Sunday, July 26, 2015

homework and exercises - Exponential decay of Feynman propagator outside the lightcone


In Chapter three (I.3) of A. Zee's Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, the author derives the Feynman propagator for a scalar field: D(x)=d4k(2π)4eikxk2m2+iϵ=id3k(2π)32ωk[ei(ωktkx)θ(t)+ei(ωktkx)θ(t)]

where ωk=k2+m2.



Without working through the k integral, the behavior of the propagator for events inside and outside the light-cone can be roughtly analyzed (or so the text states): for time-like events in the future cone, e.g., x=(t,x=0), with t>0, the propagator is a sum of plane waves D(t,0)=id3k(2π)32ωkeiωkt

Likewise, for time-like events in the past cone (t<0) the propagator is a sum of plane waves with the opposite phase.


Now, for space-like events, e.g., x=(0,x), after interpreting θ(0)=12 and observing the propagator allows for the exchange kk, we obtain D(0,x)=id3k(2π)32k2+m2eikx


The author then states that "...the square root cut starting at ±im leads to an exponential decay em|x|, as we would expect." It is left to the reader to verify this as a later problem.


The question is: how can I see that the above is true, without going through the k integral?


Secondarily, what does "the square root cut starting at ±im" mean? I know that one must supply the complex square root with a branch cut, but said branch cut must be a whole ray of the plane, not just a segment.


I have tried going through the integral; by rotating the k so that x points along the k3 direction and switching to spherical coordinates (k=|k|,x=|x|) the integral becomes:


D(0,x)=i0dkπ0dθ2π0dφ(k2sinθeikxcosθ(2π)32k2+m2)=i0dkπ0dθ(k2sinθeikxcosθ(2π)22k2+m2)=i(2π)20dk(k2ixk2+m2)eikxeikx=i(2π)20dkksinkxxk2+m21|x|

Which is not the desired result.




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