Quantum Field Theory - Notes

Chris White (University of Glasgow)

Abstract
These notes are a write-up of lectures given at the RAL school for High Energy Physicists,
which took place at Somerville College, Oxford in September 2010. The aim is to introduce the
canonical quantisation approach to QFT, and derive the Feynman rules for a scalar eld.
1 Introduction
Quantum Field Theory is a highly important cornerstone of modern physics. It underlies, for
example, the description of elementary particles i.e. the Standard Model of particle physics is a
QFT. There is currently no observational evidence to suggest that QFT is insucient in describ-
ing particle behaviour, and indeed many theories for beyond the Standard Model physics (e.g.
supersymmetry, extra dimensions) are QFTs. There are some theoretical reasons, however, for
believing that QFT will not work at energies above the Planck scale, at which gravity becomes
important. Aside from particle physics, QFT is also widely used in the description of condensed
matter systems, and there has been a fruitful interplay between the elds of condensed matter
and high energy physics.
We will see that the need for QFT arises when one tries to unify special relativity and quan-
tum mechanics, which explains why theories of use in high energy particle physics are quantum
eld theories. Historically, Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) emerged as the prototype of mod-
ern QFTs. It was developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s chiey by Feynman, Schwinger
and Tomonaga, and has the distinction of being the most accurately veried theory of all time:
the anomalous magnetic dipole moment of the electron predicted by QED agrees with experi-
ment with a stunning accuracy of one part in 10
10
! Since then, QED has been understood as
forming part of a larger theory, the Standard Model of particle physics, which also describes the
weak and strong nuclear forces. As you will learn at this school, electromagnetism and the weak
interaction can be unied into a single electroweak theory, and the theory of the strong force
is described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). QCD has been veried in a wide range of
contexts, albeit not as accurately as QED (due to the fact that the QED force is much weaker,
allowing more accurate calculations to be carried out).
As is clear from the above discussion, QFT is a type of theory, rather than a particular
theory. In this course, our aim is to introduce what a QFT is, and how to derive scattering am-
plitudes in perturbation theory (in the form of Feynman rules). For this purpose, it is sucient
to consider the simple example of a single, real scalar eld. More physically relevant exam-
ples will be dealt with in the other courses. Throughout, we will follow the so-called canonical
quantisation approach to QFT, rather than the path integral approach. Although the latter
approach is more elegant, it is less easily presented in such a short course.
The structure of these notes is as follows. In the rest of the introduction, we review those
aspects of classical and quantum mechanics which are relevant in discussing QFT. In particular,
we go over the Lagrangian formalism in point particle mechanics, and see how this can also be
used to describe classical elds. We then look at the quantum mechanics of non-relativistic point
particles, and recall the properties of the quantum harmonic oscillator, which will be useful in
what follows. We then briey show how attempts to construct a relativistic analogue of the
Sch odinger equation lead to inconsistencies. Next, we discuss classical eld theory, deriving
the equations of motion that a relativistic scalar eld theory has to satisfy, and examining the
relationship between symmetries and conservation laws. We then discuss the quantum theory
of free elds, and interpret the resulting theory in terms of particles, before showing how to
describe interactions via the S-matrix and its relation to Greens functions. Finally, we describe
how to obtain explicit results for scattering amplitudes using perturbation theory, which leads
(via Wicks theorem) to Feynman diagrams.
1.1 Classical Mechanics
Let us begin this little review by considering the simplest possible system in classical mechanics,
a single point particle of mass m in one dimension, whose coordinate and velocity are functions of
time, x(t) and x(t) = dx(t)/dt, respectively. Let the particle be exposed to a time-independent
potential V (x). Its motion is then governed by Newtons law
m
d
2
x
dt
2
=
V
x
= F(x), (1)
where F(x) is the force exerted on the particle. Solving this equation of motion involves two
integrations, and hence two arbitrary integration constants to be xed by initial conditions.
Specifying, e.g., the position x(t
0
) and velocity x(t
0
) of the particle at some initial time t
0
completely determines its motion: knowing the initial conditions and the equations of motion,
we also know the evolution of the particle at all times (provided we can solve the equations of
motion).
We can also derive the equation of motion using an entirely dierent approach, via the
Lagrangian formalism. This is perhaps more abstract than Newtons force-based approach, but
in fact is easier to generalise and technically more simple in complicated systems (such as eld
theory!), not least because it avoids us having to think about forces at all.
First, we introduce the Lagrangian
L(x, x) = T V =
1
2
m x
2
V (x), (2)
which is a function of coordinates and velocities, and given by the dierence between the kinetic
and potential energies of the particle. Next, we dene the action
S =
_
t1
t0
dt L(x, x). (3)
The equations of motion are then given by the principle of least action, which says that the
trajectory x(t) followed by the particle is precisely that such that S is extremised
1
. To verify
this in the present case, let us rederive Newtons Second Law.
First let us suppose that x(t) is indeed the trajectory that extremises the action, and then
introduce a small perturbation
x(t) x(t) +x(t), (4)
such that the end points are xed:
x

(t
1
) = x(t
1
)
x

(t
2
) = x(t
2
)
_
x(t
1
) = x(t
2
) = 0. (5)
2
x(t)
t
x
x(t)
Figure 1: Variation of particle trajectory with identied initial and end points.
This sends S to some S +S, where S = 0 if S is extremised. One may Taylor expand to give
S +S =
_
t2
t1
L(x +x, x + x) dt, x =
d
dt
x
=
_
t2
t1
_
L(x, x) +
L
x
x +
L
x
x +. . .
_
dt
= S +
L
x
x

t2
t1
+
_
t2
t1
_
L
x

d
dt
L
x
_
xdt, (6)
where we performed an integration by parts on the last term in the second line. The second and
third term in the last line are the variation of the action, S, under variations of the trajectory,
x. The second term vanishes because of the boundary conditions for the variation, and we are
left with the third. Now the Principal of Least Action demands S = 0. For the remaining
integral to vanish for arbitrary x is only possible if the integrand vanishes, leaving us with the

Euler-Lagrange equation:
L
x

d
dt
L
x
= 0. (7)
If we insert the Lagrangian of our point particle, Eq. (2), into the Euler-Lagrange equation we
obtain
L
x
=
V (x)
x
= F
d
dt
L
x
=
d
dt
m x = m x
m x = F =
V
x
(Newtons law). (8)
Hence, we have derived the equation of motion (the Euler-Lagrange equation) using the Principal
of least Action and found it to be equivalent to Newtons Second Law. The benet of the former
is that it can be easily generalised to other systems in any number of dimensions, multi-particle
systems, or systems with an innite number of degrees of freedom, such as needed for eld theory.
For example, a general system of point particles has a set q
i
of generalised coordinates,
which may not be simple positions but also angles etc. The equations of motion are then given
1
The name of the principle comes from the fact that, in most cases, S is indeed minimised.
3
by
d
dt
L
q
i
=
L
q
i
,
by analogy with the one-dimensional case. That is, each coordinate has its own Euler-Lagrange
equation (which may nevertheless depend on the other coordinates, so that the equations of
motion are coupled). Another advantage of the Lagrangian formalism is that the relationship
between symmetries and conserved quantities is readily understood - more on this later.
First, let us note that there is yet another way to think about classical mechanics (that we
will see again in quantum mechanics / eld theory), namely via the Hamiltonian formalism.
Given a Lagrangian depending on generalised coordinates q
i
, we may dene the conjugate
momenta
p
i
=
L
q
i
e.g. in the simple one-dimensional example given above, there is a single momentum p = m x
conjugate to x. We recognise as the familiar denition of momentum, but it is not always true
that p
i
= m q
i
.
We may now dene the Hamiltonian
H(q
i
, p
i
) =

i
q
i
p
i
L(q
i
, q
i
).
As an example, consider again
L =
1
2
m x
2
V (x).
It is easy to show from the above denition that
H =
1
2
m x
2
+V (x),
which we recognise as the total energy of the system. From the denition of the Hamiltonian
one may derive (problem 1.1)
H
q
i
= p
i
,
H
p
i
= x
i
,
which constitute Hamiltons equations. These are useful in proving the relation between sym-
metries and conserved quantities. For example, one readily sees from the above equations that
the momentum p
i
is conserved if H does not depend explicitly on q
i
. That is, conservation
of momentum is related to invariance under spatial translations, if q
i
can be interpreted as a
simple position coordinate.
1.2 Quantum mechanics
Having set up some basic formalism for classical mechanics, let us now move on to quantum
mechanics. In doing so we shall use canonical quantisation, which is historically what was used
rst and what we shall later use to quantise elds as well. We remark, however, that one can
also quantise a theory using path integrals.
Canonical quantisation consists of two steps. Firstly, the dynamical variables of a system are
replaced by operators, which we denote by a hat. Secondly, one imposes commutation relations
on these operators,
[ x
i
, p
j
] = i
ij
(9)
[ x
i
, x
j
] = [ p
i
, p
j
] = 0. (10)
4
The physical state of a quantum mechanical system is encoded in state vectors [), which are
elements of a Hilbert space H. The hermitian conjugate state is [ = ([))

, and the modulus

squared of the scalar product between two states gives the probability for the system to go from
state 1 to state 2,
[
1
[
2
)[
2
= probability for [
1
) [
2
). (11)
On the other hand physical observables O, i.e. measurable quantities, are given by the expecta-
tion values of hermitian operators,

O =

O

,
O = [

O[), O
12
=
2
[

O[
1
). (12)
Hermiticity ensures that expectation values are real, as required for measurable quantities. Due
to the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, expectation values correspond to statistical
averages, or mean values, with a variance
(O)
2
= [(

O O)
2
[) = [

O
2
[) [

O[)
2
. (13)
An important concept in quantum mechanics is that of eigenstates of an operator, dened by

O[) = O[). (14)

Evidently, between eigenstates we have O = 0. Examples are coordinate eigenstates, x[x) =
x[x), and momentum eigenstates, p[p) = p[p), describing a particle at position x or with
momentum p, respectively. However, a state vector cannot be simultaneous eigenstate of
non-commuting operators. This leads to the Heisenberg uncertainty relation for any two non-
commuting operators

A,

B,
AB
1
2
[[[

A,

B][)[. (15)
Finally, sets of eigenstates can be orthonormalized and we assume completeness, i.e. they span
the entire Hilbert space,
p

[p) = (p p

), 1 =
_
d
3
p [p)p[. (16)
As a consequence, an arbitrary state vector can always be expanded in terms of a set of eigen-
states. We may then dene the position space wavefunction
(x) = x[),
so that

1
[
2
) =
_
d
3
x
1
[x)x[
2
)
=
_
d
3
x

1
(x)
2
(x). (17)
Acting on the wavefunction, the explicit form of the position and momentum operators is
x = x, p = i, (18)
so that the Hamiltonian operator is

H =
p
2
2m
+V (x) =

2
2m
+V (x). (19)
Having quantised our system, we now want to describe its time evolution. This can be done in
dierent pictures, depending on whether we consider the state vectors or the operators (or
both) to depend explicitly on t, such that expectation values remain the same. Two extreme
cases are those where the operators do not depend on time (the Schr odinger picture), and when
the state vectors do not depend on time (the Heisenberg picture). We discuss these two choices
in the following sections.
5
1.3 The Schrodinger picture
In this approach state vectors are functions of time, [(t)), while operators are time independent,

t

O = 0. The time evolution of a system is described by the Schrodinger equation
2
,
i

t
(x, t) =

H(x, t). (20)
If at some initial time t
0
our system is in the state (x, t
0
), then the time dependent state vector
(x, t) = e

H(tt0)
(x, t
0
) (21)
solves the Schrodinger equation for all later times t.
The expectation value of some hermitian operator

O at a given time t is then dened as

O)
t
=
_
d
3
x

(x, t)

O(x, t), (22)
and the normalisation of the wavefunction is given by
_
d
3
x

(x, t)(x, t) = 1)
t
. (23)
Since

is positive, it is natural to interpret it as the probability density for nding a particle

at position x. Furthermore one can derive a conserved current j, as well as a continuity equation
by considering

(Schr.Eq.) (Schr.Eq.)

