Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 304 2 Solution 2026-09-28
- a propagator ;
- a propagator ;
- a vertex with two legs and one leg equal to ;
- one integration for each loop momentum, with division by the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor.
The one-loop one-particle-irreducible diagrams with at most three external legs can be classified by their external species. There is a one-point tadpole diagram made from a loop. There are two two-point bubble diagrams: the self-energy has one internal and one internal , while the self-energy has two internal lines and symmetry factor . For three external legs, three vertices make a triangle: one triangle corrects the vertex and contains two internal lines and one internal line; another has three external legs and a loop, generating a interaction. The symmetry forbids amplitudes with an odd number of external legs. The classical vertex is the corresponding tree-level three-point diagram.
Adopt the self-energy conventionThis follows by summing the geometric series of exact propagators separated by amputated one-particle-irreducible two-point insertions. At one loop, after writing ,Introduce a Feynman parameter and shift the loop momentum. Withdimensional regularization givesUsing produceswhereand one convenient integral form of the finite part isChanging the definition of the dimensional-regularization scale only moves a finite constant between and the counterterm.
To make the two-point function finite, write , express in terms of a renormalized mass and a mass counterterm, and choose the pole parts of and to cancel and . In the minimal subtraction scheme no additional finite pieces are removed. The physical mass is the pole mass, so with the self-energy convention above it obeysThe explicit dependence of the finite self-energy cancels the running of , leaving independent of the renormalization scale.
The superficial degree of divergence counts the ultraviolet power before subdivergences and symmetry cancellations are considered. At , a connected graph made from cubic vertices haswhere is its number of external legs. Hence one-, two-, and three-point functions can have quartic, quadratic, and logarithmic superficial divergences, whereas graphs with more external legs are superficially convergent.
Full renormalization also requires the mass and wave-function counterterms from its two-point function, a linear counterterm cancelling the tadpole, a coupling counterterm from the divergent triangle, and a counterterm from the three- triangle. A vacuum-energy counterterm removes divergent vacuum diagrams. These are precisely the local operators allowed by power counting in quantum field theory and the exact symmetry.