode in that early subhorizon regime. It does not minimize an instantaneous Hamiltonian after the effective squared frequency has become negative outside the horizon.
A basis of exact solutions to the leading mode equation is and its complex conjugate. Write the normalized Bogoliubov transformation combination as
The Bunch-Davies vacuum boundary condition sets and up to phase. Hence
Substitution verifies the equation, and verifies the Wronskian normalization.
Dividing by gives the comoving curvature perturbation variance
This is the dimensional slow-roll curvature power spectrum in the printed normalization, with the reduced Planck mass set to one. The corresponding dimensionless cosmological power spectrum is , which is independent of at this order. Restoring the reduced Planck mass divides both power expressions by . Slowly varying background quantities are evaluated near each mode's horizon exit; their variation generates the small departure from exact scale invariance.
For a single barotropic perfect fluid in general relativity, the perturbations obey . This adiabatic closure is needed: constant background alone would not eliminate an independent entropy perturbation. The absence of scalar anisotropic stress allows the common potential used in Newtonian gauge in cosmology.
Substituting the density constraint into the pressure equation gives the gravitational potential evolution of a barotropic fluid
Since , the conformal Hubble parameter is . The bracket cancels identically, leaving
For a Fourier transform mode, becomes .
During radiation domination, and . Set and write . The resulting equation is , so the two Spherical Bessel functions in the hint give
At , the two solutions approach a constant and a mode proportional to . The regular adiabatic mode, normalized to its primordial potential, is
After entry into the sound horizon, , the potential oscillates at cosmological sound speed with envelope . The Hubble radius and sound horizon differ by the sound-speed factor; outside the Hubble radius the regular potential is constant, while well inside it radiation supports acoustic oscillations.
During matter domination, gives at every wavenumber. Hence
The growing density mode has a constant potential both outside and inside the Hubble radius; the other potential mode decays. Pressureless matter has zero cosmological sound speed, so horizon entry does not produce the radiation acoustic decay. These formulas cover both independent solutions, while the subsequent sketches select the regular adiabatic growing mode.
For a statistically homogeneous comoving curvature perturbation, define the connected primordial bispectrum by
Statistical isotropy makes depend only on the three magnitudes, which must form a triangle. A Gaussian random field has zero connected bispectrum. Canonical attractor single-field slow-roll inflation with the usual vacuum produces only slow-roll-sized primordial non-Gaussianity. A measurable signal can arise from additional light fields and nonlinear conversion of isocurvature perturbations, or from enhanced interactions such as a small sound speed, departures from an attractor, or suitable features/excited initial states. The resulting model must still reproduce the observed nearly scale-invariant power spectrum and remain under perturbative control, with acceptable backreaction and late-time conversion to the observed perturbations. Large non-Gaussianity is therefore possible but is not automatic in a viable model.
Put and use the consistent Fourier transform convention with , rather than the repeated momentum argument printed in the integrand. The quadratic part has transform
The subtraction sets the mean to zero and removes the internal contraction of a single quadratic factor. At first order in , choose one of the three external factors to be quadratic. For example, the two connected Wick contractions at the third leg pair its two fields with the first two legs, giving
Summing the three placements proves
This is the leading local primordial bispectrum. The factor is the quadratic coefficient multiplied by the two cross-pairings. Terms of order have an odd Gaussian moment and vanish.
The literal quadratic local model also has a connected cubic-in- contribution, from one quadratic factor at every leg:
This is the loop correction to the local primordial bispectrum; regulators may be needed for idealized spectra. Thus the PDF's displayed formula is the tree/leading-order result, not an exact identity for arbitrary . The weak-non-Gaussian expansion assumes these loop terms are small. The local shape is enhanced in the squeezed bispectrum configuration when a long-wavelength perturbation modulates small-scale power.
Use the Fourier transform convention . Since , it is real, so . The positive-frequency cutoff therefore also eliminates frequencies at or below . Normalization gives .
For spectral filtering of Hamiltonian terms, choose
In an energy eigenbasis, its matrix elements are
At the frequency is zero, so the normalization preserves the ground-state expectation:
The spectral filter is a positive weighted average of unitary conjugations; in particular the integral is bounded in operator norm by . We can choose it even without an extra assumed tail bound: the evenization of a nonnegative bandlimited filter proved in part (e) produces another admissible spectral filter with the same type of positive-time decay. Make that choice consistently in all the filtered terms and shell definitions below.