. (24)
The continuity equation reads

t
= j (25)
where the density and the current j are given by
=

(positive), (26)
j =

2im
(

)) (real). (27)
Now that we have derived the continuity equation let us discuss the probability interpretation
of Quantum Mechanics in more detail. Consider a nite volume V with boundary S. The
integrated continuity equation is
_
V

t
d
3
x =
_
V
j d
3
x
=
_
S
j dS (28)
where in the last line we have used Gausss theorem. Using Eq. (23) the left-hand side can be
rewritten and we obtain

t
1)
t
=
_
S
j dS = 0. (29)
In other words, provided that j = 0 everywhere at the boundary S, we nd that the time
derivative of 1)
t
vanishes. Since 1)
t
represents the total probability for nding the particle
anywhere inside the volume V , we conclude that this probability must be conserved: particles
cannot be created or destroyed in our theory. Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics thus provides
a consistent formalism to describe a single particle. The quantity (x, t) is interpreted as a one-
particle wave function.
2
Note that the Hamiltonian could itself have some time dependence in general, even in the Schrodinger picture, if
the potential of a system depends on time. Here we assume this is not the case.
6
1.4 The Heisenberg picture
Here the situation is the opposite to that in the Schrodinger picture, with the state vectors
regarded as constant,
t
[
H
) = 0, and operators which carry the time dependence,

O
H
(t). This
is the concept which later generalises most readily to eld theory. We make use of the solution
Eq. (21) to the Schrodinger equation in order to dene a Heisenberg state vector through
(x, t) = e

H(tt0)
(x, t
0
) e

H(tt0)

H
(x), (30)
i.e.
H
(x) = (x, t
0
). In other words, the Schrodinger vector at some time t
0
is dened to
be equivalent to the Heisenberg vector, and the solution to the Schrodinger equation provides
the transformation law between the two for all times. This transformation of course leaves the
physics, i.e. expectation values, invariant,
(t)[

O[(t)) = (t
0
)[e
i

H(tt0)

Oe

H(tt0)
[(t
0
)) =
H
[

O
H
(t)[
H
), (31)
with

O
H
(t) = e
i

H(tt0)

Oe

H(tt0)
. (32)
From this last equation it is now easy to derive the equivalent of the Schrodinger equation for
the Heisenberg picture, the Heisenberg equation of motion for operators:
i
d

O
H
(t)
dt
= [

O
H
,

H]. (33)
Note that all commutation relations, like Eq. (9), with time dependent operators are now in-
tended to be valid for all times. Substituting x, p for

O into the Heisenberg equation readily
leads to
d x
i
dt
=


H
p
i
,
d p
i
dt
=

H
x
i
, (34)
the quantum mechanical equivalent of the Hamilton equations of classical mechanics.
1.5 The quantum harmonic oscillator
Because of similar structures later in quantum eld theory, it is instructive to also briey recall
the harmonic oscillator in one dimension. Its Hamiltonian is given by

H( x, p) =
1
2
_
p
2
m
+m
2
x
2
_
. (35)
Employing the canonical formalism we have just set up, we easily identify the momentum
operator to be p(t) = m
t
x(t), and from the Hamilton equations we nd the equation of motion
to be
2
t
x =
2
x, which has the well known plane wave solution x exp it.
An alternative path useful for later eld theory applications is to introduce new operators,
expressed in terms of the old ones,
a =
1

2
_
_
m

x +i
_
1
m
p
_
, a

=
1

2
_
_
m

x i
_
1
m
p
_
. (36)
Using the commutation relation for x, p, one readily derives (see the preschool problems)
[ a, a

] = 1, [

H, a] = a, [

H, a

] = a

. (37)
7
With the help of these the Hamiltonian can be rewritten in terms of the new operators:

H =
1
2

_
a

a + a a

_
=
_
a

a +
1
2
_
. (38)
With this form of the Hamiltonian it is easy to construct a complete basis of energy eigenstates
[n),

H[n) = E
n
[n). (39)
Using the above commutation relations, one nds
a

H[n) = (

H a

)[n) = E
n
a

[n), (40)
and therefore

H a

[n) = (E
n
+) a

[n). (41)
Thus, the state a

[n) has energy E

n
+, so that a

may be regarded as a creation operator

for a quantum with energy . Along the same lines one nds that a[n) has energy E
n
,
and a is an annihilation operator.
Let us introduce a vacuum state [0) with no quanta excited, for which a[n) = 0, because
there cannot be any negative energy states. Acting with the Hamiltonian on that state we nd

H[0) = /2, (42)

i.e. the quantum mechanical vacuum has a non-zero energy, known as vacuum oscillation or zero
point energy. Acting with a creation operator onto the vacuum state one easily nds the state
with one quantum excited, and this can be repeated n times to get
[1) = a

[0) , E
1
= (1 +
1
2
), . . .
[n) =
a

n
[n 1) =
1

n!
( a

)
n
[0) , E
n
= (n +
1
2
). (43)
The root of the factorial is there to normalise all eigenstates to one. Finally, the number operator

N = a

a returns the number of quanta in a given energy eigenstate,

N[n) = n[n). (44)

1.6 Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
So far we have only considered non-relativistic particles. In this section, we see what happens
when we try to formulate a relativistic analogue of the Schr odinger equation. First, note that
we can derive the non-relativistic equation starting from the energy relation
E =
p
2
2m
+V (x) (45)
and replacing variables by their appropriate operators acting on a position space wavefunction
(x, t)
E i

t
, p i, x x (46)
to give
_

2
2m

2
+V (x)
_
(x, t) = i
(x, t)
t
. (47)
8
As we have already seen, there is a corresponding positive denite probability density
= [(x, t)[
2
0, (48)
with corresponding current
j =

2im
(

)) . (49)
Can we also make a relativistic equation? By analogy with the above, we may start with
the relativistic energy relation
E
2
= c
2
p
2
+m
2
c
4
, (50)
and making the appropriate operator replacements leads to the equation
_
1
c
2

2
t
2

2
+
m
2
c
2

2
_
(x, t) (51)
for some wavefunction (x, t). This is the Klein-Gordon equation, and one may try to form a
probability density and current, as in the non-relativistic case. Firstly, one notes that to satisfy
relativistic invariance, the probability density should be the zeroth component of a 4-vector
j

= (, j) satisfying

= 0. (52)
In fact, one nds
=
i
2m
_

t
_
, (53)
with j given as before. This is not positive denite! That is, this may (and will) become negative
in general, so we cannot interpret this as the probability density of a single particle.
There is another problem with the Klein-Gordon equation as it stands, that is perhaps less
abstract to appreciate. The relativistic energy relation gives
E =
_
c
2
p
2
+m
2
c
4
, (54)
and thus one has positive and negative energy solutions. For a free particle, one could restrict
to having positive energy states only. However, an interacting particle may exchange energy
with its environment, and there is nothing to stop it cascading down to energy states of more
and more negative energy, thus emitting innite amounts of energy.
We conclude that the Klein-Gordon equation does not make sense as a consistent quantum
theory of a single particle. We thus need a dierent approach in unifying special relativity and
quantum mechanics. This, as we will see, is QFT, in which we will be able to reinterpret the
Klein-Gordon function as a eld (x, t) describing many particles.
From now on, it will be extremely convenient to work in natural units, in which one sets
= c = 1. The correct factors can always be reinstated by dimensional analysis. In these units,
the Klein-Gordon equation becomes
( +m
2
)(x, t) = 0, (55)
where
=

=

t
2

2
. (56)
9
Figure 2: System of masses m joined by springs (of constant k), whose longitudinal displacements
are f
i
, and whose separation at rest is x.
2 Classical Field Theory
In the previous section, we have seen how to describe point particles, both classically and quan-
tum mechanically. In this section, we discuss classical eld theory, as a precursor to considering
quantum elds. A eld associates a mathematical object (e.g. scalar, vector, tensor, spinor...)
with every point in spacetime. Examples are the temperature distribution in a room (a scalar
eld), or the E and B elds in electromagnetism (vector elds). Just as point particles can
be described by Lagrangians, so can elds, although it is more natural to think in terms of
Lagrangian densities.
2.1 Example: Model of an Elastic Rod
Let us consider a particular example, namely a set of point masses connected together by springs,
as shown in gure 2. Assume the masses m are equal, as also are the force constants of the
springs k. Furthermore, we assume that the masses may move only longitudinally, where the i
th
displacement is f
i
, and that the separation of adjacent masses is x when all f
i
are zero. This
system is an approximation to an elastic rod, with a displacement eld f(x, t). To see what this
eld theory looks like, we may rst write the total kinetic and potential energies as
T =

i
1
2
m

f
2
i
, V =

i
1
2
k(f
i+1
f
i
)
2
(57)
respectively, where we have used Hookes Law for the potential energy. Thus, the Lagrangian is
L = T V =

i
_
1
2
m

f
2
i

1
2
k(f
i+1
f
i
)
2
_
. (58)
Clearly this system becomes a better approximation to an elastic rod as the continuum limit is
approached, in which the number of masses N and the separation x 0. We can then
rewrite the Lagrangian as
L =

i
x
_
1
2
_
m
x
_

f
2
i

1
2
(kx)
_
f
i+1
f
i
x
_
2
_
. (59)
We may recognise
lim
x0
m/x = (60)
10
as the density of the rod, and also dene the tension
= lim
x0
kx. (61)
Furthermore, the position index i gets replaced by the continuous variable x, and one has
lim
x0
f
i+1
f
i
x
=
f(x, t)
x
. (62)
Finally, the sum over i becomes an integral so that the continuum Lagrangian is
L =
_
dx
_
1
2

f(x, t)
2

1
2

_
f
x
_
2
_
. (63)
This is the Lagrangian for the displacement eld f(x, t). It depends on a function of f and

f
which is integrated over all space coordinates (in this case there is only one, the position along
the rod). We may therefore write the Lagrangian manifestly as
L =
_
dxL[f(x, t),

f(x, t)], (64)
where L is the Lagrangian density
L[f(x, t),

f(x, t)] =
1
2

f
2
(x, t)
1
2

_
f
x
_
2
. (65)
It is perhaps clear from the above example that for any eld, there will always be an integration
over all space dimensions, and thus it is more natural to think about the Lagrangian density
rather than the Lagrangian itself. Indeed, we may construct the following dictionary between
quantities in point particle mechanics, and corresponding eld theory quantities (which may or
may not be helpful to you in remembering the dierences between particles and elds...!).
Classical Mechanics: Classical Field Theory:
x(t) (x, t) (66)
x(t)

(x, t)
Index i Coordinate x (67)
L(x, x) L[,

] (68)
Note that the action for the above eld theory is given, as usual, by the integral of the La-
grangian:
S =
_
dtL =
_
dt
_
dxL[f,

f]. (69)
2.2 Relativistic Fields
In the previous section we saw how elds can be described using Lagrangian densities, and
illustrated this with a non-relativistic example. Rather than derive the eld equations for this
case, we do this explicitly here for relativistic theories, which we will be concerned with for the
rest of the course (and, indeed, the school).
In special relativity, coordinates are combined into four-vectors, x

= (t, x
i
) or x = (t, x),
whose length x
2
= t
2
x
2
is invariant under Lorentz transformations
x

. (70)
11
A general function transforms as f(x) f

(x

), i.e. both the function and its argument trans-

form. A Lorentz scalar is a function (x) which at any given point in space-time will have the
same amplitude, regardless of which inertial frame it is observed in. Consider a space-time point
given by x in the unprimed frame, and x

(x) in the primed frame, where the function x

(x) can
be derived from eq. (70). Observers in both the primed and unprimed frames will see the same
amplitude (x), although an observer in the primed frame will prefer to express this in terms
of his or her own coordinate system x

, hence will see

(x) = (x(x

)) =

(x

), (71)
where the latter equality denes

.
Equation (71) denes the transformation law for a Lorentz scalar. A vector function trans-
forms as
V

(x

) =

(x). (72)
We will work in particular with

(x), where x x

denotes the 4-position. Note in particular

that
(

)(

) =
_

t
_
2

=

2

t
2

2
.
In general, a relativistically invariant scalar eld theory has action
S =
_
d
4
xL[,

], (73)
where
_
d
4
x
_
dt d
3
x, (74)
and L is the appropriate Lagrangian density. We can nd the equations of motion satised by
the eld using, as in point particle mechanics, the principle of least action. The eld theory
form of this is that the eld (x) is such that the action of eq. (73) is extremised. Assuming
(x) is indeed such a eld, we may introduce a small perturbation
(x) (x) + (x), (75)
which correspondingly perturbs the action according to
S S +S =
_
d
4
x
_
L(,

) +
L

+
L
(

)
(

)
_
. (76)
Recognising the rst term as the unperturbed action, one thus nds
S =
_
d
4
x
_
L

