Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 74 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The functional derivative is , so the overdamped filament bending equation is with the free-end conditions from (a). Expand the initial shape in the complete orthonormal basis:The overdamped relaxation of a free filament isEach bending mode relaxes on time ; the two zero modes remain constant. Consequently the long-time shape is the affine projection of ,The total displacement and its first moment are conserved: integrate and , using at the ends. This also checks why the final affine part cannot generally be set to zero. The series defines the solution for arbitrary square-integrable initial data; a classical solution at time zero additionally requires compatible boundary values.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 44 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Normalize the vacuum path integral by . The scalar two-point correlation function is , and the spinor two-point correlation function is . Vacuum boundary conditions make these time-ordered Feynman propagators. After integration by parts, the scalar quadratic action is .
The Schwinger-Dyson equation follows by integrating a functional derivative of : the derivative of the insertion supplies , and the action derivative supplies the kinetic operator. The analogous left Grassmann derivative calculation, or differentiation of the Grassmann Gaussian integral, givesUsing and the Clifford algebra, . ConsequentlyThe free quantum effective action is quadratic, so all scalar one-particle-irreducible vertices with vanish. Its two-point vertex is the stated inverse kinetic form .
For the Yukawa interaction, two vertices contribute , and a closed fermion loop contributes an extra minus sign. Tracing the two spinor numerators gives , since the one-gamma traces vanish. Removing the overall from the amplitude gives the displayed loop integral. DefineThe numerator decomposition and translation invariance of dimensional regularization reduce it toThe supplied tadpole pole is . A Feynman parameter combines the two bubble denominators. Shifting its loop momentum gives mass squared ; differentiating the tadpole integral with respect to this squared mass gives the double-denominator pole , independent of . Thus andThe counterterms contribute , so their minimal pole parts areCombining the kinetic terms gives wavefunction renormalization , and combining the mass terms gives . ThereforeThese are the Yukawa scalar self-energy pole coefficients; finite parts depend on the chosen renormalization condition.
The four-point graph is a Yukawa fermion box, with four external scalar legs attached to a closed spinor loop:
Each high-momentum dirac propagator is . The product of four is , and the leading gamma matrix trace identities is nonzero. The four-dimensional radial integral therefore contains : a logarithmic ultraviolet divergence. This local four-scalar divergence cannot be absorbed by scalar mass or field normalization. Add , and, using the stipulated four-point pole normalization, take so that cancels it.
For literal cancellation of every one-loop divergence with , counterterm closure of a massive Yukawa theory also requires the allowed scalar linear and cubic terms. A constant scalar background shifts the fermion mass to ; the divergent local fermion contribution contains a polynomial proportional to . Its linear and cubic terms are not forbidden by a symmetry when the fermion mass is nonzero. A closed renormalizable family therefore haswith field, mass and coupling redefinitions for both scalar and spinor fields. A tadpole condition can set the renormalized to zero, but its counterterm still exists. The vacuum constant is needed if vacuum energy is retained. If an exact discrete chiral symmetry is imposed with , the scalar potential can be even and the odd terms are forbidden; the essential new interaction is then the quartic one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 44 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Using functional derivatives of the interaction functional,Dividing the flow by therefore givesIn the first term, remove one leg from each of two interaction vertices and join them with a line weighted by . This produces the tree joining of two vertices. In the second, remove two legs from one vertex and contract them with that line, raising the loop order by one, with tadpole diagrams as the simplest example. The factor one half accounts for interchanging the contracted ends; the displayed signs are the signs in the interaction-action flow.
The varying cutoff replaces an internal propagator by its cutoff derivative. Repeated tree joins and loop closures express how eliminated high-momentum fluctuations generate the vertices of the Wilsonian effective action. The action is not restricted to one-particle-irreducible Feynman diagrams: connected tree joins also occur. Field-independent vacuum contributions can again be absorbed into normalization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 46 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take an oriented closed string in flat, critical bosonic string theory, with and a mostly-plus target Minkowski metric. After continuation of the worldsheet to Euclidean signature, the Polyakov path integral sums over embeddings and worldsheet metrics, divided by worldsheet diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations. In a flat target its kinetic action isTarget-time continuation or analytic continuation of external momenta defines the Lorentzian scattering amplitude; a naive real Euclidean Gaussian for timelike would not be convergent.
