ON INTEGRATION IN A SPACE WITH COMPLEX DIMENSION

Pavel Etingof

These are comments on dimensional regularization of Feynman integrals, which

was discussed in the lectures of K.Gawedzki and D.Gross. This material can be
found in physical literature, but in a slightly dierent form.
We will rst dene a certain remarkable operator (the D-dimensional integral),
which acts on functions of nonnegative symmetric bilinear forms, and then show
how it applies to dimensional regularization.
Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Pierre Deligne, who helped me improve
this text.
1. The D-dimensional integral.
Let E be a real vector space of dimension N with a volume element dvE . Denote
by S 2E  the space of symmetric bilinear forms on E , and by S+2 E   S 2E  the
set of nonnegative symmetric bilinear forms. We think of elements of S 2E  as of
selfadjoint operators E ! E  . For any such operator A, we can canonically dene
its determinant det(A) 2 R.
Let dA be a volume element on S 2E  dened by dvE . That is: identify E  with
E by any positive operator X : E ! E  with deteminant 1, regard A 2 S 2E  as a
selfadjoint operator on E using this identication, and dene dA to be the volume
element on S 2E  corresponding to the norm jjAjj2 = Tr(A2 ). (It is clear that this
denition does not depend on X ).
Fix a complex number D with ReD > N 1.
Lemma 1. For any B 2 S 2E such that B > 0
Z
(det A)(D N 1)=2 e tr(AB ) dA =
N (D=2)(det B ) D=2 ;
S E
2

D + l
+

NY1
(1) N (D=2) = (2 )N (N 1)=4 2 :
l=0

Proof. Denote this integral by f (B). It is easy to see that for any S 2 GL(E ),
f (S  BS ) = f (B)j det S j D . From this it follows that f (B) = C (D)(det B) D=2 .
It remains to compute C (D). Let us pick B such that det B = 1, and identify
E  with E using the isomorphism B : E  ! E . Then E becomes a Euclidean space
with the inner product B 1. Thus the constant C (D) has the form
Z
(det A)(D N 1)=2 e trA dA
A:E !E;A =A;A0
Typeset by AMS-TEX
Since this integral is invariant under conjugation by SO(E ), we can reduce it to the
quotient space S+2 E  =SO(E ) = [0; 1)N =SN . It is known from the theory of sym-
2  2 
Q spaces that the pushforward of dA from S+E to S+E =SO(E )2has the form
metric
bN 1i<jN jsi sj jds1:::dsN , where si are the eigenvalues of A 2 S+E =SO(E ),
and N (N 1)=4 N (N +1)=4
bN = 2 QN  ;
l=1 (l=2)
Thus, C (D) has the form
Z Y
(2) bN N ! 1 ti(D N 1)=2 Y e ti Y jt tj jdt1:::dtN :
i
[0;1)N i i 1i<j N
To compute this integral, we use (a special case of) Selberg's integral formula:
Z Y aY Y
ti (1 ti)b jti tj jdt1:::dtN =
0ti 1 i i 1i<j N
YN (a + l+1 ) (b + l+1 ) ( l + 1)
2 2 2
(3)
( a + b + 2N l+3 ) ( 3 ) :
l=1 2 2
Let us set si = bti in Selberg's integral, and send b to +1. In the limit, using
Stirling's formula, and setting a = (D N 1)=2, we get
N
C (D) = bN N ! 1Y
( D+2l N ) ( 2l + 1)
=
( 32 )
l=1
YN D + l N   l 
bN  N=2
(4)
l=1 2 2 = N (D=2)::
The Lemma is proved.
Now consider the function ED on S 2E  which is supported at S+2 E  and is given
by the formula
(5) ED(A) = ND=2 N (D=2) 1 (det A)(D N 1)=2:
By Lemma 1, we have
Z
(6) E
D (A)e tr(AB ) dA =  ND=2(det B ) D=2 ;
S E
2
+