+
L
(

)
(

)
_
=
_
L
(

_
boundary
+
_
d
4
x
_
L

_
L
(

)
__
,
where we have integrated by parts in the second line. Assuming the elds die away at innity
so that = 0 at the boundary of spacetime, the principle of least action S = 0 implies

_
L
(

)
_
=
L

. (77)
12
This is the Euler-Lagrange eld equation. It tells us, given a particular Lagrangian density
(which denes a particular eld theory) the classical equation of motion which must be satised
by the eld . As a specic example, let us consider the Lagrangian density
L =
1
2
(

)(

)
1
2
m
2

2
, (78)
from which one nds
L
(

)
=

,
L

= m
2
, (79)
so that the Euler-Lagrange equation gives

+m
2
= (+m
2
)(x) = 0. (80)
This is the Klein-Gordon equation! The above Lagrangian density thus corresponds to the
classical eld theory of a Klein-Gordon eld. We see in particular that the coecient of the
quadratic term in the Lagrangian can be interpreted as the mass.
By analogy with point particle mechanics, one can dene a canonical momentum eld con-
jugate to :
(x) =
L

. (81)
Then one can dene the Hamiltonian density
H[, ] =

L, (82)
such that
H =
_
d
3
xH(, ) (83)
is the Hamiltonian (total energy carried by the eld). For example, the Klein-Gordon eld has
conjugate momentum =

, and Hamiltonian density
H =
1
2
_

2
(x) + ()
2
+m
2

. (84)
2.3 Plane wave solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation
Let us consider real solutions to Eq. (80), characterised by

(x) = (x). To nd them we try

an ansatz of plane waves
(x) e
i(k
0
tkx)
. (85)
The Klein-Gordon equation is satised if (k
0
)
2
k
2
= m
2
so that
k
0
=
_
k
2
+m
2
. (86)
Dening the energy as
E(k) =
_
k
2
+m
2
> 0, (87)
we obtain two types of solution which read

+
(x) e
i(E(k)tkx)
,

(x) e
i(E(k)tkx)
. (88)
We may interpret these as positive and negative energy solutions, such that it does not matter
which branch of the square root we take in eq. (87) (it is conventional, however, to dene energy
as a positive quantity). The general solution is a superposition of
+
and

. Using
E(k)t k x = k

= k

= k x (89)
13
this solution reads
(x) =
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
_
e
ikx

(k) + e
ikx
(k)
_
, (90)
where (k) is an arbitrary complex coecient. Note that the coecients of the positive and
negative exponentials are related by complex conjugation. This ensures that the eld (x) is
real (as can be easily veried from eq. (90)), consistent with the Lagrangian we wrote down.
Such a eld has applications in e.g. the description of neutral mesons. We can also write down
a Klein-Gordon Lagrangian for a complex eld . This is really two independent elds (i.e.
and

), and thus can be used to describe a system of two particles (e.g. charged meson pairs).
To simplify the discussion in this course, we will explicitly consider the real Klein-Gordon eld.
Note that the factors of 2 and in eq. (90) are conventional, and the inverse power of the energy
is such that the measure of integration is Lorentz invariant (problem 2.1), so that the whole
solution is written in a manifestly Lorentz invariant way.
2.4 Symmetries and Conservation Laws
As was the case in point particle mechanics, one may relate symmetries of the Lagrangian
density to conserved quantities in eld theory. For example, consider the invariance of L under
space-time translations
x

, (91)
where

is constant. Under such a transformation one has

L(x

) = L(x

) +

L(x

) +. . . (92)
(x

) = (x

) +

(x

) + . . . (93)

(x

) =

(x

) +

(x

) +. . . , (94)
(95)
where we have used Taylors theorem. But if L does not explicitly depend on x

(i.e. only
through and

) then one has

L(x

) = L[(x

),

(x

)]
= L +
L

+
L
(

)
(

) +. . . (96)
= L +
L

+
L
(

+. . . , (97)
where we have used the fact that =

in the third line, and all functions on the right-

hand side are evaluated at x

. One may replace L/ by the LHS of the Euler-Lagrange

equation to get
L(x

) = L +

L
(

+
L
(

+. . .
= L +

_
L
(

, (98)
and equating this with the alternative expression above, one nds

_
L
(

L. (99)
14
If this is true for all

, then one has

= 0, (100)
where

=
L
(

L (101)
is the energy-momentum tensor. We can see how this name arises by considering the components
explicitly, for the case of the Klein Gordon eld. One then nds

00
=
L

g
00
L =

L = H, (102)

0j
=
L

j
g
0j
L =
j
(j = 1 . . . 3). (103)
One then sees that
00
is the energy density carried by the eld. Its conservation can then be
shown by considering

t
_
V
d
3
x
00
=
_
V
d
3
x
0

00
=
_
V
d
3
x
j

j0
=
_
S
dS
j

0j
= 0, (104)
where we have used Eq. (100) in the second line. The Hamiltonian density is a conserved
quantity, provided that there is no energy ow through the surface S which encloses the volume
V . In a similar manner one can show that the 3-momentum p
j
, which is related to
0j
, is
conserved as well. It is then useful to dene a conserved energy-momentum four-vector
P

=
_
d
3
x
0
. (105)
In analogy to point particle mechanics, we thus see that invariances of the Lagrangian density
correspond to conservation laws. An entirely analogous procedure leads to conserved quanti-
ties like angular mometum and spin. Furthermore one can study so-called internal symmetries,
i.e. ones which are not related to coordinate but other transformations. Examples are conser-
vation of all kinds of charges, isospin, etc.
We have thus established the Lagrange-Hamilton formalism for classical eld theory: we de-
rived the equation of motion (Euler-Lagrange equation) from the Lagrangian and introduced the
conjugate momentum. We then dened the Hamiltonian (density) and considered conservation
laws by studying the energy-momentum tensor

.
3 Quantum Field Theory: Free Fields
3.1 Canonical Field Quantisation
In the previous sections we have reviewed the classical and quantum mechanics of point particles,
and also classical eld theory. We used the canonical quantisation procedure in discussing quan-
tum mechanics, whereby classical variables are replaced by operators, which have non-trivial
commutation relations. In this section, we see how to apply this procedure to elds, taking the
explicit example of the Klein-Gordon eld discussed previously. This is, as yet, a non-interacting
eld theory, and we will discuss how to deal with interactions later on in the course.
The Klein-Gordon Lagrangian density has the form
L =
1
2

1
2
m
2

2
. (106)
15
y
space
time
(x y)
2
< 0, space-like
(x y)
2
> 0, time-like
(x y)
2
= 0, light-like
Figure 3: The light cone about y. Events occurring at points x and y are said to be time-like
(space-like) if x is inside (outside) the light cone about y.
We have seen that in eld theory the eld (x) plays the role of the coordinates in ordinary point
particle mechanics, and we dened a canonically conjugate momentum, (x) = L/

=

(x).
We then continue the analogy to point mechanics through the quantisation procedure, i.e. we
now take our canonical variables to be operators,
(x)

(x), (x) (x). (107)
Next we impose equal-time commutation relations on them,
_

(x, t), (y, t)

_
= i
3
(x y), (108)
_

(x, t),

(y, t)
_
= [ (x, t), (y, t)] = 0. (109)
As in the case of quantum mechanics, the canonical variables commute among themselves, but
not the canonical coordinate and momentum with each other. Note that the commutation
relation is entirely analogous to the quantum mechanical case. There would be an , if it hadnt
been set to one earlier, and the delta-function accounts for the fact that we are dealing with
elds. It is zero if the elds are evaluated at dierent space-time points.
After quantisation, our elds have turned into eld operators. Note that within the rela-
tivistic formulation they depend on time, and hence they are Heisenberg operators.
In the previous paragraph we have formulated commutation relations for elds evaluated at
equal time, which is clearly a special case when considering elds at general x, y. The reason
has to do with maintaining causality in a relativistic theory. Let us recall the light cone about
an event at y, as in Fig. 3. One important postulate of special relativity states that no signal
and no interaction can travel faster than the speed of light. This has important consequences
about the way in which dierent events can aect each other. For instance, two events which
are characterised by space-time points x

and y

are said to be causal if the distance (x y)

2
is time-like, i.e. (x y)
2
> 0. By contrast, two events characterised by a space-like separation,
i.e. (x y)
2
< 0, cannot aect each other, since the point x is not contained inside the light
cone about y.
In non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics the commutation relations among operators indicate
whether precise and independent measurements of the corresponding observables can be made.
If the commutator does not vanish, then a measurement of one observable aects that of the
16
other. From the above it is then clear that the issue of causality must be incorporated into
the commutation relations of the relativistic version of our quantum theory: whether or not
independent and precise measurements of two observables can be made depends also on the
separation of the 4-vectors characterising the points at which these measurements occur. Clearly,
events with space-like separations cannot aect each other, and hence all elds must commute,
_

(x),

(y)
_
= [ (x), (y)] =
_

(x), (y)
_
= 0 for (x y)
2
< 0. (110)
This condition is sometimes called micro-causality. Writing out the four-components of the time
interval, we see that as long as [t

t[ < [x y[, the commutator vanishes in a nite interval

[t

t[. It also vanishes for t

= t, as long as x ,= y. Only if the elds are evaluated at an

equal space-time point can they aect each other, which leads to the equal-time commutation
relations above. They can also aect each other everywhere within the light cone, i.e. for time-
like intervals. It is not hard to show that in this case (e.g. problem 3.1)
_

(x),

(y)
_
= [ (x), (y)] = 0, for (x y)
2
> 0 (111)
_

(x), (y)
_
=
i
2
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
_
e
ip(xy)
+e
ip(xy)
_
. (112)
n.b. since the 4-vector dot product p (x y) depends on p
0
=
_
p
2
+m
2
, one cannot trivially
carry out the integrals over d
3
p here.
3.2 Creation and annihilation operators
After quantisation, the Klein-Gordon equation we derived earlier turns into an equation for
operators. For its solution we simply promote the classical plane wave solution, Eq. (90), to
operator status,

(x) =
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
_
e
ikx
a

(k) + e
ikx
a(k)
_
. (113)
Note that the complex conjugation of the Fourier coecient turned into hermitian conjugation
for an operator.
Let us now solve for the operator coecients of the positive and negative energy solutions.
In order to do so, we invert the Fourier integrals for the eld and its time derivative,
_
d
3
x

(x, t)e
ikx
=
1
2E
_
a(k) + a

(k)e
2ik0x0

, (114)
_
d
3
x

(x, t)e
ikx
=
i
2
_
a(k) a

(k)e
2ik0x0

, (115)
and then build the linear combination iE(k)(114)(115) to nd
_
d
3
x
_
iE(k)

(x, t)

(x, t)
_
e
ikx
= i a(k), (116)
Following a similar procedure for a

(k), and using (x) =

(x) we nd
a(k) =
_
d
3
x
_
E(k)

(x, t) +i (x, t)
_
e
ikx
, (117)
a

(k) =
_
d
3
x
_
E(k)

(x, t) i (x, t)
_
e
ikx
. (118)
Note that, as Fourier coecients, these operators do not depend on time, even though the
right hand side does contain time variables. Having expressions in terms of the canonical
17
eld variables

(x), (x), we can now evaluate the commutators for the Fourier coecients.
Expanding everything out and using the commutation relations Eq. (109), we nd
_
a

(k
1
), a

(k
2
)

= 0 (119)
[ a(k
1
), a(k
2
)] = 0 (120)
_
a(k
1
), a

(k
2
)

= (2)
3
2E(k
1
)
3
(k
1
k
2
) (121)
We easily recognise these for every k to correspond to the commutation relations for the harmonic
oscillator, Eq. (37). This motivates us to also express the Hamiltonian and the energy momentum
four-vector of our quantum eld theory in terms of these operators. To do this, rst note that
the Hamiltonian is given by the integral of the Hamiltonian density (eq. (84)) over all space.
One may then substitute eq. (113) to yield (see the problem sheet)

H =
1
2
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
E(k)
_
a

(k) a(k) + a(k) a

(k)
_
, (122)

