PHYS 673, Quantum Field Theory: Assignment #5

due Monday 27 Feb., 2012

11. This problem is supposed to solidify your intuitive understanding of renormaliza-

tion, and give you practice with the Wilsonian effective action. Consider the theory with
potential V = Aφ + 12 m2 φ2 + 16 µφ3 in 6 spacetime dimensions.
(a) What are the dimensions of the couplings and the field?
(b) Show by power counting of the loop diagrams which are generated that the theory is
renormalizable.
(c) The tadpole term Aφ can be removed by redefining the field φ = φ0 + δφ, provided
that the parameters satisfy a certain relation. Find δφ and the relation. Show how the
physical mass m20 and cubic coupling µ0 depend on the original parameters after going to
the new field φ0 . Show that the value of δφ and the shifted couplings could equivalently
be found by imposing that V 0 (φ0 ) = 0, m20 = V 00 (φ0 ) and µ0 = V 000 (φ0 ).
(d) We need to do loop integrals in 6 dimensions R∞
in the sections
√ below. In d dimensions,
dx e−x /2 = 2π, evaluate the integral
2
let d d x = dΩd−1 dx xd−1 . Using the fact that −∞
R d −x2 /2 R
d xe in both Cartesian and spherical coordinates to determine dΩd−1 .
(e) Let A = 0 at the cutoff Λ. Write down integral expressions for the terms in iδSΛ ≡
iSΛ0 − iSΛ which will contribute to renormalization of the original couplings in SΛ when
computing Wilson’s effective action at a lower cutoff Λ0 < Λ. (Do Rnot compute R d
contri-
Λ
butions to nonrenormalizable operators.) By using the shorthand Λ0 dp = d p/(2π)d
0 d (d) P
(integrated
R d iqx
between Euclidean momenta Λ < |p| < Λ), δq = (2π) δ ( i qi ) and φq =
d x e φ(x), write these contributions to SΛ0 in the form of integrals which do not make
any reference to the dimensionality of spacetime. Use qi for the external momenta and p
for the loop momentum in your expressions.
(f) Now specializing to d = 6, evaluate the most divergent parts of the integrals (from Λ0
to Λ) in part (e). For the self-energy diagram, Taylor expand in the external momentum
so that you can identify both the mass and the wave function renormalization. Why is it
reasonable to neglect higher terms in the Taylor expansion? Assemble your results into
a complete expression for these leading contributions to iδSΛ , rewritten in position space
rather than momentum space.
(g) Combine δSΛ with SΛ to find SΛ0 and identify the corrections to the kinetic term and
the couplings. Canonically normalize the field at the new cutoff to absorb the wave func-
tion renormalization found in (f). What are the new values of A(Λ0 ), m2 (Λ0 ) and µ(Λ0 )
in terms of the original parameters? Keep in mind that you are doing a perturbative
expansion.
(h) How does the cubic coupling run with Λ0 ? By setting Λ0 = E for an experiment at
energy scale E, decide whether scattering processes become stronger or weaker as you go
to higher energies. Compute the beta function for this coupling, β(µ) = Λ0 dΛd 0 µ(Λ0 ) and
take note of its sign. Would it have been possible to deduce this result from just one of
the Feynman diagrams you calculated?
(i) Find the physical m2 (Λ0 ) which takes into account the shift in φ needed to remove
the tadpole. Then evaluate it as Λ0 → 0, and take this to be the physical mass squared,
m2phys . Keep only the terms which dominate at small coupling and large cutoff. Assuming
m2phys  Λ, solve for the value of m2 (Λ) needed to obtain the small m2phys , to first order
in m2phys , and show that there is a fine-tuning (hierarchy) problem.
(j) Estimate the magnitude of the leading contribution to the energy density of the vac-
uum (i.e., cosmological constant) which is generated at the scale Λ0 , assuming it was zero
at the scale Λ.