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arXiv:2508.01787 · Journal of Statistical Physics

A rigorous Keldysh functional integral for fermions

Philipp Benjamin Aretz, Manfred Salmhofer B

Published Feb 14, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We provide a mathematically rigorous Keldysh functional integral for fermionic quantum field theories. We show convergence of a discrete-time Grassmann Gaussian integral representation in the time-continuum limit under very general hypotheses. We also prove analyticity of the effective action and explicit bounds for the truncated (connected) expectation values $$\gamma ^\textrm{c}_{m,\bar{m}}$$ γ m , m ¯ c of the non-equilibrium system. These bounds imply clustering with a summable decay in the thermodynamic limit, provided these properties hold at time zero, and provided that the determinant bound $$\delta _C$$ δ C and decay constant $$\alpha _C$$ α C of the fermionic Keldysh covariance are bounded uniformly in the volume. We then give bounds for these constants and show that uniformity in the volume indeed holds for a general class of systems. Finally we show that in the setting of dissipative quantum systems, these bounds are not necessarily restricted to short times.

DOI
10.1007/s10955-026-03583-5

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Abstract We provide a mathematically rigorous Keldysh functional integral for fermionic quantum field theories. We show convergence of a discrete-time Grassmann Gaussian integral representation in the time-continuum limit under very general hypotheses. We also prove analyticity of the effective action and explicit bounds for the truncated (connected) expectation values γm,mˉc\gamma ^\textrm{c}_{m,\bar{m}}γm,mˉc​ γ m , m ¯ c of the non-equilibrium system. These bounds imply clustering with a summable decay in the thermodynamic limit, provided these properties hold at time zero, and provided that the determinant bound δC\delta _CδC​ δ C and decay constant αC\alpha _CαC​ α C of the fermionic Keldysh covariance are bounded uniformly in the volume. We then give bounds for these constants and show that uniformity in the volume indeed holds for a general class of systems. Finally we show that in the setting of dissipative quantum systems, these bounds are not necessarily restricted to short times.
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Formal functional integrals are commonly used as theoretical tools and as sources of intuition for predicting phase transitions of many-body systems in Condensed Matter Physics. In this thesis, we derive rigorous versions of these functional integrals for two types of quantum many-particle systems. We begin with a brief review of quantum statistical mechanics in Chapter 2 and the formalism of coherent states in Chapter 3, which form the basis for our analysis in Chapters 4 and 5. In Chapter 4, we study a mixed gas of bosons and/or fermions interacting on a finite lattice, with a general Hamiltonian that preserves the total number of particles in each species. We rigorously derive a functional integral representation for the partition function, which employs a large-field cutoff for the boson fields. We then expand the resulting “action” in powers of the fields and find a recursion relation for the coefficients. In the case of a two-body interaction (such as the Coulomb interaction), we also find bounds on the coefficients, which give a domain of analyticity for the action. This domain is large enough for use of the action in the functional integral, provided that the large-field cutoffs are taken to grow not too quickly. In Chapter 5, we study a system of electrons and phonons interacting in a finite lattice, using the Holstein Hamiltonian. Again, we rigorously derive a coherent-state functional integral representation for the partition function of this system and then prove that the “action” in the functional integral is an entire-analytic function of the fields. However, since the Holstein Hamiltonian does not preserve the total number of bosons, the approach from Chapter 4 requires some modification. In particular, we repeatedly use Duhamel expansions in powers of the interaction, rather than sums over particle numbers.