Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 54 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use metric and the hypercharge convention . Then the Higgs doublet has and transforms under electroweak gauge invariance asThe covariant derivative sign consistent with the requested expression isA convention that instead calls the doublet hypercharge one puts in the charge generator and derivative; the physical coupling is the same. Here and the matrix-valued connection transforms as , making transform like .
In unitary gauge, the upper component of the derivative comes from the off-diagonal Pauli matrices:The lower component isWriting , , inversion of the neutral rotation gives and . Since , the coefficient of the photon vanishes, whereas . ThusThe zero photon coupling expresses the neutrality of the surviving radial Higgs boson.
The scalar Lagrangian density is . Adding gives the complete bosonic electroweak Lagrangian density. Its scalar and vector mass terms, after electroweak symmetry breaking, are obtained directly asIndeed, the shifted quartic Higgs potential normalization gives . Comparing with a canonically normalized real scalar mass term, a complex vector mass term and a real vector mass term yieldsThe extra factor one half in this paper's Higgs potential is why is , rather than in another common convention. The tree-level electroweak gauge-boson masses give : measure the two vector masses and take their ratio. Beyond tree level this extraction requires a specified renormalization convention and radiative corrections.
Expanding the vector terms gives the cubic and quartic Higgs couplings to electroweak gauge bosons:The four elementary Feynman diagrams and their all-incoming Feynman rules are shown below. Differentiating with respect to two identical fields supplies a factor two; differentiating with respect to two identical Higgs fields supplies another factor two in the quartic rules.
Tree-level Higgs vertices with charged and neutral electroweak gauge bosons
. Details. There are no elementary , , or vertices in this tree-level Lagrangian density. Loop-induced photon interactions are a different order. The scalar self-interactions, if included, have rules and .
The prime LEP2 search used the Higgs boson coupling to Z bosons through Higgsstrahlung, , shown in the first panel of the process figure in Question 3. This identifies an associated-production interaction, rather than an on-shell decay of a single into a heavier Higgs. The channel's historical role is documented in the LEP2 Higgs-search account.
For the free charged W boson, take , with the conjugate field carrying . In the action, multiplying the two field strengths gives . ThereforeTo invert it, separate the transverse and longitudinal projectors , . The operator is , soSince the quadratic action kernel is , its Proca propagator isFor all momentum components small relative to , the low-momentum limit is , with corrections of relative order or . This local limit leads to the Fermi interaction, with for the charged-current normalization used here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 54 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The CPT theorem is a structural consequence of relativistic quantum field theory. In flat spacetime, assume a positive physical state space, the positive-energy spectrum condition, Lorentz invariance, microcausality, the usual Spin-statistics theorem, and a Hermitian dynamics. For ordinary field theories these are realized by a local Hermitian Lorentz-scalar Lagrangian density. There is then an antiunitary operator implementing the combined charge conjugation, parity symmetry in quantum field theory and time-reversal symmetry, with a CPT-invariant vacuum. The combined symmetry is required even when the three separate symmetries fail.
Under the combined spacetime transformation, . A complex scalar field can be taken to transform into its adjoint at ; a Hermitian vector field transforms into minus itself at . A derivative contributes a minus sign through differentiation of its reflected argument. For a Dirac field the transformation supplied in the paper may be writtenField phases are conventional and do not affect the physical conclusions. Crucially, antiunitarity means and conjugates every numerical coefficient. The reversal of time is compatible with positive energies because this conjugation changes to while leaving the Hamiltonian invariant. Treating time reversal as a unitary change of coordinates would instead give incorrect signs.
One can see explicitly how the CPT transformation of Dirac bilinears works. Let be a Hermitian fermion bilinear, with . The colons indicate normal ordering so that the graded reordering below has no vacuum contact term. Using the reflected fields and conjugating , then interchanging the two fermion factors, givesThe last step uses the Dirac-Hermiticity condition and . The identities for the gamma matrices then giveThe pseudoscalar's sign is particularly instructive: its explicit must also be conjugated. The minus sign from exchanging fermions is equally essential. These signs depend on the number of free vector indices, rather than on a field's separate parity assignment.
This supplies a local Lagrangian argument for CPT invariance. Hermitian local field combinations with vector indices transform with sign , including the appropriate reordered derivative terms. A Lorentz scalar contracts those indices in pairs or with four-index invariant tensors, giving a positive total sign. For charged terms, the reflected conjugate fields and conjugated coefficients exchange a term with its Hermitian-conjugate partner. ThusThe integration variable has unit absolute Jacobian. The general field-index argument is discussed in Srednicki's treatment of discrete symmetries, section 40.