P =
1
2
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
k
_
a

(k) a(k) + a(k) a

(k)
_
. (123)
We thus nd that the Hamiltonian and the momentum operator are nothing but a continuous
sum of excitation energies/momenta of one-dimensional harmonic oscillators! After a minute of
thought this is not so surprising. We expanded the solution of the Klein-Gordon equation into a
superposition of plane waves with momenta k. But of course a plane wave solution with energy
E(k) is also the solution to a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator with the same energy. Hence,
our free scalar eld is simply a collection of innitely many harmonic oscillators distributed
over the whole energy/momentum range. These energies sum up to that of the entire system.
We have thus reduced the problem of handling our eld theory to oscillator algebra. From the
harmonic oscillator we know already how to construct a complete basis of energy eigenstates,
and thanks to the analogy of the previous section we can take this over to our quantum eld
theory.
3.3 Energy of the vacuum state and renormalisation
In complete analogy we begin again with the postulate of a vacuum state [0) with norm one,
which is annihilated by the action of the operator a,
0[0) = 1, a(k)[0) = 0 for all k. (124)
Let us next evaluate the energy of this vacuum state, by taking the expectation value of the
Hamiltonian,
E
0
= 0[

H[0) =
1
2
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
E(k)
_
0[ a

(k) a(k)[0) +0[ a(k) a

(k)[0)
_
. (125)
The rst term in curly brackets vanishes, since a annihilates the vacuum. The second can be
rewritten as
a(k) a

(k)[0) =
__
a(k), a

(k)

+ a

(k) a(k)
_
[0). (126)
It is now the second term which vanishes, whereas the rst can be replaced by the value of the
commutator. Thus we obtain
E
0
= 0[

H[0) =
3
(0)
1
2
_
d
3
k E(k) =
3
(0)
1
2
_
d
3
k
_
k
2
+m
2
= , (127)
which means that the energy of the ground state is innite! This result seems rather paradoxical,
but it can be understood again in terms of the harmonic oscillator. Recall that the simple
18
quantum mechanical oscillator has a nite zero-point energy. As we have seen above, our eld
theory corresponds to an innite collection of harmonic oscillators, i.e. the vacuum receives an
innite number of zero point contributions, and its energy thus diverges.
This is the rst of frequent occurrences of innities in quantum eld theory. Fortunately, it
is not too hard to work around this particular one. Firstly, we note that nowhere in nature can
we observe absolute values of energy, all we can measure are energy dierences relative to some
reference scale, at best the one of the vacuum state, [0). In this case it does not really matter
what the energy of the vacuum is. This then allows us to redene the energy scale, by always
subtracting the (innite) vacuum energy from any energy we compute. This process is called
renormalisation.
We then dene the renormalised vacuum energy to be zero, and take it to be the expectation
value of a renormalised Hamiltonian,
E
R
0
0[

H
R
[0) = 0. (128)
According to this recipe, the renormalised Hamiltonian is our original one, minus the (unrenor-
malised) vacuum energy,

H
R
=

H E
0
(129)
=
1
2
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
E(k)
_
a

(k) a(k) + a(k) a

(k) 0[ a

(k) a(k) + a(k) a

(k)[0)
_
=
1
2
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
E(k)
_
2 a

(k) a(k) +
_
a(k), a

(k)

0[
_
a(k), a

(k)

[0)
_
. (130)
Here the subtraction of the vacuum energy is shown explicitly, and we can rewrite is as

H
R
=
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
E(p) a

(p) a(p)
+
1
2
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
E(p)
__
a(p), a

(p)

0[
_
a(p), a

(p)

[0)
_
.
=
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
E(p) a

(p) a(p) +

H
vac
(131)
The operator

H
vac
ensures that the vacuum energy is properly subtracted: if [) and [

) denote
arbitrary N-particle states, then one can convince oneself that

H
vac
[) = 0. In particular
we now nd that
0[

H
R
[0) = 0, (132)
as we wanted. A simple way to automatise the removal of the vacuum contribution is to introduce
normal ordering. Normal ordering means that all annihilation operators appear to the right of
any creation operator. The notation is
: a a

: = a

a, (133)
i.e. the normal-ordered operators are enclosed within colons. For instance
:
1
2
_
a

(p) a(p) + a(p) a

(p)
_
: = a

(p) a(p). (134)

It is important to keep in mind that a and a

always commute inside : :. This is true for an

arbitrary string of a and a

. With this denition we can write the normal-ordered Hamiltonian

as
:

H : = :
1
2
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
E(p)
_
a

(p) a(p) + a(p) a

(p)
_
:
=
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
E(p) a

(p) a(p), (135)

19
and thus have the relation

H
R
=:

H : +

H
vac
. (136)
Hence, we nd that

[ :

H : [) =

H
R
[), (137)
and, in particular, 0[ :

H : [0) = 0. The normal ordered Hamiltonian thus produces a renor-
malised, sensible result for the vacuum energy.
3.4 Fock space and Particles
After this lengthy grappling with the vacuum state, we can continue to construct our basis of
states in analogy to the harmonic oscillator, making use of the commutation relations for the
operators a, a

. In particular, we dene the state [k) to be the one obtained by acting with the
operator a

(k) on the vacuum,

[k) = a

(k)[0). (138)
Using the commutator, its norm is found to be
k[k

) = 0[ a(k) a

(k

)[0) = 0[[ a(k), a

(k

)][0) +0[ a

(k

)a(k)[0) (139)
= (2)
3
2E(k)
3
(k k

), (140)
since the last term in the rst line vanishes ( a(k) acting on the vacuum). Next we compute the
energy of this state, making use of the normal ordered Hamiltonian,
:

H : [k) =
_
d
3
k

(2)
3
2E(k

)
E(k

) a

(k

) a(k

) a

(k)[0) (141)
=
_
d
3
k

(2)
3
2E(k

)
E(k

)(2)
3
2E(k)(k k

) a

(k)[0) (142)
= E(k) a

(k)[0) = E(k)[k), (143)

and similarly one nds
:

P : [k) = k[k). (144)
Observing that the normal ordering did its job and we obtain renormalised, nite results, we
may now interpret the state [k). It is a one-particle state for a relativistic particle of mass m and
momentum k, since acting on it with the energy-momentum operator returns the relativistic one
particle energy-momentum dispersion relation, E(k) =

k
2
+m
2
. The a

(k), a(k) are creation

and annihilation operators for particles of momentum k.
In analogy to the harmonic oscillator, the procedure can be continued to higher states. One
easily checks that (problem 3.4)
:

P

: a

(k
2
) a

(k
1
)[0) = (k

1
+k

2
) a

(k
2
) a

(k
1
)[0), (145)
and so the state
[k
2
, k
1
) =
1

2!
a

(k
2
) a

(k
1
)[0) (146)
is a two-particle state (the factorial is there to have it normalised in the same way as the
one-particle state), and so on for higher Fock states.
At long last we can now see how the eld in our free quantum eld theory is related to
particles. A particle of momentum k corresponds to an excited Fourier mode of a eld. Since
the eld is a superpositon of all possible Fourier modes, one eld is enough to describe all possible
congurations representing one or many particles of the same kind in any desired momentum
state.
20
There are some rather profound ideas here about how nature works at fundamental scales.
In classical physics we have matter particles, and forces which act on those particles. These
forces can be represented by elds, such that elds and particles are distinct concepts. In non-
relativistic quantum mechanics, one unies the concept of waves and particles (particles can
have wave-like characteristics), but elds are still distinct (e.g. one may quantise a particle in
an electromagnetic eld in QM, provided the latter is treated classically). Taking into account
the eects of relativity for both particles and elds, one nds in QFT that all particles are
excitation quanta of elds. That is, the concepts of eld and particle are no longer distinct, but
actually manifestations of the same thing, namely quantum elds. In this sense, QFT is more
fundamental than either of its preceding theories. Each force eld and each matter eld have
particles associated with it.
Returning to our theory for the free Klein-Gordon eld, let us investigate what happens
under interchange of the two particles. Since [ a

(k
1
), a

(k
2
)] = 0 for all k
1
, k
2
, we see that
[k
2
, k
1
) = [k
1
, k
2
), (147)
and hence the state is symmetric under interchange of the two particles. Thus, the particles
described by the scalar eld are bosons.
Finally we complete the analogy to the harmonic oscillator by introducing a number operator

N(k) = a

(k) a(k),

^ =
_
d
3
k a

(k) a(k), (148)

which gives us the number of bosons described by a particular Fock state,

^[0) = 0,

^[k) = [k),

^[k
1
. . . k
n
) = n[k
1
. . . k
n
). (149)
Of course the normal-ordered Hamiltonian can now simply be given in terms of this operator,
:

H :=
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
E(k)

N(k), (150)
i.e. when acting on a Fock state it simply sums up the energies of the individual particles to
give
:

H : [k
1
. . . k
n
) = (E(k
1
) +. . . E(k
n
)) [k
1
. . . k
n
). (151)
This concludes the quantisation of our free scalar eld theory. We have followed the canon-
ical quantisation procedure familiar from quantum mechanics. Due to the innite number of
degrees of freedom, we encountered a divergent vacuum energy, which we had to renormalise.
The renormalised Hamiltonian and the Fock states that we constructed describe free relativistic,
uncharged spin zero particles of mass m, such as neutral pions, for example.
If we want to describe charged pions as well, we need to introduce complex scalar elds,
the real and imaginary parts being necessary to describe opposite charges. For particles with
spin we need still more degrees of freedom and use vector or spinor elds, which have the
appropriate rotation and Lorentz transformation properties. For fermion elds (which satisfy
the Dirac equation rather than the Klein-Gordon equation), one nds that the condition of a
positive-denite energy density requires that one impose anti-commutation relations rather than
commutation relations. This in turn implies that multiparticle states are antisymmetric under
interchange of identical fermions, which we recognise as the Pauli exclusion principle. Thus, not
only does QFT provide a consistent theory of relativistic multiparticle systems; it also allows
us to derive the Pauli principle, which is put in by hand in non-relativistic quantum mechanics.
More details on vector and spinor elds can be found in the other courses at this school.
Here, we continue to restrict our attention to scalar elds, so as to more clearly illustrate what
happens when interactions are present.
21
4 Quantum Field Theory: Interacting Fields
So far we have seen how to quantise the Klein-Gordon Lagrangian, and seen that this describes
free scalar particles. For interesting physics, however, we need to know how to describe interac-
tions, which lead to nontrivial scattering processes. This is the subject of this section.
From now on we shall always discuss quantised real scalar elds. It is then convenient to drop
the hats on the operators that we have considered up to now. Interactions can be described
by adding a term L
int
to the Lagrangian density, so that the full result L is given by
L = L
0
+L
int
(152)
where
L
0
=
1
2

1
2
m
2

2
(153)
is the free Lagrangian density discussed before. The Hamiltonian density of the interaction is
related to L
int
simply by
H
int
= HH
0
, (154)
where H
0
is the free Hamiltonian. If the interaction Lagrangian only depends on (we will
consider such a case later in the course), one has
H
int
= L
int
, (155)
as can be easily shown from the denition above. We shall leave the details of L
int
unspecied
for the moment. What we will be concerned with mostly are scattering processes, in which two
initial particles with momenta p
1
and p
2
scatter, thereby producing a number of particles in the
nal state, characterised by momenta k
1
, . . . , k
n
. This is schematically shown in Fig. 4. Our
task is to nd a description of such a scattering process in terms of the underlying quantum
eld theory.
p
1
p
2
k
1
k
2
k
n
Figure 4: Scattering of two initial particles with momenta p
1
and p
2
into n particles with momenta
k
1
, . . . , k
n
in the nal state.
4.1 The S-matrix
The timescales over which interactions happen are extremely short. The scattering (interaction)
process takes place during a short interval around some particular time t with t .
Long before t, the incoming particles evolve independently and freely. They are described by a
eld operator
in
dened through
lim
t
(x) =
in
(x), (156)
22
which acts on a corresponding basis of [in) states. Long after the collision the particles in the
nal state evolve again like in the free theory, and the corresponding operator is
lim
t+
(x) =
out
(x), (157)
acting on states [out). The elds
in
,
out
are the asymptotic limits of the Heisenberg operator
. They both satisfy the free Klein-Gordon equation, i.e.
(+m
2
)
in
(x) = 0, (+m
2
)
out
(x) = 0. (158)
Operators describing free elds can be expressed as a superposition of plane waves (see Eq. (113)).
Thus, for
in
we have

in
(x) =
_
d
3
k
(2)
3
2E(k)
_
e
ikx
a

in
(k) + e
ikx
a
in
(k)
_
, (159)
with an entirely analogous expression for
out
(x). Note that the operators a

