Past exam of the theoretical physics II course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / Paper 1 / 2 / a

Put $T=t-t^{\prime }$. momentum eigenstates evolve with energy $p^2/(2m)$, so the retarded momentum kernel is $\theta (T)\delta (p-p^{\prime })e^{-i{p}^{2}T/(2m\hslash )}$. Its Fourier transform reduces toCompleting the square and defining the oscillatory Gaussian integral by a convergent limiting prescription givesFor $T>0$ the square root has quantum phase $e^{-i\pi /4}$. As $T\downarrow 0$, this kernel tends to $\delta (x-x^{\prime })$ in the distributional sense. Differentiating the Heaviside step function consequently supplies the required $i\hslash \delta (T)\delta (x-x^{\prime })$ source; an extra $-i/\hslash$ factor would correspond to a different Green-function convention.