English

A Convergent Kinetic-Term Perturbation Expansion for $\phi^4$ Theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-02-17 v1

Abstract

We revisit scalar ϕ4\phi^4 theory and construct a reorganized perturbative expansion in which the kinetic operator, rather than the quartic interaction, is treated as the perturbation. Starting from the exactly solvable 00-dimensional model, we show that the resulting series is convergent for positive coupling and can be written as an expansion in negative powers of the quartic coupling λ\lambda. We extend the construction to higher-dimensional field theory using an auxiliary field, and we formulate a discrete lattice version in which multi-site contributions are systematically organized. We explicitly compute the leading terms in the expansion, study their continuum limit, and compare against brute-force numerical evaluations of the partition function. We discuss the relation of this expansion to standard weak-coupling perturbation theory, strong-coupling expansions, and resummation techniques, and we outline possible applications to nonperturbative studies of scalar field theories.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.13539,
  title  = {A Convergent Kinetic-Term Perturbation Expansion for $\phi^4$ Theory},
  author = {Eugene Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.13539},
  year   = {2026}
}