For example, the scalar mass term is even. The Dirac electromagnetic current and vector potential are both odd, making their contracted interaction even. The Hermitian Dirac kinetic term is also even: reflection and reordering interchange the two derivative placements, while antiunitarity conjugates its . A complex Yukawa coupling and its Hermitian conjugate are exchanged rather than requiring the coupling itself to be real. Hence CP violation in the CKM matrix is compatible with exact CPT. Renormalizability is not necessary: local Hermitian higher-dimensional Lorentz-scalar operators satisfy the same argument.
The axiomatic form of the CPT theorem does not start by assuming a polynomial Lagrangian density. The positive-energy spectrum condition provides analytic continuations of Wightman functions, and complexified Lorentz transformations relate configurations to their total spacetime inversions. At suitable spacelike configurations, microcausality permits reversal of the order of field operators with the signs dictated by the Spin-statistics theorem. Uniqueness of analytic continuation extends this relation to the correlators generally, from which the Hilbert-space antiunitary operator is obtained. This explains why locality and positive energy are genuine hypotheses, not incidental features of a particular interaction. The elementary argument above displays the mechanism for the scalar, spinor and vector fields relevant to the Standard Model; it is not a substitute for all the analytic steps of the axiomatic proof.
For one-particle states, CPT reverses additive charges and spin projections. The spatial momentum is unchanged by the combination: parity symmetry in quantum field theory and time reversal each reverse it. Thus, up to phases,Since the energy-momentum spectrum is preserved, the CPT constraints on particle properties give equal particle-antiparticle masses, equal spin magnitudes, and opposite conserved additive charges. Relating the corresponding two-point functions also fixes equal pole positions, so unstable conjugate particles have equal total decay widths, hence equal lifetimes. Magnetic moments at the same chosen spin orientation have opposite signs. These are precise experimental tests of CPT, not tests that every individual discrete symmetry is respected.
For scattering, CPT interchanges incoming and outgoing boundary conditions. The antiunitary operator identity relates to the amplitude with transformed incoming and transformed outgoing. Thus the reversed process with antiparticles and reversed spins has the same transition probability. This is not, in general, equality with the forward CP-conjugate process. In particular, CP violation can make corresponding partial decay widths different while their complete sums remain equal. With CPT preserved, genuine CP violation requires corresponding time-reversal symmetry violation.
Finally, a proposed CPT violation requires revisiting at least one assumption: for example, a nonlocal interaction, a preferred spacetime direction violating Lorentz invariance, or loss of unitary Hermitian dynamics. A generic curved background need not possess the global spacetime inversion used here. Those observations delimit the theorem; they do not weaken its prediction for the ordinary local Standard Model in Minkowski spacetime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 54 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The middle panel shows the Feynman diagram for the leptonic W boson decay. With the charged-current Lagrangian density sign in the question, its vertex Feynman rule isAn overall field-phase convention can change the overall amplitude sign but cannot change the decay width. With the standard Dirac field current ordering, the amplitude isThe unusual order of barred fields in the printed description should be interpreted as this physical weak charged current matrix element.
For massless final fermions, the fermion spin sums are and . The massive-vector spin average divides by three. Thuswith the chiral traceAnticommuting through the two following gamma matrices and using gives its symmetric partIts remaining part is an antisymmetric epsilon tensor from the gamma matrix trace identities; it vanishes against the symmetric polarization tensor . Direct contraction gives andHenceNo additional averaging over hypothetical right-handed neutrino states is appropriate: the chiral projector already enforces the physical helicity coupling.
On shell, , and , so and . The squared matrix element reduces to . In the parent rest frame, integrate the spatial momentum delta first in two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space. The remaining radial integral isConsequently the massless leptonic W decay width isLepton universality gives in the same massless approximation. The muon and tau lepton masses produce small corrections if retained.
With an identity CKM matrix, the allowed quark channels are and . The corresponding third-generation channel is closed by the top threshold. Each open channel has three orthogonal matching-color final states, so the color multiplicity in a decay width gives . There is no initial color average because the W boson is colorless. The tree-level W branching fractions are therefore:
| Final channel | Partial width | Branching fraction, rounded |
|---|---|---|
The rounded percentages sum to 99% because of rounding. The exact fractions sum to one, with total leptonic fraction and hadronic fraction . The total decay width isAs an illustrative numerical estimate, taking and gives , each open quark width and . These are tree-level model estimates with the stated illustrative inputs, not a fit to a measured width. Strong radiative corrections increase the inclusive quark widths.
The produced quark and antiquark radiate gluons, generating a parton shower. As their virtualities fall towards the strong-interaction scale, perturbation theory gives way to hadronization: confinement converts the colored partons into color-neutral hadrons, typically seen as two particle jets, with additional radiation sometimes producing resolved extra jets. Unstable hadrons subsequently decay; the primary quarks are not observed as free particles.