ReD > N 1.
If ReD > N 1, the function ED (A) is a locally L1-function, so it denes a
distribution on S 2E . Let us compute the Fourier transform of ED (A), i.e.
Z
^ED (B) = 
 D
E ( A) e itr(AB )dA;
S2 E
B 2 S 2E (the integral is understood in the sense of distributions).
2
Lemma 2.
(7) ^ED (B) = Jlim
!+0
 ND=2 det(iB + J ) D=2 :

where J 2 S 2E ; J > 0.
Remark. Here we use the branch of the function z D=2 which is equal to
e D ln z=2 for real positive z.
Proof. By analytic continuation, formula (6) holds for arbitrary B 2 (S 2E )C with
ReB > 0. In particular, we can replace B with iB + J , where B 2 S 2E  . In the
limit when J ! +0, we obtain formula (7).
Let  : S 2E ! Hom(E  ; E ) be the tautological embedding. Let
be the
polynomial of degree N on S 2E , dened by the equation
(B) = det((B)). We
regard
as a dierential operator of order N on S 2E  with constant coecients.
Corollary 3. If ReD > N + 1, then
(8)
ED (A) = N ED 2(A):
Proof. The proof is obvious after passing to Fourier transforms.
Let S (S 2E  ) be the space of complex-valued Schwarz functions on S 2E  . For
any f 2 S (S 2E ) and ReD > N 1, dene
Z
(9) IDE (f ) = 
 D
E (A)f (A)dA:
S2 E
Corollary 4. IDE (f ) extends to an entire function of D.
Proof. For ReD > N 1 2K , K 2 Z+, we can dene IDE (f ) by the formula
Z
(10) IDE (f ) = ( ) KN 
E
D +2K ( A )
K f (A)dA:
S2 E
According to Corollary 3, if ReD >> 0, formula (10) denes the same function as
(9). Thus, (10) denes an analytic continuation of IDE .
Proposition 5. Let D  0 be a nonnegative integer, and V be a vector space of
dimension D, with a positive denite symmetric bilinear form  . Then for any
f 2 S (S 2E ) one has
Z
(11) IDE (f ) = f (x ( ))dx;
Hom(E;V )
where x ( ) denotes the inverse image of  under x (a nonnegative symmetric
bilinear form on E ).
Proof. It is enough to check that (11) holds for functions e tr(AB)1S E (A) where
2
+
1Y is the characteristic function of the set Y , and Re(B) > 0. This follows from
the fact that the function f (A) admits a Fourier representation.
3
 In the case
f ( A) = e tr(AB )1
(12) S+2 E  (A);

evaluating the Gaussian integral on the right hand side of (11), we get ND=2(det B) D=2 .
On the left hand side of (11), by Lemma 1, we get the same. The proposition is
proved.
Remark. From Proposition 5 it is clear why formula (9) works only for ReD >
N 1. Indeed, for integer D between 0 and N 1 the distribution D (A)dA is
concentrated on forms of rank  D, so it is a purely singular distribution. Thus, the
measure D (A)dA is not absolutely continuous with respect to dA and hence cannot
be represented as a function times dA. In fact, it turns out that this distribution
is singular (not locally L1 ) for all D with ReD  N 1.
Proposition 5 motivates the following denition.
Denition. IDE (f ) is called the D-dimenional integral of f .
Another way of computing the D-dimensional integral is using Fourier trans-
forms. By Plancherel formula, it follows from (9) that
Z
(13) IDE (f ) = (2) N (N +1)=2 f^(B)^ED (B)dB;
S E
2

where f^ is the Fourier transform of f . (It is clear that ^ED (B) = limJ !+0 ND=2 det( iB+
J ) D=2).
For ReD < 2, this formula can be written as
Z
(14) IDE (f ) = 2 N (N +1)=2N (D N 1)=2 ^(B)e iD (B)j det(B)j
f 4 D=2 dB;
SE 2 

where (B) is the signature of B (the number of pluses minus the number of
minuses). If ReD  2, the distribution ^ED (B) is singular, so in order to dene
IDE (f ) by a direct integration formula, we need to use the operator
. Namely,
from Lemma 1 it follows that
N
(15)
^ED(B) = ( 1)N pN (D)^ED+2(B); pN (D) =  N YD+l N
l=1 2

So if ReD < 2 + 2K , we can dene IDE by the formula

YK
E
ID ( f ) = 2 N (N +1) = 2  N (D N 1)= 2 pN (D 2J ) 1
Z J =1

K f^(B)e 4 (B)j det(B)j( D+2K)=2 dB;
i(D 2K )
(16)
S2E
4
 Example. If N = 1, the D-dimensional integral of f is (up to normalization)
just the Mellin transform of f :
Z1
IDE (f ) = D=2 (D=2) 1 x D 1 f (x)dx:
2

