English

Some combinatorial aspects of quantum field theory

Combinatorics 2012-11-21 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In this short survey we present the appearance of some combinatorial notions in quantum field theory. We first focus on topological graph polynomials (the Tutte polynomial and its multivariate version) and their relation with the parametric representation of the commutative Φ4\Phi^4 field theory. We then generalize this to ribbon graphs and present the relation of the Bollob\'as-Riordan polynomial with the parametric representation of some Φ4\Phi^4 field theory on the non-commutative Moyal space. We also review the r\^ole played by the Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra as the combinatorial backbone of the renormalization process in field theories. We then show how this generalizes to the scalar Φ4\Phi^4 field theory implemented on the non-commutative Moyal space. Finally, some perspectives for the further generalization of these tools to quantum gravity tensor models are briefly sketched.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1102.4231,
  title  = {Some combinatorial aspects of quantum field theory},
  author = {Adrian Tanasa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.4231},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

30 pages, 9 figures. An explicit example of the Bogoliubov subtraction operator's action on the bare Feynman integral of a two-loop graph has been added; the resulting formula has then been compared with the corresponding formula obtained within the Connes-Kreimer algebraic setting. An appendix introducing Grassmann variables and the Grassmann representation of determinants have been added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:29:20.384Z