An external tachyon is represented by the tachyon vertex operator , with conformal weights . The physical integrated vertex has , so . Schematically its tree amplitude isThe Faddeev-Popov determinant from conformal gauge is represented by the worldsheet ghost fields. At tree level the worldsheet is a Riemann sphere, whose unpunctured complex structure has no moduli. Its residual conformal automorphisms are the Möbius transformations, . Fix three insertion points, accompanying their unintegrated vertices by the required ghost factors. The remaining complex insertion positions are integrated over the sphere; equivalently one integrates all positions and divides by the residual conformal group.
The embedding fields are free, withTheir zero-mode integral gives momentum conservation, and their nonzero-mode Gaussian integral gives the Koba-Nielsen factorThis explains the sphere tachyon position integral without needing its evaluation. For four tachyons the resulting Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude displays the exchanged string spectrum directly.
Use all-incoming external momenta and introduce alongside the two printed dimensionless Mandelstam variables. Since and , one obtains . The physical center-of-mass energy squared in the channel is . The channel measures the analogous crossed momentum transfer, with sign determined by the mostly-plus convention. Rewriting the Gamma factors in a symmetric form givesThe Gamma function poles imply, at generic fixed values of the other invariant,The denominator Gamma factors can remove residues at special intersecting channel kinematics; the statement concerns a generic single-channel limit. An -channel pole occurs when the intermediate momentum satisfies the mass-shell condition for a closed-string state:The pole at exchanges the ground-state tachyon, the pole at exchanges massless states, and the positive integer poles exchange the infinite massive tower. The -channel interpretation is the crossed version. Factorization means that each residue is a sum of products of couplings to intermediate physical states that couple to the chosen external particles. It need not expose every representation at that mass.
For example, the Gamma function recurrence and Gamma function residue at a nonpositive integer give the dimensionless Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude pole residueThe residue polynomial has degree , consistent with maximum spin in the exchanged level. The amplitude also has the corresponding -channel poles by crossing symmetry.
The massless fields can be treated as target backgrounds rather than separate asymptotic insertions. Write the target metric as , introduce a Kalb–Ramond field , and a dilaton . In conventional Euclidean signs their string nonlinear sigma model action isHere is the antisymmetric tensor density. The three backgrounds correspond to the graviton, antisymmetric tensor and scalar states at closed-string level one. Expanding the vacuum functional in , then Fourier expanding the backgrounds, produces exactly their integrated string vertex operators. Its functional derivatives therefore generate the amplitudes with massless external strings. The connected vacuum functional organizes connected amplitudes; the spacetime effective action organizes the corresponding vertices after treating massless propagation consistently.
At momenta small compared with , massive string propagators can be expanded in powers of momenta over their masses. The analytic part of the amplitudes consequently determines local higher-derivative interactions, ordered by powers of . Massless exchange poles are retained through propagation of the massless fields, rather than expanded into local contact terms. Up to field redefinitions, the leading massless-sector action in the string-frame metric isThe terms denoted contain additional derivatives, including curvature-squared terms in the bosonic theory. The expansion concerns the massless sector around the perturbative bosonic background; the tachyon instability remains and is not cured by omitting its field from this displayed action. Thus this is a formal perturbative effective description, not a claim of a stable bosonic vacuum.
Finally split the dilaton into a constant and its variation, . By the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, its dilaton Euler-characteristic weighting on a connected closed oriented surface follows fromDefine the string coupling by . A genus- path integral is weighted byThe sphere carries , the torus carries , and each extra handle adds . At higher genus one integrates over complex-structure moduli as well as insertion points, with the associated antighost insertions supplying the correct moduli measure. With canonically normalized external vertices an -point genus- amplitude scales as .