0
Let S (S+2 E  ) be the space of smooth functions f on S+2 E , such that all the
derivatives of f are rapidly decaying. It is easy to see that the restriction map
S (S 2E  ) ! S (S+2 E  ) is surjective. So, IDE denes a linear functional S (S+2 E ) !
C.
2. D-dimensional integral with parameters.
Now we will extend our construction to a more general situation. Let F  E be
a subspace of dimension M with a volume element dvF . Any symmetric bilinear
form A on E denes a form AF on F (the restriction of E ).
Also, for any symmetric bilinear form B on E  such that BF ? is nondegenerate
we can dene a form BF on F  as follows. Let (F ? )?B be the B-orthogonal
complement of F ? . As BF ? is nondegenerate, this space 
is naturally identied
  ? F
with F = E =F . By the denition, the form B is the restriction of B to
(F ? )?B = F  .
Let us nd an explicit expression of BF  . Choose a positive denite inner product
on E and thus identify E  with E . Then we have a decomposition E = F  F ?,
and B becomes a selfadjoint operator E ! E with a decomposition
 
B= B B ;B11 B12
21 22
where Bij = Bji . Now the operator corresponding to BF ? is B22, and the operator
corresponding to BF  is B11 B12B221 B21. From this formula it is obvious that
for this operator to be dened, it is sucient for B22 to be invertible.
The following Lemma is a generalization of Lemma 1.
Lemma 6. For ReD > N 1 and any positive B 2 S 2E , C 2 S 2F 
Z
(AF C )(det A)(D N 1)=2 e tr(AB ) dA =
S E
2
+

(17) N (D=2) e tr(CB F  ) (det C )(D M 1)=2(det B ? ) D=2 ;

F
M (D=2)
Remark. The space S 2F  inherits a volume element from F , so the delta-
function (AF C ) is well dened.
Proof. Denote the left hand side of (17) by I (B; C ). Let S 2 GL(E ) be an au-
tomorphism which preserves F . Make a change of variable A ! S AS . Then
AF ! SF AF SF , where SF is the restriction of S to F . Thus we get
(18) I (B; C ) = j det S jN M I (SBS  ; (SF ) 1 CSF 1):
Now choose B with det BF ? = 1, and identify E  with E using the map B : E !
E  . Then E becomes a Euclidean space  with the inner product B 1 . Now we can
 
identify F with F using the map B : F ! F , thus F is also a Euclidean space.
F

5
 After these identications, integral (17) takes the form
Z
(19) (AF C )(det A)(D N 1)=2 e trA dA:
A2 S E 
2
+

Using the decomposition E = F  F ? , we can write A in the form

 
(20) A= A A ;A 11 A 12
21 22

where Aij = Aji . This allows us to rewrite (19) as
Z
(21) (det A)(D N 1)=2 e trA dA:
A2S E  :A11 =C
2
+

To compute this integral, let us use the identity det A = det A11 det(A22 A21A111 A12).
Since we are integrating over such A that A11 = C , we get det A = det C det(A22
A21 C 1A12 ). After the change of variable X = A22 A21 C 1A12, integral (21)
takes the form
(22) Z Z
(det C )(D N 1)=2 e tr C (det X ) (D N 1)=2 tr
e dXX e trA C A dA12
12
1
12

X 0 Hom(F ? ;F )
The second integral in (22) is Gaussian and equals
(23) (2)M (N M )=2(det C )(M N )=2:
The rst integral in (22) was computed in Lemma 1 and equals N M ((D M )=2).
Using the identity
N (D=2) = (2 )M (N M )=2
(24) N M ((D M )=2):
M (D=2)
we obtain the statement of the Lemma.
Now consider the distribution on S 2E  (depending on C as a parameter)
EF ( A; C ) =  ( A C ) ED(A) =
D F FD(C )
(25) (N M )D=2 M ((D= D=2) (A C )(det C ) (D M 1)=2(det A)(D N 1)=2;
N 2) F
for ReD > N 1.
For f 2 S (S+2 E ), dene a function IDEF (f ) on C > 0, by setting
Z
(26) IDEF (f )(C ) = EF (A; C )f (A)dA:
 D
S E 2
+

