Operator product expansions in the two-dimensional O( N) non-linear sigma model

Abstract

The short-distance singularity of the product of a composite scalar field that deforms a field theory and an arbitrary composite field can be expressed geometrically by the beta functions, anomalous dimensions, and a connection on the theory space. Using this relation, we compute the connection perturbatively for the O( N) non-linear sigma model in two dimensions. We show that the connection becomes free of singularities at zero temperature only if we normalize the composite fields so that their correlation functions have well-defined limits at zero temperature.