Including the CKM matrix, the charged current couples an accessible up-type flavour to every kinematically accessible down-type flavour . ThereforeThe sums over remain by row unitarity, so the massless tree-level total remains . Quark mixing redistributes the hadronic branching fractions; it does not create a new total color factor. If a family is above threshold, only its accessible channels enter, and the unitarity sum must not be applied to an incomplete set of final flavours.
For completeness, CKM parameter counting starts with real degrees of freedom of an unitary matrix. This follows by counting real entries and independent Hermitian constraints in . The real-orthogonal subclass has mixing angles; the remaining parameters can be viewed as phases. Rephasing each up-type and down-type mass eigenfield changes by . Of the phases, the common phase does nothing, so are removable. ThusFor three generic nondegenerate families this is three angles and one CP-violating phase. Degenerate masses can allow additional changes of basis and reduce the count.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 46 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For fields with a first-derivative Lagrangian density, suppose an infinitesimal global transformation at fixed coordinates is and , with constant infinitesimal . Noether theorem gives the on shell conserved currentThis follows by varying the Lagrangian, integrating the terms with by parts, and setting the Euler-Lagrange expressions to zero. If spatial boundary flux vanishes, is a conserved Noether charge. Spacetime symmetries are covered by including the induced field variation at fixed coordinates and the corresponding total derivative .
An example of a theory with a Lorentz four-vector is the source-free Maxwell field with electromagnetic four-potential . Under an Abelian gauge transformation,The change in is , so the Maxwell Lagrangian is gauge-invariant. For define and . With signature ,The minus sign in gives the positive electric kinetic term and positive physical field energy; reversing it would reverse the Hamiltonian's sign for the physical modes. The normalization accounts for antisymmetry and yields the conventional equations. Varying gives .
For time translation at fixed coordinates take . Since is constant, , and hence . Thus . The momentum derivative isNoether theorem therefore gives the canonical stress-energy tensor's time-translation currentHere was used. The canonical momentum of vanishes, while that of the lower spatial component is : acts as a multiplier for Gauss law, not a propagating degree of freedom. The density above is not manifestly gauge-invariant, but its charge agrees with the physical energy on the constraint surface and with appropriate boundary conditions.
The gauge-covariant time translation instead has . It is time translation combined with a gauge transformation of parameter . Directly,using the definition of , equivalently its Bianchi identity. The total derivative in is unchanged. The improved current isIt is the gauge-invariant Maxwell stress-energy tensor. In particular,The spatial current is the Poynting vector , so conservation gives . This is the familiar positive local electromagnetic field energy density, expressed entirely in measurable fields.
To compare the currents,The last term vanishes on the source-free Maxwell equations, leaving a stress-energy tensor improvement generated by a stress-energy superpotential. At the charge level,when the surface term vanishes and Gauss law holds. Thus the symmetries yield the same conserved energy under these conditions while the second supplies a gauge-invariant local density. Boundary terms would have to be retained if those boundary conditions were not imposed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 43 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Chirality and the component expansion. A chiral superfield is constrained byUse left Grassmann derivatives. The sign from differentiating an odd factor matters:For a general superfield written in coordinates , the odd chain rule consequently turns the given superspace covariant derivative intoThe chirality constraint removes the explicit dependence at fixed . There are only two components of , and their Grassmann algebra allows at most a quadratic monomial. Its finite chiral-superfield component expansion is thereforeHere is a complex scalar field, a Weyl spinor, and a complex auxiliary field; the last label avoids confusing it with the effective superpotential later. The factor is the standard canonical component normalization. In ordinary coordinates the same statement isThis translation exponential terminates because its shift is nilpotent; it displays the full component dependence without an unstated convention for the barred spinor square.
A superspace covariant derivative obeys the graded product rule. Since an ordinary scalar chiral superfield is even, . Linear combinations prove the polynomial claim. More generally, a nonsingular holomorphic function of chiral fields is chiral; inserting conjugate fields generally spoils this holomorphic closure of chiral superfields.
The superspace action. For a real Kähler potential and a holomorphic superpotential, the global chiral-field action has Lagrangian densityFull superspace integration gives a D-term, and chiral superspace integration an F-term. The action is real, and its supersymmetry variations are spacetime total derivatives. For one field, positive and algebraic elimination give . The Wess–Zumino model uses the canonical choice at tree level.
Scalar potential and the vertex. In canonical normalization, the auxiliary part of the Lagrangian density isSubstitution leaves . Differentiating the given quadratic-plus-cubic superpotential therefore gives the tree-level effective potentialThis applies for complex . In terms of canonically normalized real fields , phases may be chosen to make real, in which caseThe complex-field quartic interaction is . There are two identical external legs of each field type. Differentiating with respect to those four fields, or counting the Wick attachments to the vertex, produces the factor :The local Feynman diagram for this quartic complex-scalar vertex in the Wess–Zumino model is
If real-field Feynman rules are preferred, the and vertices are , while the vertex is . These are the same interaction in a different component basis. They should not be confused with a convention that absorbs into the coefficient of the complex quartic term.
