Logarithmic divergence Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-25
A logarithmic divergence grows like a logarithm as a cutoff is removed. For example as . An integrand near zero gives . This behavior distinguishes logarithmic sensitivity to an infrared or ultraviolet cutoff from power-law divergence.
Under the bipartite spin rotation, the staggered magnetization becomes the uniform transformed . In the Bogoliubov transformation vacuum ,
The quantum depletion of Néel order therefore gives, with the zero modes regulated,
Near each zero of , the integrand behaves as , producing a logarithmic divergence. With a finite-size cutoff of order , the depletion grows as . Thus the large- expansion about a state with finite Néel order is not self-consistent in the infinite one-dimensional chain. The divergent expression is not a negative physical magnetization; it signals breakdown of that ordered approximation. It does not determine whether the exact excitation spectrum is gapped.
The integral construction requires differentiation under the integral and vanishing boundary terms. With those assumptions, integration by parts gives
The standard construction therefore sets , giving . Convergent contours run between rays where : convenient central rays have arguments , and . Two choices are the oriented paths
The cubic exponential dominates the linear one at both ends. To verify independence directly, put and . At the value and derivative of the integral along rays are and . For the two contours above their derivative-to-value ratios are respectively and , which differ. Hence their Wronskian is nonzero.
For the second equation multiply by before integrating by parts:
Setting the residual weight to zero gives . One contour is the segment from to , with the square root positive at . Its integral is a nonzero multiple of : substituting gives , an entire function nonzero at zero.
A second contour starts at and follows , , choosing a continuous branch along the path. For it converges at infinity; at the branch endpoint its integrable singularity is . In both cases the boundary term contains and vanishes at branch endpoints. The second integral has a nonzero logarithmic divergence as through positive real values, because its large- integrand is a nonzero multiple of . It is therefore independent of the entire first solution; analytic continuation supplies solutions elsewhere away from the equation's singular point.
Strictly, nonzero and an arbitrary contour alone do not prove the printed necessity for . Necessity also needs injectivity of the chosen Laplace representation, while the vanishing-integrand argument above is the usual sufficient construction. For a concrete counterexample to unconditional necessity in the Bessel case, take a positively oriented circle , choose the branch outside the cut , and add one to that weight. The added entire integrand integrates to zero. Expanding the original weight on this circle gives integral , which is nonzero and solves the equation, although the modified weight is not a constant multiple of the printed one. The standard weights and contours above still give the requested independent solutions.
Let count internal scalar and fermion lines and count independent loops in a connected amputated Feynman diagram. At large loop momentum, the scalar propagator falls as and the Dirac propagator falls as , including its numerator. Each loop integration is . The nonderivative interaction vertices add no powers. Therefore
Count endpoints of each kind of line and use the connected-graph loop order identity:
Eliminating gives
The cancellation of reflects their dimensionless couplings; every insertion of the positive-dimensional improves the superficial degree of divergence by one.
The printed exact homogeneity is shorthand for ultraviolet power counting, not an identity for a massive integrated correlation function. For example, even the free amputated scalar two-point vertex obeys , which differs from when . Logarithmic divergences, actual numerator cancellations and ultraviolet subdivergences also require separate treatment.
Set the renormalized to zero. For a six-scalar vertex, b gives , so a new overall logarithmic divergence can only occur in graphs with . With , the line counts become and , hence .
At one loop this forces and : the only candidate is a closed triangle Feynman diagram with two external scalar legs at each vertex. Its numerator at large loop momentum is proportional to
This vanishes for the specified two-component gamma matrices, each of which is traceless. Replacing one leading by the fermion mass or an external momentum lowers the superficial degree of divergence from zero to at most . Thus the apparent logarithm cancels. Graphs with a vertex already have negative overall degree; the pure-scalar one-loop triangle, for instance, has . There is no one-loop ultraviolet subdivergence inside these proper one-loop vertices. Therefore
The six-point correlation function need not vanish: finite terms are allowed. Nor is it correct to say that all odd gamma-matrix traces vanish in dimensions. In this representation,
The cancellation above follows from repeating the same leading loop momentum, not from a false four-dimensional trace rule.
At two loops, , and are possible. A closed fermion box with a scalar line joining two of its vertices leaves six external scalar legs. It has , , and four leading gamma matrices; the one-loop odd-numerator argument no longer applies.
A background-field check demonstrates that its logarithm is actually nonzero. Put with constant . Define the background fermion mass , the background scalar squared mass , and the induced three-leg Yukawa coupling . The two-loop quantum effective potential contains the sunset diagram with two fermion lines and one scalar line. After a Wick rotation, its relevant integral, apart from a nonzero overall combinatorial factor, is
Here the dots and gamma-matrix traces are Euclidean. With , , , its numerator is exactly
The first three terms reduce to products of one-loop tadpole integrals, which have no logarithmic pole near three dimensions in dimensional regularization. The remaining term is
For positive regulator masses, the large-momentum region of has a positive, nonzero logarithmic divergence. One can see this directly by restricting the relative angles and the ratio to compact intervals away from zero: the remaining common radial integral is proportional to . Its proper one-loop subgraphs are ultraviolet convergent.
Finally, the coefficient multiplying contains
The two-loop sextic counterterm in quartic Yukawa theory follows because its coefficient is for a nonzero coupling. Other two-loop vacuum topologies reduce to products of finite-in-dimensional-regularization tadpoles and do not cancel this logarithmic pole. Thus
A sextic counterterm is required even if the renormalized sextic coupling is set to zero at a chosen renormalization scale. A theory constrained to at every scale lacks counterterm closure when . The decoupled exception is the three-dimensional scalar quartic interaction, which needs no sextic counterterm by power counting.