Use the Fourier transform for the spatial Cauchy problem, or its periodic analogue, and regard the two starting levels as independently perturbed data. A Fourier mode with spatial factor has amplification roots satisfying
Put and . Then
If , both roots have modulus one and their separation is bounded below uniformly in frequency:
The uniform power bound from separated amplification roots now controls the two-level companion matrix for every time step. Its entries are uniformly bounded, and its eigenvector conditioning is bounded by the reciprocal root gap. The Parseval identity transfers this frequency-uniform bound to the spatial norm. This proves stability, rather than merely checking each root's modulus.
If , the frequency has a root outside the unit disk, so there is exponential instability. If , the two roots at coincide on the unit circle. The companion matrix is not a scalar matrix and has a nontrivial Jordan block; its powers grow linearly in the number of steps. Frequencies arbitrarily near that value produce the same lack of a uniform bound for localized Fourier packets, so this also invalidates Cauchy stability, not only periodic plane-wave stability. At the double amplification root is , and at it is .
Therefore the full two-level stability range for a fixed positive Courant ratio is
The endpoint is moreover not a positive time step. Bounds deteriorate as approaches either endpoint; the displayed range is not a uniform claim over ratios arbitrarily close to one. A prescribed starter that removes one special parasitic component can change behavior for selected initial data, but does not establish the requested unrestricted two-level stability.
Use complex-linear distribution pairings, without conjugation. Write for the space of test functions. The smoothing convolution with a test function is
On a compact set of values, all the translated test functions have support in one compact set. Continuity of the distribution therefore permits differentiation in , giving for every multi-index. In particular this convolution is a smooth function, even if is not tempered.
For the first associativity identity, integration against and the distribution pairing can be interchanged: the integrand has a common compact support in , depends smoothly on the integration variable, and satisfies the finite-order continuity estimate there. Consequently
The common-support argument matters: a general distribution cannot be paired with arbitrary noncompact functions.
For convolution of distributions with a compactly supported factor, first take with compact support and define
The inner pairing is interpreted using a cutoff function equal to one near . It is smooth in and has support in . To see continuity, restrict to a fixed compact support . The order of a distribution estimate for controls derivatives of the inner function by finitely many derivatives of , and its support lies in the fixed compact set . Applying the corresponding estimate for gives
Thus is a distribution, not merely a formal iterated pairing.
Choose an additional cutoff function in equal to one on a neighborhood of . The resulting joint kernel is compactly supported in both variables, so the tensor product of distributions permits reversing the pairings. One justification is to approximate that smooth compact kernel, in all the required derivative seminorms, by finite sums of products of one-variable kernels; the two orders agree on such products and their continuity estimates pass to the limit. Reversing consequently gives . If rather than has compact support, use the same construction with the roles reversed; pairing against a smooth function is then legitimate.
Evaluating the resulting smoothing convolution with a test function gives
If has compact support, is itself a test function; if has compact support, its action on the smooth inner convolution uses a cutoff. This explains the meaning of the formula in either case. It also proves uniqueness: , and reflection runs through all test functions. When both factors have compact support, the same definition gives , their Minkowski sum.
The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions for which every seminorm is finite. A tempered distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space. Fix the angular-frequency Fourier transform convention
The Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space makes the dual definition continuous. For a compactly supported distribution, a fixed cutoff function near its support extends the action to smooth functions by . A finite-order estimate controls this by finitely many Schwartz space seminorms, so both compactly supported factors are tempered.
Their Fourier transform of a compactly supported distribution is the smooth function . Applying the compact-support convolution definition to the exponential gives
The convolution theorem has no extra factor with this normalization.
For the spherical surface measure convolution, put . Rotate the polar axis to the direction of ; rotational invariance of surface area gives
At the removable value is , the total sphere area. Hence .
For , angular integration in Fourier inversion now gives
This conditional integral can be made rigorous by first inserting and then taking in tempered distributions. The supplied sine identity gives an integral of when , and zero off that interval. Thus
as a regular distribution. To justify the limiting density as well as the signs, expand the product of sines into four sine terms and use . The four arctangents are uniformly bounded; the regularized inverse is bounded by a constant times , which is a locally integrable function in three dimensions. Dominated convergence theorem therefore identifies the distributional limit with the displayed density.
Changing the two endpoint sphere values does not change the regular distribution; this includes the source's closed-interval representative. At a jump, symmetric Fourier inversion instead takes the half-value. If , the singularity at the origin remains locally integrable and is not a point mass. As a normalization check,
exactly the product of the original sphere areas.
Use , so the Fourier transform of is . Distinguish the full degree- polynomial from its homogeneous top-degree part , the principal symbol. The elliptic differential operator condition is
It does not require the full polynomial to be nonzero at small frequencies. Compactness of the unit sphere gives . Homogeneity and the lower-degree remainder imply
For sufficiently large the second term is at most half the first, so the high-frequency lower bound for an elliptic polynomial is
Here is the Japanese bracket. The order-zero case just means a nonzero constant and is immediate.