Summing connected worldsheets of every genus of a surface yields the string-loop effective action expansionEach coefficient has its own low-energy expansion. The two parameters have different roles: resolves finite string size through higher derivatives, while counts additional string loops.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 43 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use natural units and the Minkowski metric . A real scalar field assigns a real variable to each spatial point. Its Lagrangian density can be taken to beThe principle of stationary action gives the Euler-Lagrange equation . With , this is the Klein-Gordon equation. An additional nonlinear part of describes interactions.
The canonical momentum is . The Legendre transform in mechanics gives the canonical Hamiltonian density of a real scalar fieldThe Hamiltonian equations and recover the same field equation. In canonical quantization, the fields become operators satisfying the equal-time canonical commutation relationsA spatial lattice makes the analogy with many coupled quantum-mechanical coordinates precise. Each lattice field value is a coordinate, with its own conjugate momentum. The path integral is another representation of the same quantum evolution.
To see its origin, first consider one coordinate with . Split a time interval into steps of length and insert position and momentum resolutions of the identity. The short-time kernel isMultiplying the kernels and integrating over intermediate positions gives the phase-space path integralThe endpoints of are fixed. The momentum integrals are Gaussian integrals; completing the square produces the configuration-space path integralAt finite slicing its normalization contains . This fixes the composition law and the initial delta-function kernel. One sums over all paths, not merely solutions of the classical equation. Restoring replaces the weight by ; stationary phase explains the emergence of classical trajectories.
For the field, use scalar field configuration eigenstates , satisfying . Insert their completeness relations on every time slice. This givesThe endpoint field configurations are fixed. Integrating the Gaussian momentum variables leaves the scalar field path integral . The functional measure means a regulated product over the field variables. A spacetime lattice or another ultraviolet cutoff makes this product finite before the continuum limit; interacting continuum calculations may require renormalization. The oscillatory Minkowski weight is an amplitude, not a positive probability density.
For vacuum expectation values, the boundaries must select the vacuum rather than arbitrary field configurations. Long imaginary-time evolution suppresses excited states: , so after normalization only the lowest-energy component remains as . This is vacuum projection by imaginary time. The corresponding Feynman i-epsilon prescription in the real-time integral specifies the vacuum boundary conditions and the poles of the propagator. With , the Euclidean path integral has the weight , whereIt is often a useful regulated starting point; analytic continuation returns the vacuum time-ordered quantities.
Introduce a classical source and define the normalized vacuum generating functionalwith the same vacuum prescription in numerator and denominator. A functional derivative brings down . The order of the time slices makes the operator insertion time-ordered. Thus source differentiation inserts time-ordered field operators:The denominator removes vacuum diagrams and gives normalized expectation values. It is essential that these are time-ordered products; differentiating this vacuum functional does not directly give every possible operator ordering.
The free theory illustrates the method. Its quadratic kernel is with the vacuum pole prescription, and completing the square gives the Gaussian evaluation of a free scalar generating functionalTwo source derivatives give . Higher derivatives give all pairings, the content of Wick theorem. For an interaction , one may use path-integral perturbation by source derivatives:Expanding this expression generates Feynman diagrams and their Wick contractions. The connected generating functional retains connected contributions; in particular . These functionals turn the computation of field-operator expectations into source differentiation of an ordinary regulated integral.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 301 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use units , the Minkowski metric , and the Fourier transform convention . Here gamma matrices satisfy , and is the Dirac adjoint. A single Dirac field describes both Electrons and Positrons; these are the particle and antiparticle sectors of that field.
