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I've decided to slowly work my way through Zee's quantum field theory in a nutshell over the vacation. I'm confused by the second question of the book which deals with matrix differentiation.
Derive the equation \langle x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l \rangle = \sum_{\textrm{wick}} (A^{-1})_{ab}\cdot (A^{-1})_{cd} where {a,b,...,c,d} is a permutation of {i,j,...,k,l}
\langle x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l \rangle = \frac{\int d\mathbf{x} e^{1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA \mathbf{x}}x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l}{\int d\mathbf{x} e^{1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA \mathbf{x}}}
I have no trouble deriving this equation for the 1-variable case. For the multi-variable case Zee suggests repeatedly differentiating the equation
\int d\mathbf{x} e^{-1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA\mathbf{x} + J\mathbf{x}} = [(2\pi)^N /\det A]e^{(1/2) J A^{-1}J}
with respect to J. How does one differentiate wrt a matrix anyway?
Homework Statement
Derive the equation \langle x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l \rangle = \sum_{\textrm{wick}} (A^{-1})_{ab}\cdot (A^{-1})_{cd} where {a,b,...,c,d} is a permutation of {i,j,...,k,l}
Homework Equations
\langle x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l \rangle = \frac{\int d\mathbf{x} e^{1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA \mathbf{x}}x_i x_j \cdots x_k x_l}{\int d\mathbf{x} e^{1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA \mathbf{x}}}
The Attempt at a Solution
I have no trouble deriving this equation for the 1-variable case. For the multi-variable case Zee suggests repeatedly differentiating the equation
\int d\mathbf{x} e^{-1/2 \mathbf{x}^TA\mathbf{x} + J\mathbf{x}} = [(2\pi)^N /\det A]e^{(1/2) J A^{-1}J}
with respect to J. How does one differentiate wrt a matrix anyway?
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