Towards perturbative renormalization of $\phi^2(i\phi)^\varepsilon$ quantum field theory

TL;DR

This paper extends perturbative calculations for a PT-symmetric quantum field theory with a non-Hermitian interaction, including renormalization counterterms, and analyzes divergences and Green's functions in various dimensions.

Contribution

It develops a perturbative renormalization framework for a PT-symmetric quantum field theory with a non-Hermitian interaction term, including higher-order calculations and divergence analysis.

Findings

Renormalized Green's functions are computed up to second order in ε.

Leading divergences are summed to all orders, revealing algebraic divergence behavior.

The structure of divergences simplifies in the limit D→2.

Abstract

In a previous paper it was shown how to calculate the ground-state energy density $E$ and the $p$-point Green's functions $G_p(x_1,x_2,...,x_p)$ for the $PT$-symmetric quantum field theory defined by the Hamiltonian density $H=\frac{1}{2}(\nabla\phi)^2+\frac{1}{2}\phi^2(i\phi)^\varepsilon$ in $D$-dimensional Euclidean spacetime, where $\phi$ is a pseudoscalar field. In this earlier paper $E$ and $G_p(x_1,x_2,...,x_p)$ were expressed as perturbation series in powers of $\varepsilon$ and were calculated to first order in $\varepsilon$. (The parameter $\varepsilon$ is a measure of the nonlinearity of the interaction rather than a coupling constant.) This paper extends these perturbative calculations to the Euclidean Lagrangian $L= \frac{1}{2}(\nabla\phi)^2+\frac{1}{2}\mu^2\phi^2+\frac{1}{2} g\mu_0^2\phi^2\big(i\mu_0^{1-D/2}\phi\big)^\varepsilon-iv\phi$, which now includes renormalization counterterms that are linear and quadratic in the field $\phi$. The parameter $g$ is a dimensionless coupling strength and $\mu_0$ is a scaling factor having dimensions of mass. Expressions are given for the one-, two, and three-point Green's functions, and the renormalized mass, to higher-order in powers of $\varepsilon$ in $D$ dimensions ($0\leq D\leq2$). Renormalization is performed perturbatively to second order in $\varepsilon$ and the structure of the Green's functions is analyzed in the limit $D\to 2$. A sum of the most divergent terms is performed to {\it all} orders in $\varepsilon$. Like the Cheng-Wu summation of leading logarithms in electrodynamics, it is found here that leading logarithmic divergences combine to become mildly algebraic in form. Future work that must be done to complete the perturbative renormalization procedure is discussed.