and a also carry

subscripts in and out.
The above discussion assumes that the interaction is such that we can talk about free parti-
cles at asymptotic times t i.e. that the interaction is only present at intermediate times.
This is not always a reasonable assumption e.g. it does not encompass the phenomenon of
bound states, in which incident particles form a composite object at late times, which no longer
consists of free particles. Nevertheless, the assumption will indeed allow us to discuss scattering
processes, which is the aim of this course. Note that we can only talk about well-dened particle
states at t (the states labelled by in and out above), as only at these times do we
have a free theory, and thus know what the spectrum of states is (using the methods of section
3). At general times t, the interaction is present, and it is not possible in general to solve for
the states of the quantum eld theory. Remarkably, we will end up seeing that we can ignore all
the complicated stu at intermediate times, and solve for scattering probabilities using purely
the properties of the asymptotic elds.
At the asymptotic times t = , we can use the creation operators a

in
and a

out
to build
up Fock states from the vacuum. For instance
a

in
(p
1
) a

in
(p
2
)[0) = [p
1
, p
2
; in), (160)
a

out
(k
1
) a

out
(k
n
)[0) = [k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out). (161)
We must now distinguish between Fock states generated by a

in
and a

out
, and therefore we have
labelled the Fock states accordingly. In eqs. (160) and (161) we have assumed that there is a
stable and unique vacuum state of the free theory (the vacuum at general times t will be that
of the full interacting theory, and thus dier from this in general):
[0) = [0; in) = [0; out). (162)
Mathematically speaking, the a

in
s and a

out
s generate two dierent bases of the Fock space.
Since the physics that we want to describe must be independent of the choice of basis, expectation
values expressed in terms of in and out operators and states must satisfy
in[
in
(x) [in) = out[
out
(x) [out) . (163)
Here [in) and [out) denote generic in and out states. We can relate the two bases by
introducing a unitary operator S such that

in
(x) = S
out
(x) S

(164)
[in) = S [out) , [out) = S

[in) , S

S = 1. (165)
23
S is called the S-matrix or S-operator. Note that the plane wave solutions of
in
and
out
also
imply that
a

in
= S a

out
S

, a
in
= S a
out
S

. (166)
By comparing in with out states one can extract information about the interaction this is
the very essence of detector experiments, where one tries to infer the nature of the interaction by
studying the products of the scattering of particles that have been collided with known energies.
As we will see below, this information is contained in the elements of the S-matrix.
By contrast, in the absence of any interaction, i.e. for L
int
= 0 the distinction between
in
and
out
is not necessary. They can thus be identied, and then the relation between dierent
bases of the Fock space becomes trivial, S = 1, as one would expect.
What we are ultimately interested in are transition amplitudes between an initial state i of,
say, two particles of momenta p
1
, p
2
, and a nal state f, for instance n particles of unequal
momenta. The transition amplitude is then given by
f, out[ i, in) = f, out[ S [i, out) = f, in[ S [i, in) S

. (167)
The S-matrix element S

therefore describes the transition amplitude for the scattering process

in question. The scattering cross section, which is a measurable quantity, is then proportional
to [S

[
2
. All information about the scattering is thus encoded in the S-matrix, which must
therefore be closely related to the interaction Hamiltonian density H
int
. However, before we try
to derive the relation between S and H
int
we have to take a slight detour.
4.2 More on time evolution: Dirac picture
The operators (x, t) and (x, t) which we have encountered are Heisenberg elds and thus
time-dependent. The state vectors are time-independent in the sense that they do not satisfy a
non-trivial equation of motion. Nevertheless, state vectors in the Heisenberg picture can carry a
time label. For instance, the in-states of the previous subsection are dened at t = . The
relation of the Heisenberg operator
H
(x) with its counterpart
S
in the Schrodinger picture is
given by

H
(x, t) = e
iHt

S
e
iHt
, H = H
0
+H
int
, (168)
Note that this relation involves the full Hamiltonian H = H
0
+ H
int
in the interacting theory.
We have so far found solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation in the free theory, and so we know
how to handle time evolution in this case. However, in the interacting case the Klein-Gordon
equation has an extra term,
( +m
2
)(x) +
V
int
()

= 0, (169)
due to the potential of the interactions. Apart from very special cases of this potential, the equa-
tion cannot be solved anymore in closed form, and thus we no longer know the time evolution.
It is therefore useful to introduce a new quantum picture for the interacting theory, in which
the time dependence is governed by H
0
only. This is the so-called Dirac or Interaction picture.
The relation between elds in the Interaction picture,
I
, and in the Schrodinger picture,
S
,
is given by

I
(x, t) = e
iH0t

S
e
iH0t
. (170)
At t = the interaction vanishes, i.e. H
int
= 0, and hence the elds in the Interaction and
Heisenberg pictures are identical, i.e.
H
(x, t) =
I
(x, t) for t . The relation between

H
and
I
can be worked out easily:

H
(x, t) = e
iHt

S
e
iHt
= e
iHt
e
iH0t
e
iH0t

S
e
iH0t
. .
I(x,t)
e
iH0t
e
iHt
= U
1
(t)
I
(x, t) U(t), (171)
24
where we have introduced the unitary operator U(t)
U(t) = e
iH0t
e
iHt
, U

U = 1. (172)
The eld
H
(x, t) contains the information about the interaction, since it evolves over time with
the full Hamiltonian. In order to describe the in and out eld operators, we can now make
the following identications:
t :
in
(x, t) =
I
(x, t) =
H
(x, t), (173)
t + :
out
(x, t) =
H
(x, t). (174)
Furthermore, since the elds
I
evolve over time with the free Hamiltonian H
0
, they always act
in the basis of in vectors, such that

in
(x, t) =
I
(x, t), < t < . (175)
The relation between
I
and
H
at any time t is given by

I
(x, t) = U(t)
H
(x, t) U
1
(t). (176)
As t the identications of eqs. (174) and (175) yield

in
= U()
out
U

(). (177)
From the denition of the S-matrix, Eq. (164) we then read o that
lim
t
U(t) = S. (178)
We have thus derived a formal expression for the S-matrix in terms of the operator U(t), which
tells us how operators and state vectors deviate from the free theory at time t, measured relative
to t
0
= , i.e. long before the interaction process.
An important boundary condition for U(t) is
lim
t
U(t) = 1. (179)
What we mean here is the following: the operator U actually describes the evolution relative to
some initial time t
0
, which we will normally suppress, i.e. we write U(t) instead of U(t, t
0
). We
regard t
0
merely as a time label and x it at , where the interaction vanishes. Equation (179)
then simply states that U becomes unity as t t
0
, which means that in this limit there is no
distinction between Heisenberg and Dirac elds.
Using the denition of U(t), Eq. (172), it is an easy exercise to derive the equation of motion
for U(t):
i
d
dt
U(t) = H
int
(t) U(t), H
int
(t) = e
iH0t
H
int
e
iH0t
. (180)
The time-dependent operator H
int
(t) is dened in the interaction picture, and depends on the
elds
in
,
in
in the in basis. Let us now solve the equation of motion for U(t) with the
boundary condition lim
t
U(t) = 1. Integrating Eq. (180) gives
_
t

d
dt
1
U(t
1
) dt
1
= i
_
t

H
int
(t
1
) U(t
1
) dt
1
U(t) U() = i
_
t

H
int
(t
1
) U(t
1
) dt
1
U(t) = 1 i
_
t

H
int
(t
1
) U(t
1
) dt
1
. (181)
25
The right-hand side still depends on U, but we can substitute our new expression for U(t) into
the integrand, which gives
U(t) = 1 i
_
t

H
int
(t
1
)
_
1 i
_
t1

H
int
(t
2
) U(t
2
) dt
2
_
dt
1
= 1 i
_
t

H
int
(t
1
)dt
1

_
t

dt
1
H
int
(t
1
)
_
t1

dt
2
H
int
(t
2
) U(t
2
), (182)
where t
2
< t
1
< t. This procedure can be iterated further, so that the nth term in the sum is
(i)
n
_
t

dt
1
_
t1

dt
2

_
tn1

dt
n
H
int
(t
1
) H
int
(t
2
) H
int
(t
n
). (183)
This iterative solution could be written in much more compact form, were it not for the fact that
the upper integration bounds were all dierent, and that the ordering t
n
< t
n1
< . . . < t
1
< t
had to be obeyed. Time ordering is an important issue, since one has to ensure that the
interaction Hamiltonians act at the proper time, thereby ensuring the causality of the theory.
By introducing the time-ordered product of operators, one can use a compact notation, such
that the resulting expressions still obey causality. The time-ordered product of two elds (t
1
)
and (t
2
) is dened as
T (t
1
) (t
2
) =
_
(t
1
)(t
2
) t
1
> t
2
(t
2
)(t
1
) t
1
< t
2
(t
1
t
2
) (t
1
)(t
2
) +(t
2
t
1
) (t
2
)(t
1
), (184)
where denotes the step function. The generalisation to products of n operators is obvious.
Using time ordering for the nth term of Eq. (183) we obtain
(i)
n
n!
n

i=1
_
t

dt
i
T H
int
(t
1
) H
int
(t
2
) H
int
(t
n
) . (185)
Here we have replaced each upper limit of integration with t. Each specic ordering in the time-
ordered product gives a term identical to eq. (183), where applying the T operator corresponds
to setting the upper limit of integration to the relevant t
i
in each integral. However, we have
overcounted by a factor n!, corresponding to the number of ways of ordering the elds in the
time ordered product. Thus one must divide by n! as shown. We may recognise eq. (185) as the
nth term in the series expansion of an exponential, and thus can nally rewrite the solution for
U(t) in compact form as
U(t) = T exp
_
i
_
t

H
int
(t

) dt

_
, (186)
where the T in front ensures the correct time ordering.
4.3 S-matrix and Greens functions
The S-matrix, which relates the in and out elds before and after the scattering process,
can be written as
S = 1 +iT, (187)
where T is commonly called the T-matrix. The fact that S contains the unit operator means that
also the case where none of the particles scatter is encoded in S. On the other hand, the non-
trivial case is described by the T-matrix, and this is what we are interested in. So far we have
26
derived an expression for the S-matrix in terms of the interaction Hamiltonian, and we could
use this in principle to calculate scattering processes. However, there is a slight complication
owing to the fact that the vacuum of the free theory is not the same as the true vacuum of
the full, interacting theory. Instead, we will follow the approach of Lehmann, Symanzik and
Zimmerman, which relates the S-matrix to n-point Greens functions
G
n
(x
1
, . . . x
n
) = 0[T((x
1
) . . . (x
n
))[0) (188)
i.e. vacuum expectation values of Heisenberg elds. We will see later how to calculate these in
terms of vacuum expectation values of in elds (i.e. in the free theory).
In order to relate S-matrix elements to Greens functions, we have to express the in/out-
states in terms of creation operators a

in/out
and the vacuum, then express the creation operators
by the elds
in/out
, and nally use the time evolution to connect those with the elds in our
Lagrangian.
Let us consider again the scattering process depicted in Fig. 4. The S-matrix element in this
case is
S

=
_
k
1
, k
2
, . . . , k
n
; out

p
1
, p
2
; in
_
=
_
k
1
, k
2
, . . . , k
n
; out

in
(p
1
)

p
2
; in
_
, (189)
where a

in
is the creation operator pertaining to the in eld
in
. Our task is now to express
a

in
in terms of
in
, and repeat this procedure for all other momenta labelling our Fock states.
The following identities will prove useful
a

(p) = i
_
d
3
x
__

0
e
iqx
_
(x) e
iqx
(
0
(x))
_
i
_
d
3
xe
iqx

0
(x), (190)
a(p) = i
_
d
3
x
__

0
e
iqx
_
(x) e
iqx
(
0
(x))
_
i
_
d
3
xe
iqx

0
(x). (191)
The S-matrix element can then be rewritten as
S

= i
_
d
3
x
1
e
ip1x1

0
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

in
(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
= i lim
t1
_
d
3
x
1
e
ip1x1

0
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
, (192)
where in the last line we have used Eq. (156) to replace
in
by . We can now rewrite lim
t1
using the following identity, which holds for an arbitrary, dierentiable function f(t), whose
limit t exists:
lim
t
f(t) = lim
t+
f(t)
_
+

df
dt
dt. (193)
The S-matrix element then reads
S

= i lim
t1+
_
d
3
x
1
e
ip1x1

0
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
+i
_
+

dt
1

t
1
__
d
3
x
1
e
ip1x1

0
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
_
. (194)
27
The rst term in this expression involves lim
t1+
=
out
, which gives rise to a contribution

