Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / iii / Paper 337 (Applications of Quantum Field Theory)

The conserved number operator isSubstitution of $\Psi =\sqrt{\rho }{e}^{-i\theta }$ into the Landau-Ginzburg theory givesThe imaginary term is a total derivative, soThus $\rho$ is the number density and is the canonical momentum conjugate to $\theta$. The canonical commutation relation is $[\theta (\mathbf{x}),\rho (\mathbf{y})]=i{\delta }^{(d)}(\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y})$. Consequently, for ${\theta }_0=\int d^{d}x\theta$ in volume $V$,Equivalently, the averaged phase $\bar{\theta }={\theta }_0/V$ obeys $\Delta \bar{\theta }\Delta N\ge 1/2$. This number-phase conjugacy means that a state of sharp $N$ has no sharp phase, whereas a phase-selected state exhibiting spontaneous symmetry breaking must superpose different number sectors. Such sectors become effectively degenerate in the thermodynamic limit.

Stability requires $\lambda >0$. The classical potential $r\rho +\lambda {\rho }^2$ has a symmetry-breaking minimum when $r<0$, atWriting $\rho =\bar{\rho }+\delta \rho$ and discarding constants and total derivatives gives the quadratic LagrangianThe density fluctuation is a gapped amplitude mode, while the phase is the prospective Goldstone boson.

The quadratic path integral isIntroduce the positive spatial operatorCompleting the square in the Gaussian functional integral over $\delta \rho$ yieldsThe derivative expansion $A^{-1}=(2\lambda {)}^{-1}+O({\nabla }^2)$ therefore givesThis is the long-wavelength Goldstone boson action. Keeping the spatial derivative in $A$ gives ${\omega }^2=v^2{k}^2+k^4/(4m^2)$.

For bosonic Matsubara frequencies ${\omega }_n=2\pi nT$, set $a=vk/(2\pi T)$. Applying the residue theorem to $\pi \coth (\pi z)/(z^2+a^2)$, whose integer poles reproduce the desired summands, givesIt follows thatUsing the area $S_{d-1}=2{\pi }^{d/2}/\Gamma (d/2)$ of the unit sphere, the thermal phase fluctuation becomesAt small $k$, $\coth (vk/(2T))\sim 2T/(vk)$, so the infrared divergence is governed by ${\int }_{0}dk{k}^{d-3}$. It diverges for $d=1,2$ and is finite for $d=3$. Therefore short-range systems cannot have true finite-temperature breaking of this continuous symmetry in one or two dimensions, in agreement with the Mermin-Wagner theorem, whereas it is allowed in three dimensions. In two dimensions a Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition may still produce quasi-long-range order.

Subtract the zero-temperature term by using $\coth (x/2)=1+2/(e^x-1)$. In three dimensions the thermal part iswhere the last integral uses the Bose-Einstein distribution. Gaussian phase fluctuations reduce the order parameter by $⟨e^{-i\theta }⟩=e^{-⟨{\theta }^2⟩/2}$. Taking symmetry restoration to occur when the thermal variance is of order one givesThe effective action in part c has $\chi =1/(2\lambda )$, and hence $T_{\ast }\sim \sqrt{6v^3/\lambda }$. This is an order-of-magnitude estimate because near restoration the phase-only effective field theory omits large amplitude fluctuations and sensitivity to its ultraviolet cutoff.

A ferromagnetic vacuum breaks the special unitary group $SU(2)$ to the subgroup of rotations about its magnetization, so its vacuum manifold is the two-sphere $S^2$. The massless field is therefore a unit vector $\mathbf{n}(x,t)$ with ${\mathbf{n}}^2=1$.

The only rotational scalar linear in $\dot{\mathbf{n}}$ that can be formed directly from $\mathbf{n}$ is $\mathbf{n}\cdot \dot{\mathbf{n}}=\frac{1}{2}{\partial }_t({\mathbf{n}}^2)=0$. A local one-form $\mathbf{A}(\mathbf{n})\cdot \dot{\mathbf{n}}$ can describe the required Berry phase, but no choice of $\mathbf{A}$ is globally nonsingular and strictly rotationally invariant on $S^2$. One therefore needs coordinate patches, an extension, or a redundant spinor parametrization.

In the CP1 spinor representation,where the ${\sigma }_i$ are Pauli matrices. The transformation $z\mapsto e^{i\alpha (x,t)}z$ leaves $\mathbf{n}$ unchanged. For $U\in SU(2)$,with $R$ in the special orthogonal group $SO(3)$, so $z\mapsto Uz$ induces $n_i\mapsto R_{ij}{n}_j$.

A rotationally invariant first-order term is the Ferromagnetic Wess–Zumino termUnder the phase redundancy it changes as ${\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{WZ}}\mapsto {\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{WZ}}-\kappa \dot{\alpha }$. The change is a total derivative, so the action has the required invariance.

For $z=(e^{-i\varphi }\cos (\theta /2),\sin (\theta /2){)}^T$,Thus $i\kappa z^{†}\dot{z}=(\kappa /2)(1+\cos \theta )\dot{\varphi }$. Dropping the total derivative $(\kappa /2)\dot{\varphi }$ and writing $s=\kappa /2$ givesThe leading rotationally invariant gradient energy is $({\rho }_s/2)(\nabla \mathbf{n}{)}^2$, so an effective Lagrangian is

Put $q=\delta \theta$, $p=\delta \varphi$, so $\theta =\pi /2-q$ and $\varphi =p$. The quadratic Lagrangian is obtained by takingThe two real fluctuations form a coordinate and its canonical momentum rather than two independent modes. Their Euler-Lagrange equations combine to giveand similarly for $p$. The ferromagnetic magnon therefore has the quadratic dispersion relation

With the convention $G_R(t)=-i\Theta (t)⟨[q(t),q(0)]⟩$, the retarded Green function isDefining the spectral function by $\varrho =-2\mathrm{Im}{G}_R$ givesOther common spectral-weight conventions differ by an overall factor.

The Fluctuation-dissipation theorem in this convention readsIn the classical limit $|\omega |\ll T$, this becomesThe inverse temporal Fourier transform is therefore

For a damped ferromagnetic spin wave, shifting both poles into the lower half-plane preserves causality:Its spectral function isThe classical Fluctuation-dissipation theorem then givesHence the zero-frequency static structure factor iswhich has the stated proportionality after absorbing the normalization $4/s$.

Write $D={\rho }_s/s$, so ${\omega }_k=D{k}^2$, and take ${\Gamma }_k=\gamma |k|$. The small-wavenumber static structure factor behaves asThe spatial Fourier transform of $|k{|}^{-1}$ in $d$ dimensions scales as $|x{|}^{1-d}$. Thusand in three dimensions $C(x)\sim |x{|}^{-2}$. Since this two-point correlation function tends to zero rather than to a nonzero constant at large separation, it is incompatible with true long-range ferromagnetic order and hence with spontaneous symmetry breaking at this higher temperature.