The free Maxwell Lagrangian and Dirac action, with a linear covariant gauge condition for the photon, giveBefore gauge fixing, the Maxwell Lagrangian has zero modes in field theory along , so its quadratic operator cannot be inverted on all potentials. In the linear Lorenz gauge, the Faddeev-Popov determinant is . It is independent of and may be absorbed into the normalization; the corresponding Faddeev-Popov ghost fields have no interacting vertices in this Abelian linear gauge. A residual gauge symmetry is removed by the specified boundary conditions.
The free generating functional isThe Dirac field variables and their sources are independent Grassmann fields in this path integral. They anticommute; replacing them by ordinary commuting fields would give the wrong statistics and the wrong functional determinant. The bosonic Gaussian functional integral contributes an inverse square root of a determinant, and the Grassmann Gaussian integral contributes a determinant. If is the photon quadratic operator and , completing the square givesIn the last expression and are the photon propagator and Dirac propagator, with Feynman i-epsilon prescription. The products include the appropriate spacetime integrals and index contractions. Functional derivatives with respect to , and consistently ordered left or right Grassmann derivatives with respect to the fermionic sources, generate the time ordering of the corresponding fields. In Feynman gauge, , the momentum-space two-point functions areThe Feynman i-epsilon prescription specifies vacuum boundary conditions rather than an arbitrary inverse of the differential operator.
The covariant photon propagator uses four potential components. Its operator formalism counterpart is Gupta-Bleuler quantization: impose and take the Gupta-Bleuler null-state quotient. This leaves a positive physical state space with two transverse photon polarization vectors. The temporal and longitudinal oscillator components occur in intermediate covariant expressions; the Ward identity removes their dependence from physical amplitudes. The free Dirac field uses the canonical anticommutation relations, producing the same fermionic signs as its Grassmann fields in the path integral.
The operator-path-integral equivalence can be seen directly with a regulator. Divide time into small intervals and insert complete sets of field-coordinate states for bosons, and resolutions in fermionic coherent states for fermions. The bosonic matrix elements produce the phase-space factor ; integrating out the quadratic canonical momentum produces the bosonic action. The fermionic coherent state overlaps produce the first-order term and the Berezin integral measure. Multiplying the short-time kernels recovers the path integral. Projecting the remote endpoints onto the Fock vacuum with an infinitesimal damping selects the same Feynman propagators as the operator formalism. Field insertions become time-ordered products under this construction. Conversely, their quadratic generating functional obeys the canonical free-field equations and has precisely the oscillator two-point functions, so its higher free correlators agree by the Wick theorem. This establishes the equivalence for the regulated free theory and order by order in the perturbation series.
To couple the matter field electromagnetically, promote its global phase symmetry to the local transformationThe gauge covariant derivative obeys . Replacing by in the Dirac action therefore gives the invariant matter densityThe electromagnetic field tensor is unchanged by the local transformation. Thus the unfixed quantum electrodynamics action is gauge-invariant. The Dirac current is conserved by the matter equations, and the Electron and Positron excitations carry opposite charges. The added gauge fixing density selects a representative and is not itself invariant under arbitrary local transformations; it does not change gauge-invariant observables. At a free fermion vertex,For external on-shell Dirac spinors the corresponding current contraction vanishes. The quantum extension is the Ward identity, which makes physical amplitudes insensitive to adding a multiple of the photon momentum to its polarization vector. A gauge-compatible regularization preserves this vector-current identity.
With , expand in powers of . A term of order contains spacetime integrations and . Applying the Wick theorem pairs the free fields: an - Wick contraction supplies a photon propagator, and a - Wick contraction supplies an oriented Dirac propagator. Each insertion supplies an interaction vertex. The permutations of contractions cancel the expansion factorials except for the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor. Interchanging Grassmann fields produces the fermionic sign, including a minus sign for every closed fermion loop. This is how Feynman diagrams arise from expectation values, rather than an extra dynamical assumption.