_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

out
(p
1
)

p
2
; in
_
. (195)
This is non-zero only if p
1
is equal to one of k
1
, . . . , k
n
. This, however, means that the particle
with momentum p
1
does not scatter, and hence the rst term does not contribute to the T-
matrix of Eq. (187). We are then left with the following expression for S

:
S

= i
_
d
4
x
1
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

0
__

0
e
ip1x1
_
(x
1
) e
ip1x1
(
0
(x
1
))
_

p
2
; in
_
. (196)
The time derivatives in the integrand can be worked out:

0
__

0
e
ip1x1
_
(x
1
) e
ip1x1
(
0
(x
1
))
_
= [E(p
1
)]
2
e
ip1x1
(x
1
) e
ip1x1

2
0
(x
1
)
=
___

2
+m
2
_
e
ip1x1
_
(x
1
) + e
ip1x1

2
0
(x
1
)
_
, (197)
where we have used that
2
e
ip1x1
= p
2
1
e
ip1x1
. For the S-matrix element one obtains
S

= i
_
d
4
x
1
e
ip1x1
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

2
0

2
+m
2
_
(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
= i
_
d
4
x
1
e
ip1x1
_

x1
+m
2
_
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

(x
1
)

p
2
; in
_
, (198)
where we have used integration by parts twice so that
2
acts on (x
1
) rather than on e
ip1x1
.
What we have obtained after this rather lengthy step of algebra is an expression in which the
(Heisenberg) eld operator is sandwiched between Fock states, one of which has been reduced
to a one-particle state. We can now successively eliminate all momentum variables from the
Fock states, by repeating the procedure for the momentum p
2
, as well as the n momenta of the
out state. The nal expression for S

is
S

= (i)
n+2
_
d
4
x
1
_
d
4
x
2
_
d
4
y
1

_
d
4
y
n
e
(ip1x1ip2x2+ik1y1++iknyn)

x1
+m
2
_ _

x2
+m
2
_ _

y1
+m
2
_

_

yn
+m
2
_

_
0; out

T(y
1
) (y
n
)(x
1
)(x
2
)

0; in
_
, (199)
where the time-ordering inside the vacuum expectation value (VEV) ensures that causality
is obeyed. The above expression is known as the Lehmann-Symanzik-Zimmermann (LSZ)
reduction formula. It relates the formal denition of the scattering amplitude to a vacuum
expectation value of time-ordered elds. Since the vacuum is uniquely the same for in/out,
the VEV in the LSZ formula for the scattering of two initial particles into n particles in the
nal state is recognised as the (n + 2)-point Greens function:
G
n+2
(y
1
, y
2
, . . . , y
n
, x
1
, x
2
) =
_
0

T(y
1
) (y
n
)(x
1
)(x
2
)

0
_
. (200)
You will note that we still have not calculated or evaluated anything, but merely rewritten the
expression for the scattering matrix elements. Nevertheless, the LSZ formula is of tremendous
importance and a central piece of QFT. It provides the link between elds in the Lagrangian and
the scattering amplitude S
2

, which yields the cross section, measurable in an experiment. Up

to here no assumptions or approximations have been made, so this connection between physics
and formalism is rather tight. It also illustrates a profound phenomenon of QFT and particle
physics: the scattering properties of particles, in other words their interactions, are encoded in
the vacuum structure, i.e. the vacuum is non-trivial!
28
4.4 How to compute Greens functions
Of course, in order to calculate cross sections, we need to compute the Greens functions. Alas,
for any physically interesting and interacting theory this cannot be done exactly, contrary to
the free theory discussed earlier. Instead, approximation methods have to be used in order to
simplify the calculation, while hopefully still giving reliable results. Or one reformulates the
entire QFT as a lattice eld theory, which in principle allows to compute Greens functions
without any approximations (in practice this still turns out to be a dicult task for physically
relevant systems). This is what many theorists do for a living. But the formalism stands,
and if there are discrepancies between theory and experiments, one only needs to check the
accuracy with which the Greens functions have been calculated or measured, before approving
or discarding a particular Lagrangian.
In the next section we shall discuss how to compute the Greens function of scalar eld theory
in perturbation theory. Before we can tackle the actual computation, we must take a further
step. Let us consider the n-point Greens function
G
n
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
) = 0 [T(x
1
) (x
n
)[ 0) . (201)
The elds which appear in this expression are Heisenberg elds, whose time evolution is
governed by the full Hamiltonian H
0
+ H
int
. In particular, the s are not the
in
s. We know
how to handle the latter, because they correspond to a free eld theory, but not the former,
whose time evolution is governed by the interacting theory, whose solutions we do not know.
Let us thus start to isolate the dependence of the elds on the interaction Hamiltonian. Recall
the relation between the Heisenberg elds (t) and the in-elds
3
(t) = U
1
(t)
in
(t) U(t). (202)
We now assume that the elds are properly time-ordered, i.e. t
1
> t
2
> . . . > t
n
, so that we can
forget about writing T( ) everywhere. After inserting Eq. (202) into the denition of G
n
one
obtains
G
n
=

U
1
(t
1
)
in
(t
1
)U(t
1
) U
1
(t
2
)
in
(t
2
)U(t
2
)
U
1
(t
n
)
in
(t
n
)U(t
n
)

0
_
. (203)
Now we introduce another time label t such that t t
1
and t t
1
. For the n-point function
we now obtain
G
n
=
_
0

U
1
(t)
_
U(t)U
1
(t
1
)
in
(t
1
)U(t
1
) U
1
(t
2
)
in
(t
2
)U(t
2
)
U
1
(t
n
)
in
(t
n
)U(t
n
)U
1
(t)
_
U(t)

0
_
. (204)
The expression in curly braces is now time-ordered by construction. An important observation
at this point is that it involves pairs of U and its inverse, for instance
U(t)U
1
(t
1
) U(t, t
1
). (205)
One can easily convince oneself that U(t, t
1
) provides the net time evolution from t
1
to t. We
can now write G
n
as
G
n
=
_
0

U
1
(t) T
_

in
(t
1
)
in
(t
n
) U(t, t
1
) U(t
1
, t
2
) U(t
n
, t)
. .
U(t, t)
_
U(t)

0
_
, (206)
3
Here and in the following we suppress the spatial argument of the elds for the sake of brevity.
29
where we have used the fact that we may commute the U operators within the time-ordered
product. Let us now take t . The relation between U(t) and the S-matrix Eq. (178), as
well as the boundary condition Eq. (179) tell us that
lim
t
U(t) = 1, lim
t
U(t, t) = S, (207)
which can be inserted into the above expression. We still have to work out the meaning of
0[U
1
() in the expression for G
n
. In a paper by Gell-Mann and Low it was argued that the
time evolution operator must leave the vacuum invariant (up to a phase), which justies the
ansatz
0[U
1
() = K0[, (208)
with K being the phase
4
. Multiplying this relation with [0) from the right gives
0[U
1
()[0) = K0[0) = K. (209)
Furthermore, Gell-Mann and Low showed that
0[U
1
()[0) =
1
0[U()[0)
, (210)
which implies
K =
1
0[S[0)
. (211)
After inserting all these relations into the expression for G
n
we obtain
G
n
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
) =
0[ T
in
(x
1
)
in
(x
n
) S [0)
0[S[0)
. (212)
The S-matrix is given by
S = T exp
_
i
_
+

H
int
(t) dt
_
, H
int
= H
int
(
in
,
in
), (213)
and thus we have nally succeeded in expressing the n-point Greens function exclusively in
terms of the in-elds. This completes the derivation of a relation between the general deni-
tion of the scattering amplitude S

and the VEV of time-ordered in-elds. This has been a

long and technical discussion, but the main points are the following:
Scattering probabilities are related to S-matrix elements. To calculate S-matrix elements
for an n particle scattering process, one must rst calculate the n particle Greens function
(eq. (212)). Then one plugs this into the LSZ formula (eq. (199)).
In fact, the Greens functions cannot be calculated exactly using eq. (212). Instead, one can
only obtain answers in the limit in which the interaction strength is small. This is the subject
of the following sections.
5 Perturbation Theory
In this section we are going to calculate the Greens functions of scalar quantum eld theory
explicitly. We will specify the interaction Lagrangian in detail and use an approximation known
as perturbation theory. At the end we will derive a set of rules, which represent a systematic
4
As hinted at earlier, K relates the vacuum of the free theory to the true vacuum of the interacting theory.
30
prescription for the calculation of Greens functions, and can be easily generalised to apply to
other, more complicated eld theories. These are the famous Feynman rules.
We start by making a denite choice for the interaction Lagrangian L
int
. Although one
may think of many dierent expressions for L
int
, one has to obey some basic principles: rstly,
L
int
must be chosen such that the potential it generates is bounded from below otherwise
the system has no ground state. Secondly, our interacting theory should be renormalisable.
Despite being of great importance, the second issue will not be addressed in these lectures. The
requirement of renormalisability arises because the non-trivial vacuum, much like a medium,
interacts with particles to modify their properties. Moreover, if one computes quantities like
the energy or charge of a particle, one typically obtains a divergent result
5
. There are classes
of quantum eld theories, called renormalisable, in which these divergences can be removed by
suitable redenitions of the elds and the parameters (masses and coupling constants).
For our theory of a real scalar eld in four space-time dimensions, it turns out that the only
interaction term which leads to a renormalisable theory must be quartic in the elds. Thus we
choose
L
int
=

4!

4
(x), (214)
where the coupling constant describes the strength of the interaction between the scalar elds,
much like, say, the electric charge describing the strength of the interaction between photons
and electrons. The factor 4! is for later convenience. The full Lagrangian of the theory then
reads
L = L
0
+L
int
=
1
2
(

)
2

1
2
m
2

4!

4
, (215)
and the explicit expressions for the interaction Hamiltonian and the S-matrix are
H
int
= L
int
, H
int
=

4!
_
d
3
x
4
in
(x, t)
S = T exp
_
i

4!
_
d
4
x
4
in
(x)
_
. (216)
The n-point Greens function is
G
n
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
)
=

r=0
_

i
4!
_
r
1
r!
_
0

T
_

in
(x
1
)
in
(x
n
)
__
d
4
y
4
in
(y)
_
r
_

0
_

r=0
_

i
4!
_
r
1
r!
_
0

T
__
d
4
y
4
in
(y)
_
r

0
_
. (217)
This expression cannot be dealt with as it stands. In order to evaluate it we must expand G
n
in
powers of the coupling and truncate the series after a nite number of terms. This only makes
sense if is suciently small. In other words, the interaction Lagrangian must act as a small
perturbation on the system. As a consequence, the procedure of expanding Greens functions in
powers of the coupling is referred to as perturbation theory. We will see that there is a natural
diagrammatic representation of this expansion (Feynman diagrams). First, we need to know
how to calculate the vacuum expectation values of time ordered products. This is the subject
of the next section.
5
This is despite the subtraction of the vacuum energy discussed earlier.
31
5.1 Wicks Theorem
The n-point Greens function in Eq. (217) involves the time-ordered product over at least n
elds. There is a method to express VEVs of n elds, i.e. 0[T
in
(x
1
)
in
(x
n
) [0) in terms
of VEVs involving two elds only. This is known as Wicks theorem.
Let us for the moment ignore the subscript in and return to the denition of normal-
ordered elds. The normal-ordered product : (x
1
)(x
2
) : diers from(x
1
)(x
2
) by the vacuum
expectation value, i.e.
(x
1
)(x
2
) = : (x
1
)(x
2
) : +0[(x
1
)(x
2
)[0). (218)
We are now going to combine normal-ordered products with time ordering. The time-ordered
product T(x
1
)(x
2
) is given by
T(x
1
)(x
2
) = (x
1
)(x
2
)(t
1
t
2
) +(x
2
)(x
1
)(t
2
t
1
)
= : (x
1
)(x
2
) :
_
(t
1
t
2
) +(t
2
t
1
)
_
+0[(x
1
)(x
2
)(t
1
t
2
) +(x
2
)(x
1
)(t
2
t
1
)[0). (219)
Here we have used the important observation that
: (x
1
)(x
2
) : = : (x
2
)(x
1
) :, (220)
which means that normal-ordered products of elds are automatically time-ordered.
6
Equa-
tion (219) is Wicks theorem for the case of two elds:
T(x
1
)(x
2
) = : (x
1
)(x
2
) : +0[T (x
1
)(x
2
) [0). (221)
For the case of three elds, Wicks theorem yields
T(x
1
)(x
2
)(x
3
) = : (x
1
)(x
2
)(x
3
) : + : (x
1
) : 0[T(x
2
)(x
3
)[0)
+ : (x
2
) : 0[T(x
1
)(x
3
)[0)+ : (x
3
) : 0[T(x
1
)(x
2
)[0) (222)
At this point the general pattern becomes clear: any time-ordered product of elds is equal to its
normal-ordered version plus terms in which pairs of elds are removed from the normal-ordered
product and sandwiched between the vacuum to form 2-point functions. Then one sums over
all permutations. Without proof we give the expression for the general case of n elds (n even):
T(x
1
) (x
n
) =
: (x
1
) (x
n
) :
+ : (x
1
)

