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In quantum field theory, the theory of a free (or non-interacting) scalar field is a useful and simple example which serves to illustrate the concepts needed for more complicated theories. It describes spin-zero particles. There are a number of possible propagators for free scalar field theory. We now describe the most common ones.
In quantum field theory, a tadpole is a one-loop Feynman diagram with one external leg, giving a contribution to a one-point correlation function (i.e., the field's vacuum expectation value). One-loop diagrams with a propagator that connects back to its originating vertex are often also referred as tadpoles.
It is often preferable to work directly with these as they contain all the information that the full correlation functions contain since any disconnected diagram is merely a product of connected diagrams. By excluding other sets of diagrams one can define other correlation functions such as one-particle irreducible correlation functions.
Each internal line is represented by a factor 1/(q 2 + m 2), where q is the momentum flowing through that line. Any unconstrained momenta are integrated over all values. The result is divided by a symmetry factor, which is the number of ways the lines and vertices of the graph can be rearranged without changing its connectivity.
For example, renormalization in QED modifies the mass of the free field electron to match that of a physical electron (with an electromagnetic field), and will in doing so add a term to the free field Lagrangian which must be cancelled by a counterterm in the interaction Lagrangian, that then shows up as a two-line vertex in the Feynman diagrams.
A scalar (also called type-0 or rank-0 tensor) is an object that does not vary with the change in basis. An example of a physical observable that is a scalar is the mass of a particle. The single, scalar value of mass is independent to changes in basis vectors and consequently is called invariant.
The X comes divided by 4! = 4 × 3 × 2, but the number of ways to link up the X half lines to make the diagram is only 4 × 3, so the contribution of this diagram is divided by two. For another example, consider the diagram formed by joining all the half-lines of one X to all the half-lines of another X.
sc is a cross-platform, free, TUI, spreadsheet and calculator application that runs on Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It has also been ported to Windows. It can be accessed through a terminal emulator, and has a simple interface and keyboard shortcuts resembling the key bindings of the Vim text editor. It can be used in a similar manner ...