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With Euclidean source convention $+\int d^{d}x{J}_a{\varphi }_a$, the generating functional isHere $J_a(x)$ is a nondynamical source. Its functional derivatives insert fields:This is why $Z$ “generates” correlation functions.

With the notation of the question, $W[J]=-\log Z[J]$ 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 $J$ is eliminated in favor of $\Phi$. Its first derivative isso at zero source the quantum expectation value is a stationary point of $\Gamma$. Moreover,where $G_{ab}=⟨{\varphi }_a{\varphi }_b{⟩}_{J,\mathrm{conn}}$ is the exact connected correlation function. Thus the second derivative of $\Gamma$ is the inverse exact propagator.

Perturbatively, $Z[J]$ sums all Feynman diagrams, including disconnected ones. The exponential formula for combinatorial structures says that its logarithm selects connected Feynman diagrams, so $W$ 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 $\Gamma$ 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 $J_a^{\prime }=J_b{U}_{ba}$. ThenChanging variables to ${\varphi }_b^{\prime }=U_{ba}{\varphi }_a$ and using invariance of both the action and functional measure gives $Z[J^{\prime }]=Z[J]$, hence $W[J^{\prime }]=W[J]$. In the Legendre transform, the pairing obeysChanging the source variable and using the invariance of $W$ therefore givesThe symmetry of the classical action and measure is inherited by the full quantum effective action when it has no quantum anomaly.

A quantum anomaly occurs when a symmetry of the classical action cannot be preserved by the regulator or functional measure of the quantum theory. An anomaly in a global symmetry is physically allowed: it changes a classical current conservation law and can mediate observable processes. A gauge anomaly is fatal unless it cancels, because gauge symmetry is the redundancy that removes negative-norm and longitudinal unphysical states; its loss spoils the gauge Ward identities and unitarity.

Let $\Lambda$ be a chiral gauge parameter. One consistent Abelian supergauge transformation convention isfor which ${\bar{\Phi }}_i{e}^{q_{i}V}{\Phi }_i$ is invariant. Wess-Zumino gauge uses the nonordinary components of $\Lambda$ to remove the superfluous scalar and spinor components of $V$, leaving the photon, gauginos, complex scalar, and real auxiliary field of the two-dimensional vector multiplet. Ordinary $U(1)$ gauge transformations remain.

Define the field-strength multiplet, up to conventional normalization, byGauge invariance follows because chirality, antichirality, ${\bar{D}}_{+}^2=D_{-}^2=0$, and $\{{\bar{D}}_{+},D_{-}\}=0$ annihilate the variation of $V$. The same identities giveso $\Sigma$ is a twisted chiral superfield. The Fayet–Iliopoulos term is a twisted F-term. In the standard axial convention its measure $d{\theta }^{+}d{\bar{\theta }}^{-}$ has axial charge $-2$, so invariance requiresReversing all axial-charge conventions reverses both signs but leaves this statement unchanged: the field and measure have opposite charges.

The charged matter fermions are chiral with respect to the axial symmetry. In a background with gauge flux, their functional measure has the two-dimensional axial anomalyup to orientation and current normalization. Equivalently, a Fujikawa transformation multiplies the torus path integral by a phase proportional to $\alpha ({\sum }_i{q}_i)\int F$. Since the background flux may be nonzero, the continuous axial $U(1)$ survives quantum mechanically precisely when

Perform the infinitesimal local change of integration variablesin the Euclidean path integral for $⟨j^{\mu }(x)\psi (x_1)\bar{\psi }(x_2)⟩$. The vector transformation has no quantum anomaly, so its functional measure is invariant. The action variation supplies $-i\int \alpha {\partial }_{\mu }{j}^{\mu }$, while varying the two charged insertions supplies contact terms at $x_1$ and $x_2$ with opposite signs. Since a change of integration variables cannot change the integral, the coefficient of the arbitrary function $\alpha (x)$ vanishes:This Schwinger-Dyson equation is the position-space Ward-Takahashi identity.