Since (det C ) 1  (det A) 1 (trA)N M , the function IDEF (f ) extends continuously

to C  0, i.e. denes a continuous, rapidly decaying function on S+2 F  .
Remark. Although the power of (det C ) 1 in (25) is more than that of det A,
for small det C the intersection of the region of integration in (26) with any xed
ball has area  (det C )(N M )=2 (because of presence of the delta-function), which
helps compensate the negative exponent of det C .
Using Lemma 6, it is easy to compute the Fourier transform ^EF D (B; C ) of
EF
D (A; C ) with respect to A.
6
Lemma 7.
^EF (N M )D=2e itr(CB F  ) det(iB ? + J ) D=2 :
(27) D (B; C ) = J lim
!+0 F

Proof. Analogous to the proof of Lemma 2.

Let
2 be the operator
acting on S (S 2F ?).
Corollary 8. If ReD > N + 1, then
(28)
2EF N EF
D (A; C ) =  D 2 (A; C ):
(here
2 acts on A).
Proof. The proof is immediate after passing to Fourier transforms.
Corollary 9. For any f 2 S (S+2 E  ), IDEF (f ) is a Schwarz function of C , and
for any C  0 the function IDEF (f )(C ), regarded as a function of D, analytically
continues to an entire function.
Proof. Similar to the Proof of Corollary 4.
Proposition 10. Let D  0 be a nonnegative integer, and V be a vector space
of dimension D with a positive denite symmetric bilinear form  . Then for any
f 2 S (S+2 E ) and y : F ! V one has
Z
(29) IDEF (f )(y ( )) = f (x ( ))dx:
x2Hom(E;V ):xjF =y

Proof. As in Proposition 5, it is enough to consider f (A) = e tr(AB). In this case,

on the r.h.s. of (19) is a Gaussian integral, whose value is
(N M )D=2e tr(y ( )B F  ) (det B ? ) D=2 :
F
Thus, the Proposition follows from Lemma 6.
Denition. IDEF is called the D-dimensional integral with external parameters.
As before, the D-dimensional integral can be computed using Fourier transform.
Let f 2 S (S 2E ). By Plancherel formula,
Z
(30) IDEF (f )(C ) = (2) N (N +1)=2 ^(B)^EF
f D (B; C )dB;
S2 E 

where f^ is the Fourier transform of f . Here

^EF (N M )D=2eitr(CB F  ) det( D=2 :
D (B; C ) = Jlim
!+0
iBF ? + J )
7
 For ReD < 2, this formula can be written as
IDEF (f )(C ) =
(31) Z 
2 N (N +1) = 2  (( N M )D N (N +1))= 2 f^(B)e iD (BF ? )eitr(CBF )j det(BF ? )j D=2 dB:
4

S2 E
If ReD  2, the distribution ^EF EF
D (B; C ) is singular, so in order to dene ID (f ) by
a direct integration formula, we need to use the operator
. Namely, from Lemma
6 it follows that
(det C ) 1
^EF
D (B; C ) = ( 1)
N M pNM (D)EF (B );
D+2
YN D+l N
(32) pNM (D) = M N 2
l=M +1
So if ReD < 2 + 2K , we can dene IDEF by the formula
K
Y
IDEF (f )(C ) = 2 N (N +1)=2((N M )D N (N +1))=2(det C ) K pN (D 2J ) 1
Z J =1