For real , the Sobolev space definition with the current Fourier normalization is
Changing the harmless constant in the norm gives the same space. A distribution on belongs to the Local Sobolev space when , extended by zero outside , belongs to for every test function .
A compactly supported distribution of finite order of a distribution has a smooth Fourier transform satisfying , by applying the finite-order estimate to a fixed cutoff times the exponential. Thus its weighted squared transform is bounded by . This is integrable precisely in the sufficient range , and proves
This is the negative Sobolev regularity of a compactly supported distribution; the strict inequality is important, and is not a claim that this sufficient threshold is optimal for each distribution.
To establish elliptic regularity without assuming the answer as an a priori smoothness hypothesis, first obtain a global constant-coefficient gain. For a compactly supported distribution with , the polynomial lower bound at high frequency gives
On , the transform of is smooth and bounded. Therefore implies . Possible low-frequency zeros of are harmless; we never divide by them.
Two elementary mapping facts supply the variable-coefficient argument. Distributional derivatives of order map into . Sobolev multiplication by a smooth cutoff is bounded on for every real , including negative ones. Indeed, for a compactly supported smooth , the Peetre weight inequality
and reduce the bound to Young's convolution inequality with the integrable kernel . Smooth coefficients only need this property on compact subsets, where they can be multiplied by another cutoff.
Write the lower-order part as , with , and suppose provisionally that on a relatively compact neighborhood. For a cutoff function supported there,
The bracket is the operator commutator. Its order is at most : in the product rule, every surviving term has at least one derivative falling on . Choose a second cutoff function equal to one near when estimating the products. The derivative and smooth-multiplication bounds then give
The global gain just proved applies to the compactly supported distribution , and yields
This is the cutoff bootstrap for local elliptic regularity; it works for real indices, not just nonnegative integers.
There is always a legitimate starting index. Around any fixed point choose on a smaller neighborhood. The compactly supported distribution has the negative Sobolev regularity proved above, so on that neighborhood for some finite . The index need not be uniform over all of . Repeating the one-step gain finitely many times reaches , or the target is already reached if . Since the point was arbitrary,
For the result follows directly by dividing by the nonzero constant.
Finally, if , its forcing belongs to every Local Sobolev space. The gain consequently gives every local Sobolev order for . For each integer , choose an order larger than and apply the Sobolev embedding theorem to a localized solution. It has a representative; the representatives agree because they represent the same distribution. Thus every distributional solution of is smooth on .
Work first with in the Schwartz space, so that all Fourier manipulations and spectral contour integrals are justified; weaker classes follow by the usual density or distribution arguments. Define
The phase is purely imaginary. Since , setting reduces the spectral equation to . The whole-plane Cauchy-Pompeiu formula therefore constructs the solution decaying spatially at infinity:
The freedom to add times an entire function is removed by this decay condition. For every fixed , the integral is a spatial Cauchy-Green operator applied to a modulated source.
Now differentiate in the conjugate spectral parameter. The two exponential derivatives produce , canceling the Cauchy denominator, so
This is the spectral dbar equation: its right-hand side is the forward transform of multiplied by a known plane wave. Apply the whole-plane Cauchy-Pompeiu formula again, now in :
The spatial spectral equation also gives as . One way to justify this is to integrate by parts in the first Cauchy integral: , where the modulated Cauchy integral tends to zero by the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma. Comparing the coefficient of the spectral contour integral therefore gives
This derives the transform pair from two uses of the Cauchy-Pompeiu formula, not from an assumed inversion formula.
To identify the usual normalization, write and . Then . Set , , so . The result is exactly the two-dimensional Fourier transform pair
The factor four in the real-frequency change of variables is essential.
Fix the mixed Fourier transform convention
The spatial derivative transforms to , and multiplication by transforms to . Hence the transformed free transport equation is
Its characteristic equations for a transport equation give , so the characteristic ending at at time began at . Consequently
The same sign follows directly by substituting in the Fourier transform of . No first velocity moment is assumed, so the differential equation may be understood in the sense of tempered distributions; the explicit transform formula is valid pointwise because is integrable.
Retain from part (b), and use time translation invariance to write . Define the temporal Fourier transform by
Multiplying the transformed Green function equation by gives
This is a symmetric divergence-form spatial operator, although the original unweighted operator need not be symmetric in the ordinary volume measure.
