Why can you only contract one field in the Wilson approach to renormalization?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the Wilson approach to renormalization, specifically addressing the reasoning behind contracting only the high-momentum field \hat{\phi} in the path integral formulation, as presented in Peskin & Schroeder. Participants explore the implications of this approach on Feynman diagrams and the behavior of coefficients as the cutoff \Lambda approaches infinity.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why only the \hat{\phi} field is contracted in the path integral, suggesting that all fields should be included in the contractions.
  • Another participant clarifies that the path integral is only performed over the \hat{\phi} field, indicating that internal lines in Feynman diagrams correspond to fields being integrated over, which leads to external lines being \phi fields.
  • A third participant notes that while integrating over \hat{\phi}, the dependence on the large cutoff \Lambda affects coefficients, raising a question about whether any cases exist where these coefficients do not diverge as \Lambda approaches infinity, and if this is only applicable to renormalizable theories.
  • A repeated inquiry emphasizes the potential effects of higher-order terms and the inclusion of multiple vertices in the context of the path integral.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the necessity of contracting all fields versus only \hat{\phi}, indicating a lack of consensus on this aspect of the Wilson approach. Additionally, there is uncertainty regarding the behavior of coefficients as \Lambda approaches infinity and its relation to renormalizability.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the dependence on definitions of fields and the implications of integrating over specific momentum ranges, which may affect the interpretation of results. The discussion also touches on the limitations of the approach in cases where theories may not be renormalizable.

nikol
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When I am reading about the Wilson approach to renormalization in Chapter12.1 of Peskin & Shroeder I am wondering why are you allowed only to contract the \hat{\phi} field (this is the field that carries the high-momentums degrees of freedom)as they show in equation 12.10, I thought that we should add all the contractions, between all the 4 fields and here is the term they are making the example of:
\int \mathcal{D}\hat{\phi}exp\left(-\int d^{d}x \frac{\lambda}{4}\phi^{2}\hat{\phi}^{2}\right)
 
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Here we are only doing the path integral over the ##\hat\phi## field, and not integrating over ##\phi##. You can only get internal lines in a Feynman diagram for fields you are integrating over. So we end up writing down Feyman diagrams where all the external lines are ##\phi## fields (because we only care about the interactions of low-energy particles) and all the internal lines are ##\hat\phi## fields (because we are only integrating over the high-momentum modes).
 
Thank you I think I almost understand. Another thing I am noticing is that while integrating over the high degrees of freedom \hat{\phi} the dependence of the large cutoff \Lambda goes into the coefficients (see for example the expression of \mu in formula 12.11 or for \lambda^{'} in 12.29). Are we to assume that we will no longer have any cases that as \Lambda->\infty that will not cause any of those coefficients to go to infinity? and if so is that only valid for theories that are renormalizable?
 
nikol said:
When I am reading about the Wilson approach to renormalization in Chapter12.1 of Peskin & Shroeder I am wondering why are you allowed only to contract the \hat{\phi} field (this is the field that carries the high-momentums degrees of freedom)as they show in equation 12.10, I thought that we should add all the contractions, between all the 4 fields and here is the term they are making the example of:
\int \mathcal{D}\hat{\phi}exp\left(-\int d^{d}x \frac{\lambda}{4}\phi^{2}\hat{\phi}^{2}\right)
you will have the effect of it in higher order terms,where you will have two vertices for example.just see 12.13.
 

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