(x
i
)

(x
j
) (x
n
) : 0[T(x
i
)(x
j
)[0) + perms.
+ : (x
1
)

(x
i
)

(x
j
)

(x
k
)

(x
l
) (x
n
) :
0[T(x
i
)(x
j
)[0)0[T(x
k
)(x
l
)[0) + perms.
+. . . +
+0[T(x
1
)(x
2
)[0)0[T(x
3
)(x
4
)[0) 0[T(x
n1
)(x
n
)[0)
+ perms.. (223)
The symbol

(x
i
) indicates that (x
i
) has been removed from the normal-ordered product.
Let us now go back to 0[T(x
1
) (x
n
)[0). If we insert Wicks theorem, then we nd
that only the contribution in the last line of Eq. (223) survives: by denition the VEV of a
6
The reverse is, however, not true!
32
normal-ordered product of elds vanishes, and it is precisely the last line of Wicks theorem in
which no normal-ordered products are left. The only surviving contribution is that in which all
elds have been paired or contracted. Sometimes a contraction is represented by the notation:
(x
i
)
. .
(x
j
) 0[T(x
i
)(x
j
)[0), (224)
i.e. the pair of elds which is contracted is joined by the braces. Wicks theorem can now be
rephrased as
0[T(x
1
) (x
n
)[0) = sum of all possible contractions of n elds. (225)
Let us look at a few examples. The rst is the 4-point function
0[T(x
1
)(x
2
)(x
3
)(x
4
)[0) = (x
1
)
. .
(x
2
)(x
3
)
. .
(x
4
)
+(x
1
)
..
(x
2
)(x
3
)
. .
(x
4
) +(x
1
)
..
(x
2
)(x
3
)(x
4
)
. .
. (226)
The second example is again a 4-point function, where two of the elds are also normal-ordered:
0[T(x
1
)(x
2
) : (x
3
)(x
4
) :[0) = (x
1
)
. .
(x
2
) : (x
3
)
. .
(x
4
) :
+(x
1
)
..
(x
2
) : (x
3
)
. .
(x
4
) : +(x
1
)
..
(x
2
) : (x
3
)(x
4
) :
. .
(227)
In this example, though, the contraction of : (x
3
)(x
4
) : vanishes by construction, so only the
last two terms survive! As a general rule, contractions which only involve elds inside a normal-
ordered product vanish. Such contractions contribute only to the vacuum. Normal ordering
can therefore simplify the calculation of Greens functions quite considerably, as we shall see
explicitly below.
5.2 The Feynman propagator
Using Wicks Theorem one can relate any n-point Greens functions to an expression involving
only 2-point functions. Let us have a closer look at
G
2
(x, y) = 0[T
in
(x)
in
(y)[0). (228)
We can now insert the solution for in terms of a and a

. If we assume t
x
> t
y
then G
2
(x, y)
can be written as
G
2
(x, y) =
_
d
3
p d
3
q
(2)
6
4E(p)E(q)

_
a

(p) e
ipx
+ a(p) e
ipx
_ _
a

(q) e
iqy
+ a(q) e
iqy
_

0
_
=
_
d
3
p d
3
q
(2)
6
4E(p)E(q)
e
ipx+iqy

0

a(p) a

(q)

0
_
. (229)
This shows that G
2
can be interpreted as the amplitude for a meson which is created at y and
destroyed again at point x. We can now replace a(p) a

(q) by its commutator:

G
2
(x, y) =
_
d
3
p d
3
q
(2)
6
4E(p)E(q)
e
ipx+iqy

0

_
a(p), a

(q)

0
_
=
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
e
ip(xy)
, (230)
33
p
1
p
2
k
1
k
2
Figure 5: Scattering of two initial particles with momenta p
1
and p
2
into 2 particles with momenta
k
1
and k
2
.
and the general result, after restoring time-ordering, reads
G
2
(x, y) =
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
2E(p)
_
e
ip(xy)
(t
x
t
y
) + e
ip(xy)
(t
y
t
x
)
_
. (231)
Furthermore, using contour integration one can show that this expression can be rewritten as a
4-dimensional integral
G
2
(x, y) = i
_
d
4
p
(2)
4
e
ip(xy)
p
2
m
2
+i
, (232)
where is a small parameter which ensures that G
2
does not develop a pole. This calculation
has established that G
2
(x, y) actually depends only on the dierence (x y). Equation (232) is
called the Feynman propagator G
F
(x y):
G
F
(x y) 0[T(x)(y)[0) = i
_
d
4
p
(2)
4
e
ip(xy)
p
2
m
2
+i
. (233)
The Feynman propagator is a Greens function of the Klein-Gordon equation, i.e. it satises
_

x
+m
2
_
G
F
(x y) = i
4
(x y), (234)
and describes the propagation of a meson between the space-time points x and y.
5.3 Two-particle scattering to O()
Let us now consider a scattering process in which two incoming particles with momenta p
1
and
p
2
scatter into two outgoing ones with momenta k
1
and k
2
, as shown in Fig. 5. The S-matrix
element in this case is
S

= k
1
, k
2
; out[p
1
, p
2
; in)
= k
1
, k
2
; in[S[p
1
, p
2
; in), (235)
and S = 1+iT. The LSZ formula Eq. (199) tells us that we must compute G
4
in order to obtain
S

. Let us work out G

4
in powers of using Wicks theorem.
Suppressing the subscripts in from now on, the expression we have to evaluate order by
order in is
G
4
(x
1
, . . . , x
4
) (236)
=

r=0
_

i
4!
_
r
1
r!
_
0

T
_
(x
1
)(x
2
)(x
3
)(x
4
)
__
d
4
y
4
(y)
_
r
_

0
_

r=0
_

i
4!
_
r
1
r!
_
0

T
__
d
4
y
4
(y)
_
r

0
_
.
34
At O(
0
), the denominator is 1, and the numerator gives
0[T(x
1
)(x
2
)(x
3
)(x
4
)[0) = G
F
(x
1
x
2
) G
F
(x
3
x
4
) +G
F
(x
1
x
3
) G
F
(x
2
x
4
)
+G
F
(x
1
x
4
) G
F
(x
2
x
3
), (237)
where we have used Wicks theorem. We may represent this graphically as follows:
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
+
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
+
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
But this is the same answer as if we had set = 0, so O(
0
) does not describe scattering and
hence is not a contribution to the T-matrix.
The rst non-trivial scattering happens at O(). For example, the expansion of the above
formula includes the contribution (from the numerator)

i
4!
0[T[(x
1
) . . . (x
4
)
_
d
4
y
4
(y)[0) =
i
4!
_
d
4
y 4!G
F
(x
1
y)G
F
(x
2
y)G
F
(x
3
y)
G
F
(x
4
y), (238)
where the 4! inside the integral arises from all possible contractions in Wicks theorem. This
has the graphical representation
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
y
i
_
d
4
y
where each line corresponds to a propagator, and we have assinged a vertex to each space-
time point. Also at this order, we have the graphs
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
+
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
+. . .
We will see later on that neither of these graphs contributes to the S-matrix element (after sub-
stituting the Greens function into the LSZ formula of eq. (199)), as they are not fully connected.
By this we mean that not all external particle vertices are connected to the same graph. At yet
higher orders, we may have graphs wich involve fully connected pieces, dressed by additional
vacuum bubbles (such as that which is sitting in the middle of the right-most gure above).
These vacuum bubbles are cancelled by the denominator in eq. (212) which, given that it con-
tains no external elds, generates all possible vacuum graphs. The presence of these vacuum
graphs explains why the vacuum of the interacting theory is dierent to that of the free theory,
35
as mentioned earlier.
To summarise, the nal answer for the scattering amplitude to O() is given by Eq. (238).
5.4 Graphical representation of the Wick expansion: Feynman rules
We have already encountered the graphical representation of the expansion of Greens functions
in perturbation theory after applying Wicks theorem. It is possible to formulate a simple set
of rules which allow us to draw the graphs directly without using Wicks theorem and to write
down the corresponding algebraic expressions.
We again consider a neutral scalar eld whose Lagrangian is
L =
1
2

1
2
m
2

4!

4
. (239)
Suppose now that we want to compute the O(
m
) contribution to the n-point Greens function
G
n
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
). This is achieved by going through the following steps:
(1) Draw all distinct diagrams with n external lines and m 4-fold vertices:
Draw n dots and label them x
1
, . . . , x
n
(external points)
Draw m dots and label them y
1
, . . . , y
m
(vertices)
Join the dots according to the following rules:
only one line emanates from each x
i
exactly four lines run into each y
j
the resulting diagram must be connected, i.e. there must be a continuous path
between any two points.
(2) Assign a factor
i
4!
_
d
4
y
i
to the vertex at y
i
(3) Assign a factor G
F
(x
i
y
j
) to the line joining x
i
and y
j
(4) Multiply by the number of contractions ( from the Wick expansion which lead to the same
diagram.
These are the Feynman rules for scalar eld theory in position space.
Let us look at an example, namely the 2-point function. According to the Feynman rules
the contributions up to order
2
are as follows:
O(1):
x
1
x
2
= G
F
(x
1
x
2
)
O():
x
1
x
2
y
=
i
2
_
d
4
yG
F
(x
1
y)G
F
(x
2
y)G
F
(0)
O(
2
):
x
1
x
2
y
1
y
2
=

2
4
_
d
4
y
_
d
4
zG
F
(x
1
y)G
F
(x
2
y)
G
2
F
(y z)G
F
(0)
36
O(
2
):
x
1
x
2
y
1
y
2
= (
_

i
4!
_
2
_
d
4
y
1
d
4
y
2
G
F
(x
1
y
1
) [G
F
(y
1
y
2
)]
3
G
F
(y
2
x
2
)
The combinatorial factor for this contribution is worked out as ( = 4 4!. Note that the same
graph, but with the positions of y
1
and y
2
interchanged is topologically distinct. Numerically it
has the same value as the above graph, and so the corresponding expression has to be multiplied
by a factor 2.
Another contribution at order
2
is
O(
2
):
x
1
x
2
y
1
y
2
vacuum contribution;
not connected
This contribution must be discarded, since not all of the points are connected via a continuous
line.
5.5 Feynman rules in momentum space
It is often simpler to work in momentum space, and hence we will discuss the derivation of
Feynman rules in this case. This also reects what is typically done in scattering experiments
(i.e. incoming and outgoing particles have denite momentum). If one works in momentum
space, the Greens functions are related to those in position space by a Fourier transform

G
n
(p
1
, . . . , p
n
) =
_
d
4
x
1

_
d
4
x
n
e
ip1x1+...+ipnxn
G
n
(x
1
, . . . , x
n
). (240)
The Feynman rules then serve to compute the Greens function

G
n
(p
1
, . . . , p
n
) order by order
in the coupling.
Let us see how this works for the 2 2 scattering example we considered above. At O()
this was given in eq. (238), which we may simplify slightly to
i
_
d
4
y G
F
(x
1
y)G
F
(x
2
y)G
F
(x
3
y)G
F
(x
4
y). (241)
We may now substitute in the momentum space form of each propagator (eq. (233)) to give
i
_
d
4
y
_
4

i=1
_
d
4
p
i
(2)
4
i
p
2
i
m
2
+i
_
e
i
P
i
pi(xiy)
= i(2)
4

4
(p
1
+p
2
+p
3
+p
4
)
_
4

i=1
_
d
4
p
i
(2)
4
i
p
2
i
m
2
+i
_
e
i
P
i
pixi
,
where we have carried out the y integration in the second line. Substituting this into eq. (240)
37
and carrying out the integrals over each x
i
, one nds

