Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 305 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The tree-level Feynman diagrams contain an unchanged spectator quark, of up quark flavour and the two possible weak charged current transitions of the charm antiquark:
For , and . The spectator quark combines with into the kaon , while forms the pion . The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix factor is .
For , and . The spectator quark combines with into the pion , while forms the kaon . The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix factor is .
Neglecting neutral D-meson mixing and assuming comparable strong interaction matrix elements, the relative direct decay widths areHere is the Cabibbo angle. The second process is doubly Cabibbo suppressed: it contains two small Cabibbo suppression factors in its amplitude. The Cabibbo angle estimate assumes similar Quantum chromodynamics matrix elements; it is not an exact rate equality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 307 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the canonical Kähler potential and normalize superspace integration by . The superspace Lagrangian density isThe full superspace integration produces a D-term, while the chiral superfield integral produces an F-term. Work in chiral coordinates for the chiral-superfield component expansion, so the omitted spacetime-derivative terms do not enter the extraction of .
Set . A Taylor expansion of the superpotential givesHigher terms vanish because there are only two Grassmann variables . With and , their anticommutation gives . ThusThe canonical Kähler potential contributes . Consequently the part of the Lagrangian density containing the auxiliary field isThe fermion terms coming from the superpotential areThe Weyl spinor kinetic term and the complex scalar field kinetic term are canonical because .
Treat and as independent variables in their algebraic Euler-Lagrange equations. They giveEquivalently,After eliminating the auxiliary field, the Lagrangian density contains , so the F-term scalar potential isIt is nonnegative for arbitrary complex , since it is a modulus squared. A supersymmetric vacuum satisfies F-flatness, so its zeros are:If and these coincide; if and only the origin remains; if every constant is a supersymmetric vacuum.
To compare masses, expand around a supersymmetric vacuum satisfying , writing . With ,Writing gives the scalar field mass term ; the Weyl spinor has physical mass . Therefore the supersymmetric mass degeneracy isIn particular, at the boson and fermion masses are both . At the second supersymmetric vacuum the sign of reverses, but the physical mass is again . Equality here concerns fluctuations about a supersymmetric vacuum, not arbitrary backgrounds with .
In the convention and , the same superpotential coefficient gives and . The supersymmetric relation between quartic and Yukawa couplings is thereforeIf instead the Yukawa interaction is written , then and the same physical relation is . The numerical factor depends on the definition of the Yukawa coupling.
The perturbative non-renormalization theorem applies to the local holomorphic superpotential in the Wilsonian effective action, using regularization in quantum field theory that preserves supersymmetry. There are two complementary ways to see why it applies here.
First, in supergraph calculations in perturbative quantum field theory, the algebra of supersymmetric covariant derivatives puts any candidate local correction to the superpotential into a full superspace integration. It therefore corrects a D-term, such as the Kähler potential, rather than a local chiral F-term. Turning such a contribution into an apparent chiral integral would require nonlocal inverse spacetime derivatives, schematically . These are excluded from the local Wilsonian effective action with a fixed nonzero momentum cutoff. This gives the diagrammatic non-renormalization theorem.
Second, the holomorphy argument for superpotential non-renormalization treats and as background chiral spurions, so the Wilsonian effective action superpotential is a holomorphic function of , with no dependence on or . Assign an ordinary spurion charge and an R-charge as follows:The superpotential has ordinary charge zero and R-charge two, since has R-charge minus two. A prospective holomorphic monomial must therefore satisfyFor perturbative corrections, regularity at and requires nonnegative powers of the couplings. Regularity in is justified by keeping a nonzero Wilsonian momentum cutoff and retaining as a light field. Hence only and survive: the existing and structures. The quadratic coefficient is fixed by the free theory at , where there are no interaction loops. The cubic coefficient is fixed at first order in , where a connected three-field interaction has only its tree-level Feynman diagram; loop corrections would require further powers of the interaction couplings, which the holomorphy argument for superpotential non-renormalization charge constraints forbid. ThusA field-independent constant is physically irrelevant in this rigid model; the spurion charges would in any case require , which is not regular at .
The Kähler potential can still receive wave-function renormalization. For example, gives the canonical field normalization , and consequentlyThese canonically normalized parameters can run with the renormalization scale; this does not contradict the holomorphic non-renormalization theorem. When massless modes are included in the full quantum effective action, nonlocal terms associated with infrared divergences can also imitate an F-term. Distinguishing that action from the local Wilsonian effective action is part of the theorem's convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 301 3 iv b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
There are two tree-level Feynman diagrams for Compton scattering: an -channel ordering in which the electron first absorbs the incoming photon, with internal momentum , and a crossed -channel ordering in which it first emits the outgoing photon, with internal momentum .
Tree-level Compton-scattering diagrams
. The two orderings of photon absorption and emission give the electron-exchange s-channel and u-channel diagrams. Details.Allowed. There are two tree-level Feynman diagrams: -channel Z boson exchange through the weak neutral current, and -channel formation through the weak charged current.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 305 3 a v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Allowed. There are again two tree-level Feynman diagrams: -channel Z boson exchange and the crossed charged-current diagram with a W boson exchanged between the neutrino and electron lines.
The complete tree-level list for (ii), (iv), and (v) is:
Tree-level processes in the Standard Model
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 301 2 Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
The interaction gives one cubic vertex joining a real-scalar line to a particle-antiparticle pair of either complex scalar species. The second-order term of the Dyson series isWick theorem contracts the incoming pair at one vertex, the outgoing pair at the other, and the two fields with each other. The two assignments of cancel the factor . Thus there is one connected tree-level Feynman diagram, the -channel exchangeWith standard relativistic external-state normalization,up to the physically irrelevant common sign convention for .
In the center-of-momentum frame, and , soPair creation is kinematically possible exactly when . The threshold incident momentum is therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 301 2 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
A connected Feynman diagram that is a cubic tree with five external legs has three vertices and two internal lines. Its unique unlabeled topology is a chain: two external legs meet at each end vertex and one external leg attaches to the middle vertex. The five-point tree amplitude in phi cubed theory therefore has fifteen labeled tree-level Feynman diagrams: choose the middle external leg in five ways, then partition the remaining four legs into two unordered pairs in three ways.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 301 4 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
At order , four connected tree-level Feynman diagrams contribute: one four-point contact diagram and three diagrams with two cubic vertices joined by a scalar propagator in the , , and channels.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 301 4 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Three connected tree-level Feynman diagrams contribute at order : a scalar-exchange diagram in which photon is emitted before along the charged scalar line; the crossed scalar-exchange diagram with and interchanged; and the local seagull vertex joining both incoming scalars and both outgoing photons. The exchange denominators are and .
Tree scattering with pseudoscalar exchange 2026-10-14
The pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction with coefficient has the displayed Feynman vertex. Its two-fermion tree-level Feynman diagrams are the and exchanges; antisymmetry of the final identical fermions requires their relative minus. Fermion-antifermion scattering has exchange and annihilation, again with a relative minus. With initial and final states ordered as and , the normal-ordered current contributes in the exchange channel but and in the annihilation channel. These fermionic signs fix the overall sign as well as their interference; changing an external-state phase changes both terms together.


