Dirac scalar bilinear 2026-10-06
The Dirac scalar bilinear is invariant under the simultaneous spinor and adjoint transformations because . It is the mass term of the Dirac action. At fixed coordinates it transforms as a scalar field, with an orbital transport term and no spin term.
The equal-time canonical anticommutation relations implyApply , set , and integrate over . The mass term cancels, leaving . Integration by parts proves the title formula as a distribution identity. The Heisenberg equation of motion then yields for the physical Dirac current . The factor is required because the commutator of Hermitian operators is anti-Hermitian.
The scalar kinetic and potential terms depend only on the rotation-invariant combinations and . They are unchanged by the constant SO(2) rotation. The Yukawa term is invariant by ii. Finally, anticommutation gives , soNo derivative of appears because the parameter is global. Thus the entire classical Lagrangian density has the combined chiral symmetry.
An explicit Dirac mass term instead changes asIt is not invariant for arbitrary unless . For the concrete choice , the original mass term reverses sign. The invariant Yukawa term can nevertheless generate a mass after a vacuum is selected, because the scalar field transforms along with the fermions; this is spontaneous rather than explicit breaking.
Using , expand the potential around the chosen vacuum:The linear term vanishes at the minimum. With canonical real-field kinetic terms, comparison with givesThe massive radial scalar changes the magnitude of the vacuum field; the massless Goldstone boson changes its orientation. The symmetry is global here, so no gauge field eats that mode.
The genuinely new scalar cubic interactions are . Including identical-field factorials, their Feynman vertex factors areThe quartic interactions remain , with respective vertex factors . The shifted Yukawa terms from iv give vertex and vertex . These Yukawa structures were present before the shift; the new fermion bilinear is the mass term, not an additional independent interaction coupling. There are no derivative interactions from the linear Cartesian field shift.
Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2025 3 d Solution 2026-10-25
Because the present is anti-Hermitian, choose the Dirac adjoint with Hermitian intertwining matrix :This convention makes the Dirac scalar bilinear Hermitian. For real , a Lorentz invariant mass term isTo check infinitesimal Lorentz invariance, put . Then and . Using a,Equivalently, , and similarly for its complex conjugate. Exponentiation gives and therefore .
At fixed coordinates has only the orbital variation of a Lorentz scalar; the spacetime measure is invariant under the connected Lorentz group, so the integrated action is invariant. The mass term pairs the two opposite chiralities; retaining only one Weyl spinor removes this Dirac mass. An equivalent spinor phase convention gives a real multiple of instead.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 49 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume and . The minima of the scalar potential have . Choose the vacuum expectation value . Its stabilizer subgroup consists exactly of matrices with , soThe continuous spontaneous symmetry breaking is and has two broken generators. For the full orthogonal group, the cross-product notation requires the gauge connection to transform in the adjoint, as an axial vector: . The scalar field transforms as the ordinary vector . This axial transformation of orthogonal gauge connections makes the stated covariant derivative transform correctly even for ; assigning an ordinary-vector transformation to the connection would fail.
Near this nonzero vacuum, unitary gauge removes the two angular Goldstone bosons and gives . PutThese are the physical charged gauge bosons, neutral massless gauge boson, and radial scalar field. Directly substituting into the original gauge field strengths givesThe scalar field kinetic term has no radial-vector cross term, because and lie in perpendicular internal directions. The complete physical gauge-scalar Lagrangian becomesFor each real vector the mass term is , while for the complex pair it is . Hence the adjoint triplet Higgs spectrum isThe radial scalar also has in the question's potential normalization. The two lost scalar modes supply the longitudinal polarizations of the massive vectors through the Higgs mechanism.
For the lepton kinetic terms let , , and denote the left neutral triplet entry by . The missing singlet is the perpendicular combinationIts overall sign is immaterial. The real orthogonal matrix is orthogonal, so the sum of the kinetic terms of and is with no mixed terms. Combining with the right triplet gives ordinary Dirac field kinetic terms for , and only a left-handed kinetic term for the massless neutrino. This is orthogonal completion of mixed neutral lepton kinetic terms. The heavy charged field is , as printed in the PDF, not the TeX's .