Let . The product rule gives the bilinear Green second identity
The frequency terms cancel. Integrating over the domain, the right side becomes
The boundary integral is zero for common homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition, Neumann boundary condition or reciprocal Robin boundary condition conditions. In an unbounded domain, use the same outgoing limiting-absorption prescription for both Green functions; it gives the corresponding vanishing boundary pairing. This identity has no complex conjugation: it proves transpose wave reciprocity, not a Hermitian or time-reversal identity. We obtain the weighted acoustic Green-function reciprocity
The factor is frequency independent, so inverse Fourier transform gives the same relation at equal time lag. Both time arguments below have lag , hence
Reciprocity exchanges source and receiver while preserving elapsed time; it does not turn a causal response into an advanced one.
Suppress the common time factor , take , and fix the spatial Fourier transform convention
A plus transform is supported on and analytic above ; a minus transform is supported on and analytic below it. For the outgoing radiation condition with this time convention, initially take , , and pass to the limit at the end. Thus lies below the contour and above it.
Choose to have positive real part on the real transform line. Its branch cuts run from into the lower half-plane and from into the upper half-plane, without crossing ; downward and upward vertical rays are suitable. In the zero-absorption limit, for real and between the branch points. This ensures that represents decay or outgoing radiation, rather than an incoming exterior field.
Evenness in and the Helmholtz equation give the transformed fields
At , the one-sided normal derivatives of the scattered field agree for , because that part of the interface is open. For they both vanish by rigidity. Their common trace is therefore a minus function, denoted . Consequently
The jump in the total scattered transform is
For , continuity of the total mass density requires the scattered jump to cancel the incident jump, so . Its minus transform is . The unknown plate-side jump is the plus function . Thus , and the Wiener-Hopf equation follows:
Use the Wiener-Hopf factorization , with factors analytic and nonzero in their designated half-planes. Their analytic continuations allocate outgoing modal zeros to below the contour, and the opposite zeros to above it. Set . Multiplication by and pole subtraction give
The pole in the upper expression is removable by its numerator. The two expressions analytically continue to the common entire function, which is zero under the stipulated edge/growth assumption. Hence
and the transformed fields are
A constant reciprocal rescaling of the factors does not alter or the physical field.
Inside the guide, and are even entire functions of , while is analytic in the lower half-plane. Thus continuation across the lower branch cut changes none of the interior transform: that cut is removable. The exterior expression retains the cut, corresponding to radiation into the open exterior.
For , the inverse-transform contour closes downwards, clockwise. Away from modal cutoffs, its enclosed singularities are the outgoing simple poles
with positive real part for propagating modes and negative imaginary part for decaying modes; is the root. The opposite roots lie above the contour or cancel against zeros of . Symmetry excludes odd transverse modes. At , , and differentiation of gives
Each inverse-transform contribution is times its residue. Therefore the outgoing modes of an open rigid acoustic waveguide are
The original time factor multiplies this expression. Thus every cut-on mode propagates in the positive direction; cut-off modes are evanescent waves decaying into the guide, not additional backward waves. Strictly, a complete mode sum includes these evanescent modes as well as propagating ones. The displayed simple-pole amplitudes apply away from exact cutoffs; cutoff values use the outgoing limiting-absorption continuation before taking the limit. The reflected plane-wave amplitude relative to the unit incident wave is above. It has the expected negative sign in the long-wavelength leading kernel approximation .
A normalization is important here. I use the covolume-one theta function of a fractional ideal, for which the requested limit is , and also give the formula for the unnormalized Gaussian theta sum.
Let , let , and choose one field embedding for each Archimedean place. The Minkowski embedding of a number field identifies
with a real inner-product space having
Its Euclidean Lebesgue measure is . With this convention, the covolume of a fractional ideal lattice is
where is the field discriminant and is the positive absolute norm of a fractional ideal. Thus the Euclidean lattice has covolume . Define
This Gaussian theta sum converges absolutely whenever every .
The trace dual of a fractional ideal is
Here is the inverse different. Since , we have . There is a subtle distinction between the trace pairing and the positive inner product: the dual lattice of is , where the bar conjugates the complex coordinates and fixes the real ones. Indeed,
Consequently . Coordinatewise complex conjugation preserves the weighted squared lengths in the Gaussian theta sum.
Here are the precise analytic formulas used in the proof. For a Schwartz function on , take the Fourier transform to be
For a full Euclidean lattice of covolume , the Poisson summation formula for a Euclidean lattice is
For , the Gaussian Fourier transform, applied in orthonormal real coordinates, gives
More generally, for a real positive-definite matrix that is symmetric. Each complex coordinate contributes two real coordinates, which explains its exponent .