Spurion symmetries. Treat as chiral spurions. An ordinary acts on with charges and leaves neutral. An R-symmetry gives charge one and charges . Thus
Each superpotential term has ordinary charge zero and R-charge two; the chiral integration measure has R-charge minus two. In particular is neutral under the specified R-symmetry. These are formal transformations of fields and parameters together, not two exact symmetries of a theory with arbitrary fixed nontransforming numerical couplings. This Wess–Zumino spurion charge assignment is useful because it constrains possible quantum terms.
The general holomorphic form. Let denote the local effective superpotential, reserving for the auxiliary component. The holomorphy argument for superpotential non-renormalization permits dependence on the chiral spurions, not on their conjugates. The dimensionless combination is neutral under both formal symmetries, whereas has the required dimension and charges. Hence, for , their most general allowed form iswith a holomorphic function before perturbative regularity and matching conditions are imposed. Equivalently, a monomial must obeySolving gives , . Thus the terms in the holomorphic expansion have the form , which is precisely the expansion of the displayed function.
What is and is not renormalized. Apply the non-renormalization theorem to a local Wilsonian effective action retaining the elementary field and a nonzero infrared cutoff. Perturbative coefficients are regular as and : no massless infrared modes have been integrated all the way to zero momentum. Negative powers of are incompatible with the free weak-coupling limit, and powers would require negative powers of . Only the quadratic and cubic structures survive this regularity test. Their coefficients cannot acquire a loop correction here: a quadratic term with no is the free-theory mass term, while a cubic term only linear in is already the tree interaction. A loop renormalizing that cubic term requires additional interaction insertions. Such a dependence is excluded by the holomorphic charge constraints; dependence on cannot repair it in a superpotential. Matching to the specified tree action fixesThe limit is taken in the final polynomial, not by evaluating the intermediate ratio . The holomorphic Wilsonian superpotential and its parameters receive no independent perturbative vertex renormalization. Symmetries alone would only give the arbitrary function ; regularity and the free/tree matching are necessary to reach the stronger conclusion.
The Kähler potential is not protected by that theorem. In particular a corrected kinetic term leads to wave-function renormalization. Writing in canonical normalization givesThese holomorphic and canonically normalized superpotential couplings distinguish the two senses of “renormalized”: the physical/canonically normalized parameters can run, entirely through the common field normalization, even when the holomorphic coefficients do not. The scalar effective potential can consequently receive quantum corrections through the Kähler potential. Nor does the local perturbative statement automatically apply to infrared-singular one-particle-irreducible actions or to integrating out whole massive fields. Non-renormalization protects the local holomorphic F-term, not the complete quantum action or every physically normalized mass and coupling.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 40 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Keep the mostly-plus Minkowski metric and the Fourier transform . Write , with . To fix the otherwise unspecified phase of and the Dirac adjoint, takewhere are ordinary mostly-minus gamma matrices. Then , , and the fermionic time-derivative term is . In these conventions the interaction with real is Hermitian: in mostly-minus notation it is . If one instead calls the square-one chirality matrix, its coefficient must be to represent the same interaction. These phase choices leave physical relativistic scattering cross-sections unchanged.
Expanding yields the following Feynman rules with relativistically normalized external states:
- A real scalar field line carrying four-momentum contributes .
- An oriented Dirac field line contributes the Dirac propagatorThis follows from .
- Each pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction vertex has one scalar leg, one incoming fermion arrow and one outgoing fermion arrow, and contributes . It also contributes with all vertex momenta counted incoming.
- External incoming particles contribute and outgoing particles . External incoming antiparticles contribute and outgoing antiparticles , with the corresponding fermion arrows. External scalar factors are one. Choose , , and ; all external momenta are on the appropriate mass shell.
- Integrate each independent loop four-momentum with . Keep matrix factors in their order along a fermion line, take a trace around a closed fermion loop, and include a minus sign for each closed fermion loop. Permuting external identical fermions contributes the corresponding fermionic sign; the Wick theorem determines the Feynman-diagram symmetry factors.
Strip the overall four-momentum conservation delta function when defining the scattering amplitude. There are no further bare interaction vertices, no gauge fixing and no Faddeev-Popov ghost fields in this theory. Renormalized higher-order calculations add the required counterterms; these are additional to the rules of the displayed classical Lagrangian density.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 45 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the metric and the usual Dirac basis, with and . In this solution the sign of the chirality matrix is the one specified in the paper, . Define and , with no summation in componentwise transformation formulas.