To compute the charge commutator, the canonical anticommutation relations implyThe quartic terms cancel on reordering the fermions. Thus well-defined normal-ordered integrated bilinears obey fermionic bilinear charge algebra, . Left/right mixed commutators vanish since .
In either triplet, writeThe displayed current has a factor two relative to the projected bilinears, since . Consequently its charges are and . The neutral combinations have canonical anticommutators because . Applying the matrix commutator giveswhere is the electromagnetic charge in the lepton sector. The neutrino, heavy neutral lepton and singlet contribute zero. This establishes triplet charged-current closure on electromagnetic charge, with the requested proportionality independent of normalization choices for the weak Noether charges. The PDF correctly writes ; the TeX repeats incorrectly. Equal-time algebra does not require conservation of the separate fermionic weak currents after symmetry breaking. For full gauge-theory charges, the corresponding charged-boson contributions must also be included.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 53 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
There is a sign inconsistency in the printed model. For the ordinary cross product let . The vector triple-product identity gives . Consequently the printed has gauge curvatureIts gauge curvature cannot instead contain the printed negative quadratic term. For a noncommuting pure gauge potential for this gauge covariant derivative, whereas . Thus the printed gauge kinetic term assigns a nonzero value to a connection obtained by applying the gauge-field transformation law to the zero connection. Literally the printed action has global rotations but not the requested local triplet gauge symmetry. The cross-product convention for an adjoint covariant derivative makes the minimal repair explicit: change the gauge field strength quadratic term to a plus sign, retaining the printed gauge covariant derivative. Changing the sign in the gauge covariant derivative instead would be another consistent convention. The remaining calculation uses the first repair.
The corrected theory has local SO(3) gauge symmetry, equivalently the adjoint-field realization of the SU(2) Lie algebra; its adjoint scalar fields and gauge fields are insensitive to the center of a group of SU(2). Explicitly, andBoth and transform as triplets, so their dot products and the scalar potential are invariant. Assume , and take without loss of generality. For the minima have . Choose the scalar-field vacuum , whose stabilizer consists of rotations around the third axis: the residual gauge symmetry is SO(2), locally U(1).
In unitary gauge write , and . These are the neutral massless gauge field, two charged massive gauge fields and a real radial scalar field. DefineSubstitution gives and . The entire physical-field Lagrangian density is thereforeIn particular ; this directly verifies the scalar field kinetic and vector mass terms. Expanding the scalar potential gives . Comparing the quadratic terms with standard real scalar field and charged-vector mass terms yields the adjoint triplet Higgs spectrum,This also rewrites the purely vector interactions, which are already contained in the displayed gauge field strengths rather than omitted from the theory.
The original symmetry remains unbroken at . The unique minimum is then , with three massless gauge fields and three massless real scalar field components; the quartic scalar field interaction remains. The physical degrees of freedom number . At the two broken generators supply two Goldstone bosons, eaten to give longitudinal gauge-boson polarizations of the charged vectors. The physical count is : two massive vectors, one massless vector and one radial scalar field. The scalar components eaten in unitary gauge are not additional physical particles.
For the broken phase all interactions containing the physical scalar field areMultiplying interaction coefficients by and differentiating with respect to the external fields includes the identical-field factorials. The scalar vertices of an adjoint triplet Higgs model areFor example, the rule contains , whereas the rule contains only from its two identical scalar fields. There are no or vertices: the radial scalar field is neutral under the residual U(1). There is no derivative scalar-vector vertex in this physical spectrum in unitary gauge.
All physical-scalar interaction vertices in the broken triplet Higgs model, with the unbroken-phase scalar vertices shown below; dashed lines are scalars and wavy lines are vectors
. Details. For completeness, if the unbroken phase is chosen, its physical scalar fields are the three components , not a single radial . Expanding its gauge-covariant kinetic term givesWith all momenta incoming and Fourier transform convention , the three unbroken-phase rules areThe first rule follows by differentiating once on each possible scalar: for , the interaction is , which fixes the momentum sign. The remaining rules follow from the quadratic gauge interaction and . There are no unbroken-phase cubic scalar field Feynman vertices.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 305 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the unique minimum is . The quadratic mass term is , so there are real scalar fields, all of mass , and the global special orthogonal group remains unbroken.