The normalized vacuum generating functional removes components with no external insertions. In the operator formalism, for an interacting-vacuum expectation value of an inserted product , the same cancellation appears asVacuum projection and the Feynman i-epsilon prescription are implicit. The linked-cluster theorem exponentiates all connected vacuum bubbles into the same factor in numerator and denominator, so it cancels. Normalize by to remove every vacuum component. This cancellation of vacuum bubbles still leaves products of disconnected diagrams that each contain external insertions. If only connected correlators are wanted, differentiate the connected generating functional .
The resulting momentum-space QED Feynman rules for the bare theory can be stated in Feynman gauge as follows:
- An internal oriented fermion line of four-momentum contributes .
- An internal photon line contributes .
- A one-photon two-fermion interaction vertex contributes , with its spinor and photon indices attached to the incident lines.
- Each interaction vertex conserves four-momentum. With all incident momenta treated as incoming, include ; after using these constraints, integrate every independent loop four-momentum as .
- Contract the gamma matrix and Dirac propagator factors in their order along the fermion line. A closed fermion loop has a trace and a factor . A relative odd permutation of external fermions also contributes .
- Divide each labelled diagram by its Feynman-diagram symmetry factor and sum the allowed diagrams. Omit vacuum components as explained above.
- For an amputated scattering amplitude, an incoming Electron has and an outgoing Electron has ; an incoming Positron has and an outgoing Positron has . An incoming photon has and an outgoing photon has . The external polarization vectors are physical and transverse, and external four-momenta are on shell. This last step follows from the LSZ reduction formula and amputation of external propagators; an unamputated correlator keeps its external quantum field theory propagators.
The illustrated interaction vertex has incoming fermion momentum , incoming photon momentum , and outgoing fermion momentum . Its solid-line arrows indicate fermion flow. The photon wavy line has no fermion-flow arrow. The propagators, the vertex , momentum conservation, and the fermionic signs determine the perturbative amplitudes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 303 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The statistical Hamiltonian in this question is already in thermal units, as indicated by without an additional . Define and . The mean field and its linear response areThese are functional derivatives of the connected generating functional; the subtraction defines the connected correlation function. In the Landau approximation, neglect loop corrections and evaluate the field integral at a stable saddle . It satisfies the Euler-Lagrange equationThis follows by varying the gradient term and integrating by parts, with periodic, decaying, or otherwise appropriate boundary conditions.
The two requested free energy functionals, following the source and Legendre conventions of the question, areIn the scalar-field source Legendre transform on the chosen stable branch, is chosen to produce , and . Thus the imposed-source Helmholtz free energy and the fixed-order-parameter Gibbs free energy have the appropriate opposite source derivatives. These names are used in the question's magnetic-ensemble convention; the defining sign relation is what fixes the calculation. At leading Landau approximation there is no fluctuation-determinant term in .
Differentiate the saddle equation with respect to . The response obeysThereforeEquivalently, the inverse Hessian relation for a connected two-point function states that is the inverse kernel of . The factor follows from twice differentiating the quartic term ; it is not . This tree-level connected response is obtained by varying the saddle. It does not require replacing the exact connected correlator by a product of the saddle values, which would incorrectly give zero.
For the requested single-momentum formula, assume a homogeneous source and a translationally invariant equilibrium phase, so and . SetThe Fourier transform with the printed positive sign sends to , while the Dirac delta function transforms to one. Hence the Ornstein--Zernike correlation function hasThe inverse convention is . For general inhomogeneous , has nonconstant coefficients and depends separately on its two positions; the displayed momentum-diagonal formula then does not follow. The preceding differential equation still holds in that case.
At zero source and for , the homogeneous saddle is for , and on either selected stable ordered branch for . Thus the Landau scalar correlation length isIn the ordered phase the negative bare quadratic coefficient is compensated by the positive curvature at the nonzero saddle. Retaining below the transition would instead give an unstable kernel and is not a physical correlation length. With the usual analytic thermal tuning , , both branches diverge as , so the correlation-length critical exponent isThe high-temperature amplitude is times the low-temperature amplitude for the same . This statement is within Landau theory; fluctuations can change critical behavior outside the mean-field regime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The term means that the generator is the grand potential, rather than just the physical energy. With boundary variations vanishing, the Hamiltonian functional isIts functional derivative isso the Gross–Pitaevskii equation is . Treating and as independent variables in this variation gives the factor , not .