Complex conjugation changes the explicit to . Three spatial gamma matrices each contribute another minus sign, soAlso and by the Clifford algebra.
The quantum time-reversal operator is antiunitary: it conjugates numerical coefficients, including the Dirac spinors and plane-wave exponentials in the mode expansion of a Dirac field. To fix the spin phase explicitly, put and useThis convention gives on a one-fermion state, since . In the transformed expansion, change variables from to . The Lorentz-invariant phase-space measure is unchanged, and . The coefficient of is thereforeThe same calculation applies to the antiparticle coefficient. Thus, with this explicitly fixed spin convention,The spin phase in the Dirac time-reversal matrix matters here: a common change of the one-particle time-reversal phase replaces by ; the phase-independent relation is . It changes neither the defining conjugation property nor any bilinear result below. Normalize to be a unitary matrix. In the Dirac basis, is real and commutes with , so transforming the Dirac adjoint givesHere complex conjugation of the matrix defining the Dirac adjoint is essential. An explicit realization consistent with the sign of used here is and ; it has , so conjugation by and by coincides. The usual changes of Dirac spinor basis by unitary matrices carry the adjoint and time-reversal matrix with them.
For the charge-conjugation matrix, the gamma matrix adjoint and transpose identities give . Consequently . Since in the chosen phase convention,This proof uses a temporal Hermitian matrix and spatial skew-Hermitian matrices explicitly; the transpose identity is preserved when is transformed appropriately with the gamma matrices.
For the Fermi interaction, let and . In the displayed Dirac basis, the inverse version of the conjugation relation also holds. Antiunitarity, and giveThe leptonic weak charged current has the same component signs. In the contraction of leptonic and hadronic currents, the two factors cancel. Its two independent operators thus keep their form while their coefficients become and . The Hermitian-conjugate term transforms separately; its presence does not remove a relative complex phase between the vector and axial couplings.
With all intrinsic phases fixed to one and a real positive Fermi constant, invariance requires real coefficients in that convention. A common phase of and can instead be absorbed into a rephasing of the nucleon fields, and hence into their intrinsic time-reversal phases. The convention-independent condition, for , isThis is the relative weak phase condition for time reversal. If one coefficient vanishes, there is no relative phase to constrain; the remaining common phase can be removed. A nonreal ratio violates time-reversal symmetry even though the Lagrangian density includes its Hermitian conjugate.
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 2015 iii Paper 50 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose boundary states with nonzero overlap with the lowest-energy state in the vacuum sector and in the one-kink topological sector . In a finite spatial box, a fixed scalar field configuration eigenstate may be used formally, with temporal endpoints equal to the chosen configuration. More generally, smear the endpoints with wavefunctionals . Their unitary time evolution kernels areThe inner scalar field path integral remains in the chosen topological sector, with . A zero-total-momentum projection can be included to select the rest state; alternatively, the translational prefactor does not change the large-time exponential. After a Wick rotation to physical Euclidean time , the energy eigenstate expansion gives . Thus the exact vacuum-subtracted soliton mass isEquivalently it is at large time with a damping prescription. The ratio subtracts the vacuum energy; the Hamiltonian operator and action here are the fully regulated and renormalized ones, not merely their classical approximations.
With the dimensionless coordinates of this paper, the correctly normalized classical action isFor the static Sine-Gordon kink, and , so . Write . Expanding and integrating by parts givesThe first variation is , plus boundary terms. It vanishes because the kink satisfies the Euler-Lagrange field equation and the fluctuations have the prescribed temporal endpoints and admissible spatial boundary behavior. This is the principle of stationary action, not a symmetry assumption about .
The printed expansion omits despite the stated Lagrangian density. Its displayed form is the expansion of ; it is not the physical at arbitrary coupling. Alternatively, writing puts the quadratic term in canonical normalization, while leaving the classical term unchanged. This normalization repair does not change or the physical fluctuation frequencies.
The Sine-Gordon kink fluctuation operator has the useful factorizationIt is nonnegative, and gives the normalized translational zero mode of a sine-Gordon kink:A displacement changes by . Thus the zero mode in field theory is the position collective coordinate of the kink, reflecting translation invariance. It has no restoring force and no oscillator zero-point energy. Integrate that collective coordinate separately rather than inserting a zero factor into the Gaussian functional determinant.
Sine-Gordon kink fluctuation potential and normalized translational zero mode
. Details. In the Gaussian fluctuation approximation, the formal oscillator contribution to the one-loop soliton mass correction, before adding any counterterm, isUse a common regulator for the two sums, include all discrete modes, and treat the translation mode as above. The vacuum sum is essential: subtracting only classical vacuum energy would leave an extensive oscillator energy. A periodic fluctuation and its derivative are matched at the two ends of the large box; the one-kink background lies in the twisted topological sector, and its infinite-line profile is accurate up to exponentially small boundary corrections.
