Generating functional ($Z[J]$)

A generating functional is a path integral with a source $J$ coupled to a field. Its functional derivatives with respect to $J$ generate time-ordered correlation functions.

In a finite-dimensional integral, $u_i{e}^{b\cdot u}={\partial }_{b_i}{e}^{b\cdot u}$. Expand $e^{V(u)}$ as a formal perturbation series to obtain $\int du{e}^{-u^{T}Au/2+b\cdot u+V(u)}=e^{V({\partial }_b)}{I}_0(b)$. With a finite-mode regulator, a Minkowski source insertion satisfies $\varphi (x)e^{i\int J\varphi }=(1/i)\delta e^{i\int J\varphi }/\delta J(x)$; this gives the displayed interacting generating functional. The substitution is a perturbative differential-operator identity, not an assertion that the interaction exponential defines a convergent series. Divide the resulting functional by $Z[0]$ for normalized correlation functions.

An external source is a prescribed field coupled to a dynamical field or operator in the action, for example $S_J=S_0+\int J_i(x){\varphi }_i(x)d^{d}x$. Functional derivatives of the generating functional with respect to $J$ insert the corresponding fields into correlation functions. The source is varied to generate these insertions, rather than integrated over as a dynamical degree of freedom. Transforming it in the appropriate representation maintains an invariant source coupling when deriving a Ward identity.

A functional derivative of the source term in a Minkowski scalar field path integral inserts $i\varphi (x)$. Time-slicing identifies the resulting product with the time-ordered product of field operators. Dividing by the zero-source vacuum functional removes disconnected vacuum diagrams. The normalized formula has one factor $1/i$ for every insertion.

For a vacuum generating functional $Z[J]$, normalization gives $\hat{Z}[J]=Z[J]/Z[0]$ and $\hat{Z}[0]=1$. Functional derivatives of $\hat{Z}$ give normalized vacuum expectation values. The linked-cluster theorem shows that this ratio cancels Vacuum Feynman diagrams, while $-i\log \hat{Z}[J]$ gives connected correlators. Components attached to external insertions are not removed merely by the normalization.

A translation-invariant connected generating functional with a constant external source is extensive in spacetime volume ${\mathcal{V}}_d$. Its total logarithm is dimensionless, while its density has mass dimension $d$. Consequently its dimensionless representation at fixed physical volume must retain ${\mu }^d{\mathcal{V}}_d$. For a free massive scalar with source coupling ${\mu }^{-ϵ/2}h\varphi$, completing the square gives $F={\mathcal{V}}_d{\mu }^{-ϵ}{h}^2/(2m^2)$. This already disproves a literal rewriting of the full uniform-source logarithm using only $\lambda ,m^2/{\mu }^2,h/{\mu }^3$ at fixed volume. In infinite volume the total functional is generally infinite; use the density, a source of compact support, or an explicit volume regulator. After writing the density as ${\mu }^{d}f$, its renormalization group equation has the engineering term $+df$. Ultraviolet subtraction alone does not establish infrared finiteness for a massless constant source.

Completing the square in $S[q]=\frac{1}{2}qKq+Jq$ with $K=-{\partial }_t^2-m^2+iϵ$ gives the displayed source factor, where $G=K^{-1}$. In the frequency convention $e^{i\omega t}$, $\tilde{G}=({\omega }^2-m^2+iϵ{)}^{-1}$ and $G(t)=-i{e}^{-im|t|}/(2m)$ for $m>0$. The physical time-ordered oscillator quantum field theory propagator is $iG$. Sources are first taken as test functions so the pairings are defined.

The logarithm of a generating functional generates connected correlation functions because its cumulant expansion removes products of disconnected vacuum components.

For a normalized Minkowski source functional $Z=e^{iW}$ with vanishing one-point function, $C_n=i^{1-n}{\delta }^{n}W/\delta J^n$ andDifferentiating $e^{iW}$ assigns the four labels to connected blocks. Blocks of size one vanish, leaving one block of four or one of the three pair partitions. Thus $G_4=i{W}_4-\sum W_2{W}_2$ in this source convention.

// Target: perturbative-quantum-field-theory.bigb

For $d=4-ϵ$, write the bare field as ${\varphi }_0=Z^{1/2}\varphi$ and the renormalized source coupling as ${\mu }^{-ϵ/2}h\varphi$. In bare variables this is $h_0{\varphi }_0$, with the displayed source. At fixed bare parameters, the source running is $\mu d\log h/d\mu =ϵ/2+\frac{1}{2}\hat{\beta }{\partial }_{\lambda }\log Z$. Normalizing the generating functional by its zero-source value cancels source-independent vacuum diagrams and the constant measure factor from field rescaling. It does not remove source-dependent ultraviolet divergences or infrared divergences; the former require the ordinary field, mass and interaction counterterms.