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View Full Version : why no change of variable to polar coordinates inside multi-loop integral ??


zetafunction
Jun12-10, 05:48 AM
given a mul,ti-loop integral

\int d^{4}k_{1} \int d^{4}k_{2}.................\int d^{4}k_{n}f(k_{1} , k_{2},.....,k_{n})

which can be considered a 4n integral for integer n , my question is why can just this be evaluated by using a change of variable to 4n- polar coordinates ?

one we have made a change of variable and calculated the Jacobian, and integrated over ALL the angular variables we just have to make an integral

\int_{0}^{\infty}drg(r)r^{4n-1} which is just easier to handle

mathman
Jun12-10, 05:38 PM
I don't what specific integral you have in mind, but it depends very much on the form of f as it depends on the k's. You seem to imply that it can be represented as a function g of one variable. This may be true for some particular f, but it certainly is not true in general.

zetafunction
Jun13-10, 03:43 AM
for example

\iint dx dy \frac{x^{3}}{1+xy} its divergent if taking the limits (0,oo)

making a change of variable to polar coordinates one gets

\int du \int_{0}^{\infty}dr\frac{r^{4}cos^{3}(u)}{1+(1/2)r^{2}sin(2u)}

integrating over the angular variable 'u' you have now a simple one dimensional integral

mathman
Jun13-10, 04:10 PM
In general if you have an m dimensional integral and integrate over m-1 dimensions, you will have a one dimensional integral. In your general case (4n) I am not sure what you mean by polar coordinates.

This question belongs in the mathematics forum. There isn't apparent connection with Beyond the Standard Model (physics).