For repulsive interactions and , complete the square in the local energy:The gradient contribution is nonnegative, so the homogeneous ground state has arbitrary constant complex argument andThe infinite-volume constant may be subtracted to define a relative grand potential; it does not affect the functional derivative. At fixed particle number one instead minimizes the physical energy , with as its Lagrange multiplier. For , the grand-potential minimum over is the vacuum . For the displayed unconstrained functional is unbounded below; the positive-density stable uniform state assumed in the following parts requires repulsion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 344 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The field is a compositional order parameter in a binary fluid mixture. Its spatial integral is conserved in a closed sample, so advection and diffusion enter a continuity equation; the material derivative follows the incompressible fluid. The diffusive current , with positive order-parameter mobility , moves material down the chemical potential gradient. The chemical potential of a composition field is the functional derivative of the symmetric quartic Landau free energyso . Positive stabilize large amplitudes and penalize sharp interfaces; permits phase separation.
The momentum equation is the Navier-Stokes equation with dynamic viscosity , constant mass density , and the Korteweg force arising from composition stresses. The pressure enforces incompressible flow, , and can absorb pure gradient contributions to that thermodynamic force. For example, gives an equivalent force after redefining the pressure. These equations constitute deterministic Model H dynamics.
Their dissipative signs can be checked by the energy dissipation identity for Model H. Under periodic or no-flux, no-work boundary conditions, composition advection and capillary work cancel between and the kinetic energy, givingThus diffusion and viscosity dissipate energy, while the reversible advective coupling transfers it between composition and motion. Thermal noises are omitted at this deterministic hydrodynamic level.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 311 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Choose the asymptotic time translation: , , with their derivatives , in asymptotically Cartesian coordinates. Use the usual differentiable falloff , , , and analogous falloff for allowed variations; impose the standard additional conditions needed for finite bulk integrals. These variations need not fix the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner energy.
Only the spatial curvature term produces the leading nonvanishing surface variation. Applying the variation of the Ricci scalar and applying integration by parts to its two derivative terms yieldsThe terms involving derivatives of the asymptotic lapse function, and the shift boundary terms, vanish under these falloff conditions. The displayed surface integral need not vanish: its integrand is and the area is .
Hamilton's equations require a Hamiltonian with a variation expressed by the bulk functional derivatives alone for the allowed variations. The unwanted term is exactly , so differentiability of the gravitational Hamiltonian at spatial infinity requiresIts variation cancels the surface term. On the constraint surface, . Restoring units inserts in the surface integral; the paper has set this factor to one. The original PDF has the standard equation ; the extra in the extracted TeX is a transcription error.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 344 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write for the functional derivative of the action. Under time reversal in classical mechanics, changes sign whereas is even by assumption. Thus the forward and reversed Gaussian white noise histories associated with the same geometric path areThe Onsager--Machlup path probability therefore givesHere the path probabilities are densities conditional on their respective initial states; they are not separately normalized bridges conditioned on both endpoints. The noise-to-path Jacobian determinant must be treated with a consistent discretization: it cancels when it is invariant under time reversal in classical mechanics. This is the usual additive-noise Langevin dynamics convention, including a constant-mass Underdamped Langevin dynamics or the time-reversal invariance of a path Jacobian in midpoint overdamped Langevin dynamics. A completely arbitrary velocity-dependent Lagrangian would require specifying that measure rather than deducing its cancellation solely from the parity of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 344 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the polar molecular field, with the positive functional derivative convention used in the paper. During a pure advective displacement , the polar order parameter changes byThe free energy change is . Assume periodic boundaries, or boundary conditions that eliminate the surface work, and incompressibility . Integration by parts in the advective term givesRelabelling the dummy indices in the rotational and flow alignment of a polar order parameter terms givesTherefore , with the reversible stress of a polar liquid crystalFor a local free-energy density , an explicit choice isIts divergence is exactly , by the Euler-Lagrange equation for . A pressure term can be reassigned in an incompressible flow; the chosen representative realizes the printed divergence without that ambiguity. The force density has mechanical power , the negative of the advective free energy rate, which checks the stress sign.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 304 1 a Solution 2026-10-03
For a scalar field with classical action , the Euclidean source convention used throughout this question givesThe generating functional produces correlation functions through functional derivatives. For example,More generally, each derivative brings down , so an -point function carries .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 304 1 Solution 2026-09-28
With Euclidean source convention , the generating functional isHere is a nondynamical source. Its functional derivatives insert fields:This is why “generates” correlation functions.
