1
$\begingroup$

While try to understand functional field integral I encountered this problem on Altland & Simons page 184. The question is: Employ the free fermion field integral with action (4.43) to compute the zero temperature limit of the correlation function (4.48) considered in the text (assume $x > 0$).

Setting $v_{F}=1$ and define $$\mathcal{Z}_\pm~\equiv~\int D(\bar{\psi},\psi)~\exp\left(-S_\pm[\bar{\psi},\psi]\right)$$ with $$S_\pm[\bar{\psi},\psi]~=\int \mathrm{d}x\,\mathrm{d}\tau\,\bar{\psi}(\partial_\tau\mp i\partial_x)\psi $$ We obtain

\begin{align} G_{\pm}(x,\tau)&=\mathcal{Z}_{\pm}^{-1}\int D(\bar{\psi},\psi)\bar{\psi}(x,\tau)\psi(0,0)e^{-S_{\pm}[\bar{\psi},\psi]}\\ &=-(\partial_{\tau^{\prime}}\mp i\partial_{x^{\prime}})_{(x,\tau;0,0)}^{-1}\\ &=-\frac TL\sum_{p,\omega_n}\frac1{-i\omega_n\mp p}e^{-ipx-i\omega_n\tau}.\end{align}

For the computation itself, I can see that first we write out the correlation function in functional field integral, then performing the gaussian integral, what I find confusing is:

  1. why does the $\bar{\psi}(x,\tau)$ and $\psi(0,0)$ near $D(\bar{\psi},\psi)$ disappears after gaussian integral?

  2. the last equality, how do we get that?

$\endgroup$
2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ It might be better for you to adjust the title to be more reflective of the actual problem you face. Currently it only tells users where the source of the problem comes from, not what your problem is. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Feb 10 at 20:56
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Do you know how to obtain the generating functional $Z[f,\bar{f}]$ of a free field theory using the functional integral method (i.e. introducing external sources $\bar{f}$, $f$ for $\psi$ and $\bar{\psi}$)? Once you know $Z[f, \bar{f}]$, everything else is straightforward. $\endgroup$
    – Hyperon
    Commented Feb 10 at 22:10

0

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.