QFT1 Exercise set 3 – please hand in by May 2, 2022 1

Perturbation theory and regularization for scalar fields

1. A theory of two scalar fields (55 points)

The Lagrangian for two massive interacting real scalar fields (with different masses), ϕ and
σ, in 3 + 1 dimensions, is
1 1 1 1 λ
L= (∂µ ϕ)2 − m2 ϕ2 + (∂µ σ)2 − M 2 σ 2 − ϕ2 σ. (1)
2 2 2 2 2
The potential in this theory is unbounded from below, but this does not affect perturbative
computations so you can ignore this.

(a) Write the momentum-space Feynman rules for computing the scattering amplitude M
appearing in the S-matrix in this theory. Note that external states and internal lines
can involve either of the two fields, so you should use a different notation for the two
types of propagators.
(b) What is the scaling dimension of the coupling constant λ in this theory ? Using this,
at what range of energies do you expect perturbation theory in λ to be valid (say, for
some 2 → 2 scattering process) ? (Hint: the action is dimensionless, so the Lagrangian
has scaling dimension 4. You can assume the scattering process is characterized by its
center-of-mass energy.)
(c) Compute, at leading order in perturbation theory, the scattering amplitude M for
scattering two ϕ particles into two other ϕ particles. (Hint: note that there are 3
Feynman diagrams contributing to this process.)
(d) Compute, at leading order in perturbation theory, the scattering amplitude M for
scattering two ϕ particles into two σ particles. (Hint : note that there are 2 Feynman
diagrams contributing to this process.)
(e) At what order in perturbation theory does the first contribution to the scattering of
two σ particles into two σ particles appear ? Draw one of the diagrams contributing
at this order, and write down its contribution to the scattering amplitude M; there is
no need to compute the integral that you find. Is the naive result following from the
Feynman rules convergent or divergent ?

2. Different regularizations for the Casimir force in one spatial dimension (45 points)
A free scalar field can simply be described as an infinite number of oscillators. Consider
the Hamiltonian for such a theory in one spatial dimension, on a line of length r. If we fix
the values of the scalar field at the boundaries of the line, the Hamiltonian takes the form :
∞  
X 1 πn
H= ωn a†n an + , ωn ≡ , [ak , a†p ] = δpk . (2)
n=1
2 r

The second term in H is the vacuum energy of the system, and it is not an observable
quantity in quantum field theory. However, if the scalar is confined to a dynamical box of
length ℓ, and the energy depends on ℓ, then one could observe a force F = − dE dℓ acting
on the walls of the box, either pushing or pulling them. This is called the Casimir force,
and unlike the vacuum energy, it is physically meaningful, and has been experimentally
measured. This force can be thought of as coming from the vacuum fluctuations inside the
box, and it vanishes as ℏ → 0.
Here we assume that the dynamical box we are interested in is inside a larger non-dynamical
box, of size R ≫ ℓ, such that our total system is divided into two, a box of length ℓ and a
box of length R − ℓ, and each subsystem has its own Hilbert space as above.

(a) Find a formal expression for F (r) = − dEtot dℓ

(ℓ)
and show that it diverges, and that
the divergence persists when R → ∞. Here Etot is the total ground state energy,
Etot (ℓ) = E(ℓ) + E(R − ℓ), where E(r) = ⟨0|H|0⟩.
(b) We see that some regularization is needed. Let’s assume that the walls aren’t perfect,
and high frequency modes can penetrate them further than low frequency ones, re-
ducing their contribution to the sum (since they don’t feel the separation between the
ωn
two subsystems as much). Consider the following regularization ωn → ωn e− πΛ (which
is called heat-kernel regularization); this is similar to a cutoff at the scale πΛ, but
implemented in a smooth way. You can assume that Λ is much larger than any other
energy scale in the theory, and ignore terms going as negative powers of Λ. What is
the Casimir force as R → ∞ using this regularization ? What is the leading term in
Etot for large R (the leading contribution to the ground state energy) ?
Hint: You can write the sums that you obtain as a derivative of a geometric series.
(c) We can also consider a less physical regularization (analogous to dimensional regular-
 −s
ization), by replacing ωn → ωn ωµn , where the limit we now take (at the end of
the computation) is s → 0. µ here is some arbitrary scale that should drop out of the
computation as s → 0. What is the Casimir force (as R → ∞) in this regularization
? What is the leading term in Etot for large R ? Did you get the same answers as the
force and energy that you computed in the heat-kernel regularization, and does this
agree with your expectations ?
P∞
Hint: Use n=1 n1z = ζ(z), and the value ζ(−1) = −1/12. ζ(z) is the Riemann zeta
function, which is defined by analytically continuing the sum in z from the regions
where it converges, and so this regularization is called zeta-function regularization.
(d) Finally, suppose that we take a general regularization scheme, ωn → ωn f ωΛn , where

f is some function that satisfies

lim xf (x) = 0 and f (0) = 1 . (3)
x→∞

Write Etot in the limit R → ∞ and compute the Casimir force, ignoring terms that
go as negative powers of Λ. Does it depend on the choice of regularization f ? Does
the leading contribution to the ground state energy at large R depend on f ?
n
Hints: Take x = (R−ℓ)Λ to be a continuous variable such that in the large R limit
E(R − ℓ) becomes an integral. Then, use the Euler-Maclaurin formula to evaluate the
difference between a sum and an integral of the same function. Your answers should
be consistent with the previous regularizations, if they satisfy the conditions on f .