With the notation of the question, is the Euclidean connected generating functional; it is distinct from a Wilsonian effective action. Define the classical fieldThe quantum effective action is the Legendre transformwhere is eliminated in favor of . Its first derivative isso at zero source the quantum expectation value is a stationary point of . Moreover,where is the exact connected correlation function. Thus the second derivative of is the inverse exact propagator.
Perturbatively, sums all Feynman diagrams, including disconnected ones. The exponential formula for combinatorial structures says that its logarithm selects connected Feynman diagrams, so sums connected diagrams with the sign dictated by the convention above. The Legendre transform removes diagrams that disconnect when one internal line is cut; consequently sums one-particle-irreducible Feynman diagrams. Equivalently, every connected diagram is a tree assembled from one-particle-irreducible vertices and full propagators, and the Legendre transform inverts that tree construction.
Now let . ThenChanging variables to and using invariance of both the action and functional measure gives , hence . In the Legendre transform, the pairing obeysChanging the source variable and using the invariance of therefore givesThe symmetry of the classical action and measure is inherited by the full quantum effective action when it has no quantum anomaly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 344 1 d Solution 2026-09-29
Forthe functional derivative isThe constrained minimum again makes constant. Evaluating it in either uniform bulk phase gives , so everywhere.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 344 3 b Solution 2026-09-28
The functional derivative of the action isFor the Hamiltonian functionand a time-independent Lagrangian,Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 304 1 b Solution 2026-09-28
Replace each occurrence of in the interaction by the functional derivative that inserts it. In standard Minkowski source conventions,and henceThe factors of are adjusted together if one uses the source convention of part a directly.
This is a perturbation series, generally an asymptotic rather than convergent series because the number of Wick contractions grows factorially. For real cubic coupling the potential is also unbounded on one side, so the real-axis theory does not possess a stable nonperturbative ground state without a contour prescription or further stabilizing interactions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 304 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Inside the generating functional, multiplication by a field can be replaced by a functional derivative of the source factor:Expanding the interaction exponential, making this replacement in every term, and resumming givesThis formal identity assumes a common regulator, a source-independent normalization, and permission to interchange the path integral, power series, and functional derivatives. A normalized functional with requires division by the same expression evaluated at , which removes connected Vacuum Feynman diagrams.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 344 2 a Solution 2026-09-28
The thermodynamic order parameter is the conserved scalar composition difference of the binary fluid mixture. The momentum density is an additional conserved hydrodynamic mode; it is not a symmetry-breaking order parameter, but it must be retained because momentum relaxes only through spatial transport.
Composition conservation gives a continuity equation,The current is the leading isotropic, dissipative constitutive law: it drives material down gradients of the chemical potential. For the Landau-Ginzburg theorythe functional derivative isThese statements give the advective Cahn--Hilliard equation.
Constant mass density and incompressible flow require . Momentum conservation gives the Navier-Stokes equation: material acceleration equals the sum of the Newtonian viscous force , the pressure force , and the Korteweg force . The pressure is the Lagrange multiplier enforcing incompressibility. Together these equations are Model H dynamics; isothermality removes the need for a separate energy equation.