For , write . The vacuum manifold is the sphere . Choose . The transformations preserving this vacuum expectation value rotate the first components, giving . At this vacuum the potential's Hessian matrix isWriting , the radial mode therefore hasThese are one massive radial scalar and physical Goldstone bosons. The Goldstone theorem applies to the broken global generators; the flat angular directions of the vacuum manifold explain their zero masses. The spontaneous symmetry breaking is a choice of vacuum, not a change in the invariant Lagrangian. For there are no continuous angular directions: only the radial scalar remains, and the potential's discrete symmetry is broken.
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 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 305 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The scalar potential can be written asIts vacuum manifold is the sphere . The Adjoint double cover from SU(2) to SO(3) rotates any nonzero vacuum expectation value to , with . A local unitary gauge removes the two angular fluctuations, leaving . This choice holds in a neighbourhood of the nonzero vacuum; a single global rotation cannot align arbitrary position-dependent fields, and topologically nontrivial configurations can obstruct a global unitary gauge.
The generator fixes the vacuum expectation value, while do not. Thus the Higgs mechanism in this SU(2) gauge theory with an adjoint Higgs field givesThe two angular Goldstone bosons become the longitudinal polarizations of two massive gauge bosons. Define physical fieldsThese labels describe the fields of this model; they do not identify it with the Standard Model. With the stated adjoint covariant derivative,To express all Yang-Mills theory terms in physical fields, introduce the gauge field strengthsThen and . Dropping the constant vacuum energy, the Lagrangian density isTaking the positive gauge coupling convention , the canonically normalized mass terms giveThe residual U(1) gauge symmetry makes oppositely charged. The Yang-Mills theory terms supply interactions of with and four-vector interactions. The Higgs mode has cubic and quartic self-interactions, together with and couplings; it is neutral under the surviving U(1) gauge symmetry.
Coupling fermions permits a massless electromagnetic gauge boson and massive charged mediators of the weak interaction; fermion couplings with chirality can produce parity-violating weak charged currents. However, this model has no massive neutral Z boson, and its only charge generator is . A fundamental doublet has opposite charges, so it cannot reproduce the observed doublet charge assignments through an independent hypercharge. The Standard Model instead has , a complex Higgs doublet, three absorbed Goldstone bosons, a massive Z boson and a weak mixing angle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 305 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In the matrix expression, denotes a fundamental generator, whereas the component adjoint covariant derivative uses adjoint generators. With ,Using antisymmetry to write and gives exactly the component mass term. This is the gauge-boson mass matrix from an adjoint scalar.
For , the Gell-Mann matrices commute with . Their gauge bosons are therefore massless. The generators connect the first two eigenspaces to the third; the eigenvalue difference is . Directly taking the matrix trace giveswith all remaining entries zero. ThusThe factor is the canonical real-vector mass term normalization. The unbroken Lie algebra is , giving the usual description SU(2) × U(1). More precisely, the centralizer of the vacuum expectation value inside isThis global quotient refines the adjoint-Higgs breaking of SU(3) to SU(2) and U(1) without changing the local gauge boson spectrum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 303 3 iii Solution 2026-10-03
The Gaussian fixed point isLinearizing there gives , so the mass term is relevant with eigenvalue . The coupling has no linear term and is classically marginal, ; for positive the term makes it marginally relevant in the infrared convention of the question. Since the inverse thermal eigenvalue is the correlation-length critical exponent,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 304 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The first two terms are the kinetic term and mass term of a real scalar field; together they determine the free quantum field theory propagator. The term is its quartic field interaction term. The remaining three terms are counterterms: renormalizes the field normalization, renormalizes the mass, and renormalizes the quartic coupling. Their regulator dependence cancels the ultraviolet divergences of loop diagrams, while their finite parts implement the chosen renormalization conditions.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2016 1 d Solution 2026-10-25
Under the finite dilation, the volume element transforms as , whereas . Thus the kinetic term and quartic interaction both acquire the factor . Their factors cancel the Jacobian determinant, provingA mass term would instead acquire a net factor in the action and break this scale invariance.
