# How to show causality is preserved in path integral approach?

I am struggling to find a good way to show causality is conserved using the path integral approach. In the operator approach one can show that $$[\hat{\phi}(x),\hat{\phi}(y)]=0$$ if $$x$$ and $$y$$ are space-like separated.

In the path integral approach we have:

$$\int \phi(x)\phi(y) e^{iS[\phi]} D\phi = \Delta_F(x-y)$$

which gives the Feynman propagator which comes from $$T(\phi(x)\phi(y))$$, but to show causality is conserved I feel I need to get the non-time ordered propagator somehow.

I have been examining the transition functional:

$$U(\phi_{in},\phi_{out};t) = \int \limits_{\Phi(0)=\phi_{in}}^{\Phi(t)=\phi_{out}} e^{i \int\limits_0^tL[\Phi]dt}D\Phi$$

which should give the amplitude for a field to transition from the in state to the out state over time $$t$$ but also don't know how to show that this satisfies causality, i.e. that a signal can't travel faster than light.

I prefer the functional approach rather than the operator approach so I would really like to find out how to show causality using this approach.

• @ChiralAnomaly Yes, this is what I'm looking for. Or indeed just to show a test signal can't travel faster than light. May 17, 2021 at 12:11
• A related paper Arrow of Causality and Quantum Gravity maybe helpful. May 18, 2021 at 12:42

Since the path-integral formulation is manifestly Lorentz symmetric, we only need to show that $$\phi(\vec x,t)$$ and $$\phi(\vec y,t)$$ commute when $$\vec x\neq \vec y$$. If they commute when the times are equal, then the path integral's manifest Lorentz symmetry implies that they commute for all spacelike separations.
In the canonical formulation with operators on a Hilbert space, two different kinds of ordering are involved: operator order, and time order. Nothing prevents us from considering quantities like $$\phi(\vec x,t)\phi(\vec x',t')|0\rangle$$ with $$t'>t$$, where the time order is different than the operator order.
When $$\vec x\neq\vec y$$, the two terms on the last line are clearly equal to each other in the limit $$\epsilon\to 0$$. That implies $$[\phi(\vec x,t),\phi(\vec y,t)]=0$$ for $$\vec x\neq \vec y$$, and the path integral's manifest Lorentz symmetry then implies that they commute for all spacelike separations.
A similar approach can be used to derive the equal-time commutation relation $$[\phi(\vec x,t),\pi(\vec y,t)]\propto \delta(\vec x-\vec y)$$, where $$\pi$$ is the canonical conjugate of $$\phi$$. This takes more work, but it isn't necessary for answering the question, because (if $$\pi=\dot\phi$$) it follows easily from the unequal-time commutator of $$\phi(x)$$ and $$\phi(y)$$ when $$\vec x\neq \vec y$$, which we already deduced.