Apply the Poisson summation formula for a Euclidean lattice to , whose covolume is , and use the preceding description of its dual lattice. The anisotropic theta functional equation is
For comparison, the unnormalized Gaussian theta sum
has the functional equation
and its corresponding limit is rather than . Explicitly, our normalization is .
For the small-parameter asymptotic of a lattice theta sum, means that every coordinate tends to zero. In , the zero lattice vector contributes . Every nonzero vector contributes a term tending to zero. Once every , all these terms are bounded by the summable Gaussian theta sum . The dominated convergence theorem therefore gives . Using the anisotropic theta functional equation,
The condition that every coordinate tends to zero matters; alone would not justify this argument.
For the Gaussian critical exponents, use dimensionless statistical-action conventions, with the Boltzmann factor . If is an energy, apply the following to and absorb that smooth factor into the couplings. Choose the Fourier transform convention
Reality gives . The Fourier-space statistical Hamiltonian is
The source term is not multiplied by one half. Completing the Gaussian functional integral gives and the connected Fourier-space two-point correlation function
Assume for the stable massive Gaussian field theory. In the continuum long-distance theory, the real-space correlation function is the Green kernel of . Away from its source, a radial ansatz gives, at large , . Equivalently the propagator pole is at . Thus the exponential correlation length is
At the correlation length diverges. A sharp momentum regulator itself introduces artificial oscillatory long-distance tails; this length describes the physical continuum pole or a local/smoothly regulated model on distances large compared with .
For a momentum-shell renormalization group step with , split the Fourier modes into retained modes and eliminated modes . Define as the retained field. Integrating the eliminated modes is exact for a Gaussian field theory; a uniform source acts only on the zero mode, so this integration produces a field-independent free-energy term. Rescale and set . The retained quadratic action becomes
Keeping the gradient coefficient fixed requires . For , the source term is , so the complete Gaussian rescaling is
The corresponding real-space field obeys ; confusing that real-space factor with would change the source exponent incorrectly.
Let be free energy per original volume, with proportional to . Rescaled volume is , so the Gaussian free-energy scaling relation is
A field-normalisation Jacobian can be included in the field-independent shell term. For any finite step on positive-mass modes, that background is analytic near . Subtract regular backgrounds and choose on the massive side. The usual homogeneous singular scaling then gives
These are Gaussian critical exponents for the stipulated Gaussian approximation. A useful check is its source-dependent contribution : gives precisely that power of .
There is a qualification to a strictly pure-power singular free energy. The Gaussian free-energy logarithm at effective dimension two in contains after subtracting analytic terms. Thus the displayed exponent assignments remain the formal power indices, but at the advertised homogeneous expression needs this additive logarithmic term. A purely quadratic theory also cannot stabilise the ordered phase or the zero-mass zero mode at nonzero ; the scaling calculation is taken from , and an ordered-phase continuation requires stabilising interactions.
At a uniaxial Lifshitz point, the quadratic kernel instead is
The vanishing coefficient of is an additional tuning that distinguishes this Lifshitz point from an ordinary critical point. Use a factorised cutoff, retain and , and integrate its complement. A rectangular or cylindrical retained region is suitable; its precise boundary is not an exponent. This is a uniaxial Lifshitz Gaussian renormalization step.
Set , , and . The momentum measure acquires . Keeping both kinetic coefficients fixed requires
Therefore the anisotropic blocking and source factors are
The anisotropic effective dimension is : one parallel coordinate contributes half the scaling weight of a perpendicular coordinate. The rescaled-volume factor is , so
Choosing gives the requested Lifshitz Gaussian exponents:
Again , checking the uniform-source susceptibility. The associated length powers are and . A Gaussian determinant has the analogous logarithmic exception if its effective dimension equals 2. Interactions can alter these exponents; dimensional rescaling here solves the specified Gaussian model.
Decompose the original scalar field as , where has support in and has support in . This is a momentum-shell decomposition of a scalar field. The two collections of integration variables are disjoint. Define the lower-scale Wilsonian effective action by integrating out the second collection:
A field-independent normalization may be retained as a vacuum term or absorbed into the measure. Integrating this identity over the low modes recovers the original Euclidean path integral, so it preserves all observables depending only on those modes.
Put . The quadratic cross terms integrate to zero: in Fourier transform variables each pairs a low momentum with its negative, which cannot be a shell momentum. Expanding the interaction therefore gives
Factoring out of the shell integral and taking minus its logarithm yields
This definition is a Wilsonian effective action, rather than a Legendre transform generating only one-particle-irreducible Feynman diagrams.