K f^(B)e itr(CB F  ) i(D
e 4
2 K ) (B )
j det(B)j( D+2K)=2 dB:
S E
2

Thus we have dened an operator IDEF : S (S+2 E ) ! S (S+2 F  ). It is clear that

IDFG IDEF = IDEG if E  F  G, and IDE0 = IDE .
Now we can dene the D-dimensional integral of functions with polynomial
growth. Let f be a smooth function on S 2E  such that there exists a 2 R for
which f and all its derivatives satisfy the condition (A) = O(jjAjja ), jjAjj ! 1
(for any norm on S 2E ). In this case, the integral IDEF (f ) is dened for ReD << 0.
Indeed, the condition on f implies that the Fourier transform f^ is a distribution de-
ned on functions with suciently many continuous derivatives having polynomial
growth at innity. Thus, we can use formula (30) to dene IDEF (f ) for ReD << 0.
Remark. The operator IDEF has rather strange properties. For example, if
P is any polynomial, then IDE (P (A)) = 0. Indeed, the Fourier transform of P is
a distribution supported at 0, so for suciently negative D formula (14) gives 0.
Thus, IDE is not continuous in any topology in which polynomials are dense.
Example. Let N = 1, M = 0, and f be a rationalPfunction, regular n
at x  0.
Write f as a sum of simple fractions: f (x) = f0 (x) + i i (x + ai ) , where f0 is
i
a polynomial, ai 2 C n R , and ni are positive integers. Then
X
IDE (f ) = D=2 i (ni (nD= 2) ani D :
i
2

i i)
Thus we see that if f is satises the above condition of polynomial growth then
EF
ID (f )(C ) is holomorphic in D for ReD << 0. In general, we cannot expect that
this function will analytically continue to the whole complex plane. However, for
functions of a certain algebraic nature, it extends meromorphically to the whole
complex plane.
3. D-dimensional integral of functions arising from Feynman dia-
grams.
8
Denition. A function f on S+2 E  is called a function of Feynman type if it has
the form
f ( A) = Ql P ( A)
2 ;
j =1 (tr(ABj ) + mj )
P
where P is a polynomial, Bj  0, such that ( tiBi )F ? is nondegenerate for ti > 0,
and mj 6= 0 are real numbers.
Proposition 11. If f is of Feynman type then IDEF (f ) extends meromorphically
to the whole complex plane.
Proof. We will prove the statement for P = 1. For general P , the proof is similar
to the case P = 1. R
Using the formula b 1 = 01 e tb dt, we can rewrite IDEF (f ) in the form
Z P tj mj
(33) IDEF (f ) = e 2
IDEF (e tr(A(P tj Bj )) )dt:
t1 ;:::;tl2[0;1)
P
Set B(t) = tj Bj . Using Lemma 6, we can rewrite this in the form
(34) Z
EF N M = P 
ID (f )(C ) =  ( ) 2 e tj mj tr(CBF (t))(det BF ? (t)) D=2 dt:
2

t1 ;:::;tl2[0;1)
Now we will use the following theorem of Bernstein, which is proved with the
help of the theory of D-modules.
Bernstein's theorem. Let Q(t) be any polynomial in l variables. Then there
exists a polynomial dierential operator L(D) in l variables, with coecients de-
pending polynomially on D, and a polynomial q in D, such that L(D)Q D=2 =
q(D)Q 1 D=2 .
This theorem implies the following statement, which is a special case of a result
of Bernstein.
Corollary. Assume that Q takes positive values for tj > 0, and let g be a
rapidly decaying smooth function dened for ti  0, such that its derivatives are
also rapidly decaying. Then the integral
Z
(35) I (D; g) = g(t)Q(t) D=2 dt;
ti 2[0;1)
convergent for ReD << 0, extends meromorphically to the whole complex plane.
The corollary is proved by induction in l (the number of tj ). The base of induc-
tion is trivial. Now, using Bernstein's theorem and integration by parts, we can
write
Z
I (D + 2; g) = q(D) 1 g(t)L(D)(Q(t) D=2 )dt =

(36) Z
q (D ) 1 (L(D) g(t))Q(t) D=2 dt + C (D) = q(D) 1 I (D; L(D) g) + C (D);