For a continuum scattering wavefunction, equality of its two asymptotic values gives the periodic-box phase-shift quantizationAway from the threshold, expand at a matched mode number:Since consecutive free wave numbers are separated by , replacing the continuum-mode sum by an integral proves the displayed continuum contribution:The ultraviolet cutoff is retained until the counterterm is added.
There is a finite threshold issue if this expression is identified with the complete oscillator correction. It can be settled directly using the factorization: a continuum eigenfunction is . Its transmission phase obeyswith the odd phase branch that tends to zero at large . For , the continuum roots have labels ; there is no periodic continuum root at , since the limiting eigenfunction has opposite signs at the two ends. The bound state at replaces the free oscillator with . Consequently, in mode-number regularization of soliton masses,The PDF's continuum-only formula misses this finite under this standard phase and mode-counting convention. It has the correct logarithmic ultraviolet divergence, but the missing term is not suppressed by large . Changing the phase branch requires changing the mode labels and endpoint terms consistently; it cannot erase a physical mode from the formal spectrum sum.
At high momentum, , so both expressions have divergent part . The canonical field has a quartic interaction with coupling . Its vacuum tadpole diagram shifts the squared mass by , whereThe Sine-Gordon vacuum tadpole counterterm has and adds potential energy density . Since , its vacuum-subtracted kink energy iswhich cancels the logarithmic ultraviolet divergence. Finite parts require a specified renormalization condition. As a consistency check, with this tadpole subtraction and matched mode-number cutoff, integration by parts yieldsThe complete semiclassical soliton mass is then in that convention. This last finite result uses the bound-mode term and is additional to the requested ultraviolet cancellation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Non-Abelian gauge theory promotes an internal group representation symmetry to a spacetime-dependent transformation and introduces a gauge field so that differentiation transforms covariantly. The symmetry is a gauge redundancy: physically meaningful quantities must be invariant under local changes of field representative. We work in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with signature , and use skew-Hermitian matrix generators throughout.
For the compact Simple Lie group , its real Lie algebra has a negative-definite Killing form. Hence is a positive invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra. Choose a -orthonormal basis , , with . Invariance makes fully antisymmetric. This construction uses the Adjoint representation and works independently of any chosen scalar representation.
Let be a Lie-algebra-valued gauge potential, with the coupling absorbed into this connection. If is the given finite-dimensional irreducible representation of , its Lie algebra representation definesFor a finite local transformation , require and . Differentiating the first equation forces the gauge-field transformation lawThus the gauge potential transforms inhomogeneously; an ordinary derivative alone would leave an uncancelled derivative of .
The commutator of gauge covariant derivatives determines the gauge field strength:The Lie algebra representation preserves the bracket, so this formula holds for any , including a trivial scalar representation. The gauge field strength itself is defined in the gauge algebra. The transformation of the connection impliesIt is therefore covariant, rather than invariant as a Lie-algebra-valued quantity.
For infinitesimal , the same equations give the infinitesimal gauge transformation with an anti-Hermitian connection:Substitution into cancels the terms containing and gives , the gauge covariance of a scalar covariant derivative.
The Yang-Mills theory has Lagrangian densityThis is the Killing-form Yang-Mills Lagrangian. Its sign uses a positive internal form and the stated spacetime signature. In a -orthonormal basis it is . Gauge invariance follows because is invariant under the adjoint group action. Infinitesimally, the variation is proportional toAfter rescaling , the gauge coupling appears in and in the non-Abelian part of the canonically normalized field strength. Squaring that field strength gives cubic and quartic gauge-field self-interactions. An ordinary local quadratic mass term in the gauge potential is not invariant because its transformation contains .
For the scalar field kinetic term, compactness supplies a positive invariant Hermitian form on its representation space. One can obtain it by averaging any positive form with normalized Haar measure, the unitarization of a compact-group representation. Then is unitary for , and is anti-Hermitian. The Yang-Mills theory coupled to an arbitrary scalar representation hasHere is any real gauge-invariant scalar potential, so . For example,is available for every unitary representation, with giving a bounded quartic contribution. Other invariant interactions may exist for particular representations; the potential is not required to depend only on .
The scalar kinetic term is gauge-invariant because both covariant derivatives transform by the same unitary . Infinitesimally its variation vanishes byThe potential is invariant by its defining condition. For a real irreducible representation, use the averaged positive symmetric form instead and write the kinetic term as ; all transformation and invariance arguments remain valid. Expansion of the covariant kinetic term produces both the linear gauge-scalar interaction and the quadratic term needed by local gauge invariance.
