Asymptotic freedom, dimensional transmutation, and an infrared conformal fixed point for theδ-function potential in one-dimensional relativistic quantum mechanics

Abstract

We consider the Schr\"odinger equation for a relativistic point particle in an external 1-dimensional $\delta$-function potential. Using dimensional regularization, we investigate both bound and scattering states, and we obtain results that are consistent with the abstract mathematical theory of self-adjoint extensions of the pseudo-differential operator $H = \sqrt{p^2 + m^2}$. Interestingly, this relatively simple system is asymptotically free. In the massless limit, it undergoes dimensional transmutation and it possesses an infra-red conformal fixed point. Thus it can be used to illustrate non-trivial concepts of quantum field theory in the simpler framework of relativistic quantum mechanics.