9
where C (D) is the integral over the boundary, which is meromorphic by the as-
sumption of induction.
Now we apply the corollary to our situation, and obtain the proof of the Propo-
sition for P = 1.
Remark 1. Using Hironaka's theorem about the existence of a smooth reso-
lution of singularities for a compact projective variety, it is possible to prove that
IDEF is meromorphic in D in a much more general situation than in Proposition 11.
For example, as was explained to me by M.Kontsevich, one can prove that if f is a
rational function without singularities in S+2 E  , then IDEF (f ) is meromorphic.
It is also possible to show that for rational f as above the poles of IDEF (f ) are
all rational, and belong to a nite number of arithmetic progressions.
4. Dimensional regularization of Feynman integrals.
Proposition 11 allows to dene the procedure of dimensional regularization of
Feynman integrals in quantum eld theory.
Suppose that we have a quantum eld theory given by some Lagrangian, and
we want to compute its correlation functions. According to Feynman rules, such
a correlation function equals to the sum of amplitudes of all Feynman diagrams
(graphs), which are given by some nite-dimensional integrals.
We will work in the Euclidean setting and in momentum space. For simplicity we
will assume that our theory contains only scalar massive elds. Then the amplitude
of any Feynman graph is given by the formula
Z
(37) g(x)dx; y 2 Hom(F; V );
x2Hom(E;V ):xjF =y
where V is the momentum space (a Euclidean space of dimension d with inner
product  ), E = Hc1 ( n @ ; R) (the cohomology with compact supports), F is
the image of the map H 0 (@ ; R) ! Hc1 ( n @ ; R) in the long exact sequence of
cohomology, and g is a function on Hom(E; V ) of the form g(z) = f (z ( )), where
f is a certain function of Feynman type attached to .
Remark. It is clear from the long exact sequence that E=F = H 1 ( ; R).
Since cohomology groups are dened over Z, they have natural volume elements.
This denes the volume element dx in (37).
The problem is that integral (37) is often divergent, since the function g does
not decay rapidly enough.
Dimensional regularization is a method to give meaning to the integral (37). This
is done as follows. Recall that since f is of Feynman type, IDEF (f ) is meromorphic
in D.
Denition. Dimensional
H regularization of integral (37) is the regular part of IDEF (f )
at D = d, i.e. 21i jD dj=" IDEF (f )d ln(D d).
Remark. In general, we have to consider functions f which (even before the
regularization) depend meromorphically on D. This is caused by the fact that
our graph may contain divergent proper subgraphs, which have to have been
regularized before we start working with . Since regularization is performed by
adding D-dependent counterterms, we will have to work with functions which de-
pend meromorphically on D.
10
 5. D-dimensional Stokes formula.
Let F  E be vector spaces with volume elements, dim E = N , dim F = M ,
and D be any complex number. Dene the space
top EF of (Schwarz) top degree
 top 1
forms to be the space S (S+E ), and the space
EF of forms of degree top 1
2
to be the space of Schwarz functions ! : S+2 E  ! Hom(E=F; E ). That is,
top EF =
Hom(E=F; E )
S (S+E ).2 
If D is an integer, and V is a Euclidean space of dimension D with inner product
 , then we have a linear map  : Hom(E; V ) ! Hom(F; V ) given by restriction,
and any f 2
top 
EF indeed denes a top dierential form f (x ( ))dx on each ber of
 (dx is the natural volume form on the ber).
Also, any ! 2
EF top 1 denes a top 1-form on the ber. Indeed, let z :
(E=F ) ! V be a linear map. We regard z as a constant 1-form on the bers of .
Then the top 1-form corresponding to
is dened by the formula (! ^ z)(x) =
tr(! (x; z))dx, where  (x; z) 2 Hom(E
(E=F ) ; R) is regarded as an operator
E ! E=F .
Recall that the group GL(E ) acts on S+2 E  by A ! S  AS , S 2 GL(E ). Thus,
any element X of the Lie 
algebra End(E ) of GL(E ) denes a vector eld on S+2 E :
LX f (A) = dtd jt=0Pf (eX t AeXt).
For any ! = Xi
fi 2
top 1 , X 2 Hom(E=F; E ), f 2 S (S 2 E  ), dene the
EF i i +
top
form d! 2
EF by the formula
X
(38) d! = (LXi fi + Dtr(Xi )fi );
i
where Xi are regarded as elements of End(E ). Thus, we have dened a linear map
top 1 !
top . It is easy to see that if D is an integer, d coincides with the
d :
EF EF
usual dierential.
Proposition 12. (Stokes formula.) IDEF (d!) = 0 for any ! 2
EF top 1 .

Proof. It is enough to prove the formula for ReD >> 0; for other values of D the
formula follows by analytic continuation.
For ReD >> 0, the formula follows by integration by parts from the denition
(26) of IDEF , as LX ((det A)(D N 1)=2dA) = Dtr(X )(det A)(D N 1)=2dA.

11