Theoretical and Mathematical Physics 165(2), 1500–1511 (2010)

SCI

Symmetry Factors of Feynman Diagrams for Scalar Fields

P. V. Dong, L. T. Hue, H. T. Hung, H. N. Long, and N. H. Thao

We calculate the symmetry factors of diagrams for real and complex scalar fields in general form using an analysis of the Wick expansion for Green’s functions. We separate two classes of symmetry factors: factors corresponding to connected diagrams and factors corresponding to vacuum diagrams. The symmetry factors of vacuum diagrams play an important role in constructing the effective action and phase transitions in cosmology. In the complex scalar field theory, diagrams with different topologies can contribute the same, and the inverse symmetry factor for the total contribution is therefore the sum of the inverse symmetry factors.