The invariant inner products, gauge covariant derivatives and gauge field strength together construct the full theory for every compact Simple Lie group and every supplied finite-dimensional irreducible representation of the scalar fields. Both finite and infinitesimal transformation laws have been included, and every sign follows the same anti-Hermitian convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 308 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
QCD supplies the underlying strong interaction; Skyrmions provide a mesonic effective description of baryons, and quantized multi-Skyrmions can model nuclei. These are related descriptions at different scales, not three identical theories.
In QCD, quarks carry color charge and interact through gluons, the gauge fields of the color special unitary group . Its Lagrangian density has the formAsymptotic freedom makes short-distance processes accessible through small-coupling expansions, but nuclear scales involve strongly coupled, confined dynamics. Observable hadrons are color singlets. A nucleon, either a proton or a neutron, is a baryon with baryon number one; a nucleus contains such units of baryon number. Directly extracting all nuclear binding energies, spectra and interactions from QCD is difficult, motivating low-energy effective field theories that preserve its symmetries and relevant degrees of freedom.
For the two light quark flavours, the small-mass limit has approximate chiral symmetry . Chiral symmetry breaking leaves its vector subgroup , the approximate isospin symmetry. The three pions are the associated Goldstone bosons in the massless limit and pseudo-Goldstone bosons when the light quark masses are retained. Package these pions into a special unitary group fieldwhere is the pion decay constant in this normalization and are the Pauli matrices. The nonlinear sigma model is the leading two-derivative mesonic theory. The Skyrme model adds a specific four-derivative stabilizing interaction. One conventional normalization isHere is a dimensionless model coupling, not electric charge. The last term accounts for a common pion mass and preserves vector isospin. It vanishes in the chiral massless limit. This effective field theory uses color-singlet mesonic fields and does not resolve constituent quarks or gluons inside a baryon.
The condition at spatial infinity compactifies physical space to . Since is itself a three-sphere, the field defines a map with integer topological charge in . This is identified with the topological baryon number in the Skyrme model:The associated topological current is identically conserved. A single Skyrmion has , and a multi-Skyrmion with is a candidate intrinsic configuration for an ordinary nucleus; negative charge describes antibaryonic sectors. Integer topology prevents a smooth finite-energy unwinding into the classical vacuum, but it does not by itself guarantee a nonzero-size energy minimum.
The energetic reason for the Skyrme term is Derrick scaling. For the rescaled field in three dimensions, let be the quadratic-gradient, quartic-gradient, and potential energies. Their scale dependence isThe two-derivative nonlinear sigma model alone can lower its static energy by shrinking. The positive quartic Skyrme term instead grows under shrinking, permitting a balance and a stable soliton size. Without the mass term, this balance gives . The displayed scaling convention uses , so it is the inverse of the equally common convention.
The connection with QCD is strengthened by large-Nc baryon scaling. Generalize the number of colors to while keeping fixed. Meson masses remain of order one, their interactions weaken, and an effective mesonic action has an overall scale of order . In the Skyrme model this corresponds to and of order , so the soliton mass and rotational moment of inertia are also of order , whereas rotational level splittings are of order . These are the expected baryon scaling properties of large- QCD. A massive, semiclassical soliton built from meson fields is therefore consistent with the underlying theory, even though physical is only a finite value and the simplest Skyrme model is not uniquely determined by this argument.
To represent a nucleon, a classical Skyrmion must be quantized. The unit Skyrmion hedgehog ansatz ties spatial rotations to isospin rotations. Its collective coordinates include its position and orientation; rotational quantization of a unit Skyrmion gives the rotor spectrumin units with . The Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints impose the correct fermionic sign under a nontrivial configuration-space loop. In particular a spatial rotation acts on a charge- state by in the physical odd-color theory: odd admits half-integer spin, while even has integer spin. For , the lowest allowed doublet represents the proton and neutron; the rotor state represents the Delta baryon resonance. A bosonic pion field can therefore describe fermionic baryons because the quantum wavefunction carries this nontrivial topological sign.
For nuclei, minimize the classical energy in a fixed baryon number sector, then quantize the permitted rotations, isospin rotations, and relevant vibrations or relative motions. The toroidal two-Skyrmion has a lowest nuclear state with , identifying it with the deuteron. The cubic four-Skyrmion has an allowed state appropriate to the alpha particle. The rational map approximation for Skyrmions makes these intrinsic symmetries easier to construct, while collective-rotation constraints for a Skyrmion select allowed nuclear quantum numbers. A spin-zero state has rotationally invariant laboratory expectation values; a classical cubic intrinsic field should not be interpreted as a fixed cube visible in every orientation. Collective-coordinate quantization restores this distinction between intrinsic shape and a physical quantum state.