G
4
(p
1
, . . . , p
n
) = i(2)
4

4
(p
1
+p
2
+p
3
+p
4
)
_
4

i
_
d
4
p
i
(2)
4
i
p
2
i
m
2
+i
(2)
4
(p
i
)
_
= i(2)
4

4
(p
1
+p
2
+p
3
+p
4
)

i
i
p
2
i
m
2
+i
We will not repeat the above derivation for a general Greens function. Rather, we now state the
Feynman rules in momentum space, and the reader may easily verify that the above example is
a special case.
Feynman rules (momentum space)
(1) Draw all distinct diagrams with n external lines and m 4-fold vertices:
Assign momenta p
1
, . . . , p
n
to the external lines
Assign momenta k
j
to the internal lines
(2) Assign to each external line a factor
i
p
2
k
m
2
+i
(3) Assign to each internal line a factor
_
d
4
k
j
(2)
4
i
k
2
j
m
2
+i
(4) Each vertex contributes a factor

i
4!
(2)
4

4
_

momenta
_
,
(the delta function ensures that momentum is conserved at each vertex).
(5) Multiply by the combinatorial factor (, which is the number of contractions leading to
the same momentum space diagram (note that ( may be dierent from the combinatorial
factor for the same diagram considered in position space!)
Alternatively, one may rephrase (4) and (5) as follows:
(4*) Each vertex carries a factor
i(2)
4

4
_

momenta
_
,
(5*) Divide by the symmetry factor i.e. the dimension of the group of symmetry transformations
that leaves the diagram invariant.
5.6 S-matrix and truncated Greens functions
The nal topic in these lectures is the derivation of a simple relation between the S-matrix ele-
ment and a particular momentum space Greens function, which has its external legs amputated:
the so-called truncated Greens function. This further simplies the calculation of scattering
amplitudes using Feynman rules.
38
Let us return to the LSZ formalism and consider the scattering of m initial particles (mo-
menta p
1
, . . . , p
m
) into n nal particles with momenta k
1
, . . . , k
n
. The LSZ formula (eq. (199))
tells us that the S-matrix element is given by
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

p
1
, . . . , p
m
; in
_
= (i)
n+m
_
m

i=1
d
4
x
i
_
n

j=1
d
4
y
j
exp
_
_
_
i
m

i=1
p
i
x
i
+i
n

j=1
k
j
y
j
_
_
_

i=1
_

xi
+m
2
_
n

j=1
_

yj
+m
2
_
G
n+m
(x
1
, . . . , x
m
, y
1
, . . . , y
n
). (242)
Let us have a closer look at G
n+m
(x
1
, . . . , x
m
, y
1
, . . . , y
n
). As shown in Fig. 6 it can be split
into Feynman propagators, which connect the external points to the vertices at z
1
, . . . , z
n+m
,
and a remaining Greens function G
n+m
, according to
G
n+m
=
_
d
4
z
1
d
4
z
n+m
G
F
(x
1
z
1
) G
F
(y
n
z
n+m
) G
n+m
(z
1
, . . . , z
n+m
), (243)
where, perhaps for obvious reasons, G
n+m
is called the truncated Greens function.
x
1
x
2
x
3
G
z
1
z
2
z
3
Figure 6: The construction of the truncated Greens function in position space.
Putting Eq. (243) back into the LSZ expression for the S-matrix element, and using that
_

xi
+m
2
_
G
F
(x
i
z
i
) = i
4
(x
i
z
i
) (244)
one obtains
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

p
1
, . . . , p
m
; in
_
= (i)
n+m
_
m

i=1
d
4
x
i
_
n

j=1
d
4
y
j
exp
_
_
_
i
m

i=1
p
i
x
i
+i
n

j=1
k
j
y
j
_
_
_
(245)
(i)
n+m
_
d
4
z
1
d
4
z
n+m

4
(x
1
z
1
)
4
(y
n
z
n+m
) G
n+m
(z
1
, . . . , z
n+m
).
After performing all the integrations over the z
k
s, the nal relation becomes
_
k
1
, . . . , k
n
; out

p
1
, . . . , p
m
; in
_
=
_
m

i=1
d
4
x
i
n

j=1
d
4
y
j
exp
_
_
_
i
m

i=1
p
i
x
i
+i
n

j=1
k
j
y
j
_
_
_
G
n+m
(x
1
, . . . , x
m
, y
1
, . . . , y
n
)
(
n+m
(p
1
, . . . , p
m
, k
1
, . . . , k
n
), (246)
39
where (
n+m
is the truncated n +m-point function in momentum space. This result shows that
the scattering matrix element is directly given by the truncated Greens function in momentum
space. In other words, calculating the S-matrix is much the same as calculating the Greens
function, but without the free propagators associated with the external legs. Note that this
renders zero any graph which is not fully connected - any diagram in which not all external
points are connected to the same graph vanishes upon multiplication by the (p
2
i
+ m
2
) factors.
6 Summary
That completes this introductory look at quantum eld theory. Although we did not get as far
as some of the more relevant physical applications of QFT, we have looked in detail at what a
QFT is, and how the description of scattering amplitudes leads to Feynman diagrams. To recap
how we did this:
1. We reviewed the Lagrangian formalism for classical eld theory, and also the canonical
quantisation approach to quantum mechanics.
2. We constructed the Lagrangian for a relativistic eld theory (the free Klein-Gordon eld),
and applied the techniques of canonical quantisation to this eld theory.
3. States in this theory were found to represent particle excitations, such that a particle of
momentum p was found to be a quantum of excitation in the relevant Fourier mode of the
eld.
4. We then studied the interacting theory, arguing that at initial and nal times (when the
interaction dies away) we can work with free elds. These were related by an operator S,
whose matrix elements represented the transition probability to go from a given initial to
a given nal state.
5. Using the interaction picture for time evolution, we found an expression for the S matrix
in terms of an evolution operator U, describing how the elds at general time t deviate
from the initial free elds.
6. We also found a formula which related S matrix elements to n-particle Greens functions
(vacuum expectation values of time-ordered elds). This was the LSZ formula of eq. (199).
7. We related the Greens functions involving Heisenberg elds to those involving the in
elds at time t (eq. (212)).
8. We then found how to compute these Greens functions in perturbation theory, valid
when the strength of the interaction is weak. This involved having to calculate vacuum
expectation values of time-ordered products, for which we could use Wicks theorem.
9. We developed a graphical representation of Wicks theorem, which led to simple rules
(Feynman rules) for the calculation of Greens functions in position or momentum space.
10. These can easily be converted to S matrix elements by truncating the free propagators
associated with the external lines.
Needless to say, there are many things we did not have time to talk about. Some of these will
be explored by the other courses at this school:
Here we calculated S-matrix elements without explaining how to turn these into decay
rates or cross-sections, which are the measurable quantities. This is dealt with in the QED
/ QCD course.
The Klein-Gordon eld involves particles of spin zero, which are bosons. One may also con-
struct eld theories for fermions of spin
1
2
, and vector bosons (spin 1). Physical examples
include QED and QCD.
40
Fields may have internal symmetries (e.g. local gauge invariance). Again, see the QED /
QCD and Standard Model courses.
Diagrams involving loops are divergent, ultimately leading to innite renormalisation of
the couplings and masses. The renormalisation procedure can only be carried out in certain
theories. The Standard Model is one example, but other well-known physical theories (e.g.
general relativity) fail this criterion.
There is an alternative formulation of QFT in terms of path integrals (i.e sums over
all possible congurations of elds). This alternative formulation involves some extra
conceptual overheads, but allows a much more straightforward derivation of the Feynman
rules. More than this, the path integral approach makes many aspects of eld theory
manifest i.e. is central to our understanding of what a quantum eld theory is. This will
not be covered at all in this school, but the interested student will nd many excellent
textbooks on the subject.
There are other areas which are not covered at this school, but nonetheless are indicative of
the fact that eld theory is still very much an active research area, with many exciting new
developments:
Calculating Feynman diagrams at higher orders is itself a highly complicated subject, and
there are a variety of interesting mathematical ideas (e.g. from number theory and complex
analysis) involved in current research.
Sometimes perturbation theory is not well-behaved, in that there are large coecients at
each order of the expansion in the coupling constant. Often the physics of these large
contributions can be understood, and summed up to all orders in the coupling. This is
known as resummation, and is crucial to obtaining sensible results for many cross-sections,
especially in QCD.
Here we have solved for scattering probabilities using a perturbation expansion. It is
sometimes possible to numerically solve the theory fully non-perturbatively. Such ap-
proaches are known as lattice eld theory, due to the fact that one discretizes space and
time into a lattice of points. It is then possible (with enough supercomputing power!)
to calculate things like hadron masses, which are completely incalculable in perturbation
theory.
Here we set up QFT in Minkowski (at space). If one attempts to do the same thing in
curved space (i.e. a strong gravitational eld), many weird things happen that give us
tantalising hints of what a quantum eld of gravity should look like.
There are some very interesting recent correspondences between certain limits of certain
string theories, and a particular quantum eld theory in the strong coupling limit. This
has allowed us to gain new insights into nonperturbative eld theory from an analytic
point of view, and there have been applications in heavy ion physics and even condensed
matter systems.
I could go on of course, and many of the more formal developments of current QFT research
are perhaps not so interesting to a student in experimental particle physics. However, at the
present time some of the more remarkable and novel extensions to the Standard Model (SUSY,
extra dimensions) are not only testable, but are actively being looked for. Thus QFT, despite
its age, is very much at the forefront of current research eorts and may yet surprise us!
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to Mrinal Dasgupta for providing a previous set of lecture notes, on which these
notes are heavily based. Thanks to Mark Thomson for running a succesful school, and also to
41
Jacqui and Gill for all of their help. Thanks to Ian Tomalin for suggesting a set of improvements
to these notes, and to the other tutors for feedback at various points. Lastly many thanks to
the students of the RAL HEP school 2010, whose numerous dicult and thought-provoking
questions, as well as their good humour, made for a highly enjoyable fortnight in Oxford.
A Books on QFT
There have been numerous texts on Quantum Field Theory over many decades, and a surpris-
ingly high number are appearing all the time. Here I list some notable ones, although I have
not read every page of all of them...!
In the following list, [1] is a good introductory text. So is [2], which also features reason-
ably accessible introductions to topics which are not normally featured in general purpose QFT
books (e.g. SUSY, topological aspects). By far one of the best all-round books is [3], which
many use as a standard text (it is particularly useful for looking things up in). A very good
book for doing explicit calculations, especially in QCD where there is a very good coverage of
advanced material (e.g. resummation), is [4]. People say nice things about [5], although I am
not so familiar with this book.
For particle physics applications in particular, a very nice two volume set is that of [6]. Also
of note (with a very physically motivated and Feynman diagrammatic approach to eld theory)
is [7], although this is hard to get hold of (an updated version is in preparation).
Finally, those who are not faint of heart and who like their eld theory from the horses
mouth may like to consult Weinbergs monumental three volume set [8]!
References
[1] F. Mandl and G. Shaw, Quantum Field Theory, Wiley 1984.
[2] L. Ryder, Quantum Field Theory, CUP 1985.
[3] M.E. Peskin and D.V. Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Addison
Wesley 1995
[4] G. Sterman, An Introduction to quantum eld theory, CUP 1993.
[5] C. Itzykson and J.B. Zuber, Quantum Field Theory, McGraw-Hill 1987.
[6] I. Aitchison and A. Hey, Gauge theories in particle physics: A practical introduction. Vol.
1: From relativistic quantum mechanics to QED; Vol. 2: Non-Abelian gauge theories: QCD
and the electroweak theory, IOP 2004.
[7] B. de Wit and J. Smith, Field Theory in Particle Physics, 1986.
[8] S. Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields, Vol. 1, CUP 1995
42
B Notation and conventions
4-vectors:
x

= (x
0
, x) = (t, x)
x

= g

= (x
0
, x) = (t, x)
Metric tensor: g

= g

=
_
_
_
_
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1
_
_
_
_
Scalar product:
x

= x
0
x
0
+x
1
x
1
+x
2
x
2
+x
3
x
3
= t
2
x
2
Gradient operators:

=
_

t
,
_

=
_

t
,
_
dAlembertian:

=

2
t
2

2

Momentum operator:
p

= i

=
_
i

t
, i
_
=
_

E, p
_
(as it should be)
-functions:
_
d
3
p f(p)
3
(p q) = f(q)
_
d
3
xe
ipx
= (2)
3

3
(p)
_
d
3
p
(2)
3
e
ipx
=
3
(x)
(similarly in four dimensions)
Note:
(x
2
x
2
0
) = (x x
0
)(x +x
0
)
=
1
2x
(x x
0
) +(x +x
0
)
43