For the Noether current, use the variation at the same coordinate, rather than comparing values at different coordinates:At , the corresponding Lagrangian density variation is . Thus , and the stated Noether current convention givesThe frequently used dilatation current is ; this is solely an overall parameter convention. In the convention , the virial current is .
Using solution and the trace computed in solution gives the useful identityIt follows that in the massless theory on shell. Equivalently, is a conserved current, since its divergence is the trace of the improved stress-energy tensor on shell. These are classical scale invariance statements; the nonzero beta function in solution explains why the interacting quantum theory need not retain them.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2016 3 b Solution 2026-10-25
Write , where contains the quadratic kinetic term and mass term, and . ThenLet and let denote the unit-normalized free Gaussian vacuum expectation value. The unnormalized numerator is consequentlyThe Minkowski path integral is understood with the usual scalar Feynman propagator pole prescription, as a formal perturbation series. A real cubic potential energy is unbounded below; no nonperturbative stable vacuum is being assumed here.
Set , , and , with a common regularization understood for coincident points. The zero-order one-point term has one field and vanishes. At first order, Wick's theorem gives three choices for the contraction with the external field, leaving a tadpole diagram:The second-order term contains seven fields, so it vanishes by the vanishing odd correlators of a free Gaussian field. HenceThe coefficient is , or symmetry factor when each diagram is weighted by . No spacetime integral has been evaluated. The one-point tadpole diagram is shown in the first panel of the following figure; its other panels organize solution.
Cubic one- and two-point Wick contractions; vacuum factors cancel, but the product of two one-point tadpoles remains in the full two-point correlator
. Details. Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2018 3 d Solution 2026-10-25
For a fixed point with , put . To first order in the displacement,Hence means ultraviolet attraction, since as ; means infrared attraction, since as . If the derivative vanishes, the linear test is inconclusive and higher terms determine the direction of flow.
For and , the retained beta function is . Its two zeros and slopes areThus the positive interacting Wilson-Fisher fixed point isand is infrared attractive in the coupling direction. Couplings between zero and increase towards when the scale decreases; those just above decrease towards it. The Gaussian fixed point is ultraviolet attractive for .
The conclusion is local and perturbative. For , is small, making the expansion controlled; extrapolation far below four dimensions requires more information. It is also a statement about the displayed coupling flow, not stability against every possible deformation of the full theory. In particular, the mass term is a relevant perturbation of the critical theory and must be tuned to reach the massless critical surface. Calling this fixed point infrared stable must not erase that additional relevant direction.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 3 b Solution 2026-10-25
Define the constant Dirac gamma matrix combinations and . The Hamiltonian operator isEvaluate its commutator with using the bilocal result in a. The mass term cancels immediately when , because its two Dirac delta distributions coincide. For the derivative term first keep the two points distinct:The terms in which the derivative acts on cancel against each other; the derivative of the second Dirac delta distribution remains. ThusThe last equality is integration by parts, or the defining derivative rule for a distribution. Consequently the literal conserved current whose divergence equals isBecause a commutator of two Hermitian operators is anti-Hermitian, this includes . The physical Hermitian Dirac current is instead , so . The Heisenberg equation of motion now givesThis establishes the continuity equation directly from the required commutator, without assuming the Dirac equation or invoking the Noether theorem as a substitute for the computation.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2025 1 d Solution 2026-10-25
Writing , the standard parity transformation of a Dirac field isSince , the fermion bilinear changes sign. Invariance of the pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction therefore requiresThus is a pseudoscalar, despite having the usual scalar-form kinetic term and mass term. In this convention , but is Hermitian because of the additional in the Dirac adjoint. A real is consequently consistent with a Hermitian Lagrangian density.
In perturbation theory about the parity-invariant vacuum state, renormalization can preserve this non-anomalous parity symmetry in quantum field theory. Every local counterterm must then be parity even, at every loop order. The allowed terms are precisely in b; all coefficients in are zero. In particular, no or counterterm is generated, whereas is allowed and required. The one-point and three-point pure-boson vertices also vanish to all orders: a parity-odd Lorentz scalar cannot be formed from their at most two independent external four-momenta. This last reasoning is specific to these low-point vertices; it does not assert that parity symmetry in quantum field theory is an independent internal symmetry with the fermions held fixed.
Squared mass 2026-10-25