The nuclear force also has a mesonic interpretation. At large separation the tails of Skyrmions are weak pion fields; with nonzero mass their multipole falloff derives from derivatives of the Yukawa potential. Their interaction depends on relative orientation, and after quantization generates the familiar spin- and isospin-dependent pion-exchange structure of the nuclear force. Attractive channels allow several unit Skyrmions to form a lower-energy multi-Skyrmion. In nuclear language the positive nuclear binding energy is the difference between the separated nucleon masses and the mass of the quantized bound state, not just a count of topological units.
The limitations remain physical. The simplest Skyrme model retains only selected terms in a derivative expansion, and finite solitons probe gradients where omitted terms can matter. Its parameters require matching or calibration; predicted binding can be too strong, and masses, radii and spectra are not all fixed correctly by topology. Rotational quantization alone neglects quantum and vibrational corrections, especially when clustering or breakup channels are important. More general mesonic interactions, additional meson fields, and less restrictive classical ansätze can improve the description, but they introduce further low-energy information. The organizing relation is thereforeIt links underlying quark and gluon dynamics to a geometric, symmetry-based account of baryons and nuclei, while keeping the distinction between an effective approximation and a full derivation from QCD.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 301 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use a local first-derivative Lagrangian density with sufficient differentiability, and let variations have compact support or vanish at the spacetime boundary. If the phrase “a function of the field” were read literally as forbidding derivatives, the equation below would reduce to ; a propagating field requires derivative dependence. Varying the action givesIntegration by parts and arbitrary interior variations yield the Euler-Lagrange field equation,The boundary condition is part of this derivation; if boundary variations are allowed, their separate boundary equations must also be imposed.
A variational symmetry of a Lagrangian density is an infinitesimal field change for which off shell. Equality to zero is sufficient but is not necessary: a divergence changes only the boundary contribution to the action. For fixed-coordinate field variations,Equating the two expressions proves the scalar-field form of the Noether theorem:Thus every differentiable one-parameter variational symmetry gives a conserved current, and its Noether charge is constant when the spatial boundary flux vanishes. This is the Noether current for a first-derivative scalar field; the same identity applies to several real components by summing over them. Identically conserved improvement terms can change its local expression without changing the charge under the same boundary assumptions.
For an active spacetime translation, and . If the Lagrangian density has no explicit coordinate dependence, , so . The Noether current is , whereThese four translation currents are the canonical stress-energy tensor, also called the energy-momentum tensor. The sign in follows from the chosen active translation; the translation charges themselves can be labelled by .
For the free real scalar field, take the standard kinetic term and mass term. Its Lagrangian density and Klein-Gordon equation areHere , so . Raising the charge index gives the four-momentum of a free real scalar field,The first is total energy, and the three components of the second are physical spatial momentum. With signature , ; this explains the opposite sign if the conserved quantities are instead written with lower spatial indices. For example, a plane wave proportional to has momentum density along , confirming the sign. All charges require convergence of the integrals and vanishing boundary flux, or periodic boundary conditions in a finite box.
For the complex scalar field, treat and as independent variables when varying, equivalently use their two real components. The global phase symmetry of a complex scalar field is , for constant . Both the kinetic term and are invariant. This is a global internal symmetry of a classical field theory with circle group ; a spacetime-dependent phase would require a gauge connection.
Choosing this orientation for the phase parameter gives the Noether charge of a complex scalar field:To check conservation directly, the Euler-Lagrange field equations are and their complex conjugates, assuming a real differentiable potential. Hence . Reversing the phase-parameter orientation reverses the current and charge, which is merely a convention. For a scalar carrying electric charge , the physical electric charge is after electromagnetic coupling. In a neutral theory the same global charge can instead label an internal conserved quantum number; the density alone does not identify it automatically with electricity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 304 3 Solution 2026-10-05
The kinetic term fixes the mass dimension of a canonically normalized real scalar field in dimensions to . In six dimensions , and every term in the Lagrangian density has dimension six. Therefore , andFor positive integral , these mean , and , respectively. If is included, its vacuum-energy constant is also relevant. These are classical power counting in quantum field theory classifications of relevant couplings, marginal couplings and irrelevant couplings, not assertions that loop corrections preserve exact marginality. For the remaining parts write , assume and , and define a local quartic coupling by .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 301 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Apply the Legendre transform in mechanics pointwise to the field Lagrangian density. Using , the Hamiltonian density isThe free Hamiltonian operator is its spatial integral:A constant vacuum-energy subtraction, if made, does not affect the commutators or the ensuing field equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 301 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For a free real scalar field, the Lagrangian density contains its quadratic kinetic term and mass term:The field's conjugate momentum is . The positive sign of the time-derivative term uses the metric convention fixed in Question 1.



