Functional Derivatives in Q.F.T.

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 2K views
QFT1995
Messages
29
Reaction score
1
I'm can't seem to figure out how to functionally differentiate a functional such as [tex]Z(J)= e^{\frac{i}{2} \int \mathrm{d}^4y \int \mathrm{d}^4x J(y) G_F (x-y) J(x)}[/tex]
with respect to [itex]J(x)[/itex]. I know the answer is
[tex]\frac{\delta Z(J)}{\delta J(x)}= -i \int \mathrm{d}^4y J(y) G(x-y)[/tex]
but I'm struggling to calculate it.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The general recipe for calculating functional derivatives is:

Change each occurrence of ##J(x)## for some ##x## to ##J(x)+sf(x)## with a test function ##f(x)##, then differentiate with respect to ##s##, set ##s=0## in the result, and take the limit where ##f(x)## tends to the Dirac delta function.