Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let the charge parameter depend on position temporarily. Using the gauge-covariant derivative of a charged scalar field, the variation of the matter action is . The resulting Noether current isHere . The potential does not contribute, and . Because has not been rescaled to a canonical kinetic term, there is no factor in this Noether current or in the matter interaction vertices.
A local change of variables in the path integral gives . Integration by parts in the term containing produces the two opposite contact terms of the Ward identity.
For clarity about phases, transform the current correlator with and suppress its overall momentum conservation Dirac delta function. Denote the result by . The coordinate Ward identity becomesAmputation of the two external quantum field theory propagators then fixes the longitudinal part of the current interaction vertex. Since the action couples to , the gauge interaction vertex has the opposite sign. The phase convention for the paper's gauge interaction vertices is , where is the corresponding derivative of the Euclidean quantum effective action.
One can derive the exact one-particle-irreducible correlation function directly, without assuming the entire connected current correlator is one-particle irreducible. Local gauge invariance of the quantum effective action impliesA linear covariant gauge fixing adds a breaking term independent of the scalars, which disappears after the scalar differentiations below. The identity requires a regularization in quantum field theory and counterterms preserving the Abelian gauge theory Ward identity; scalar quantum electrodynamics has no gauge anomaly.
Differentiate with respect to and , then set all background fields to zero. The two-point derivative is the inverse exact quantum field theory propagator. Use the Fourier transform convention , , with the photon momentum incoming. This givesAt tree level , so , and the identity reduces to .
To obtain the two-photon scalar Ward identity, differentiate the same functional Ward identity also with respect to . In terms of Euclidean action derivatives it readsThis construction automatically includes the seagull vertex: the Noether current depends on , with . It cannot be discarded when differentiating a current insertion.
Take the first photon momentum to be incoming , and the second incoming . On the first scalar leg the contact term shifts to ; on the other it shifts to . ConsequentlyWith , the result isThere is a momentum-routing sign error in the printed second identity. With the scalar momentum convention of the first identity, its first shifted argument must be , not . This is already forced at tree level: the seagull vertex has and hence . The corrected right-hand side is , matching the left-hand side, whereas the printed right-hand side is . Changing to an all-incoming scalar convention would also change the first identity, so it does not fix both printed formulas simultaneously.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 311 1 b iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For this charged scalar field, . On , the gauge-covariant derivative of a charged scalar field supplies the shifted frequencyThe wave equation becomesSeparation of variables with constant givesandThe angular equation is the axisymmetric spherical harmonic equation on the three-sphere; regular solutions have with , the even values selected by the absence of and dependence.