English

On the Onsager-Machlup functional of the $\Phi^4$-measure

Probability 2026-03-05 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We investigate the existence of generalised densities for the Φd4\Phi^4_d (d=1,2,3)(d=1,2,3) measures, in finite volume, through the lens of Onsager-Machlup (OM) functionals. The latter are rigorously defined for measures on metric spaces as limiting ratios of small ball probabilities. In one dimension, we show that the standard OM functional of the Φ14\Phi^4_1 measure coincides with the Φ4\Phi^4 action as expected. In two dimensions, we show that OM functionals of the P(Φ)2P(\Phi)_2 measures agree with the corresponding actions, by considering ``enhanced" distances, defined with respect to Wick powers of the Gaussian Free Field, which are analogous to rough path metrics. In dimension 33, two natural generalisations of the OM functional are proved to be degenerate. Finally, we recover the Φ34\Phi^4_3 action, under appropriate regularity conditions, by considering joint small radius-large frequency limits.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.20471,
  title  = {On the Onsager-Machlup functional of the $\Phi^4$-measure},
  author = {Ioannis Gasteratos and Zachary Selk},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.20471},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

To appear in Journal of Statistical Physics