Application of Cauchy residue theorem to Matsubara sums in physics

50 Views Asked by At

In quantum field theory (specifically when calculating free fermionic propagators via coherent state path integral), we encounter the following sum: $$I_{\beta}(\tau,\tau')\mathrel{\mathop:}= \frac{1}{\beta}\sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty \frac{e^{-i\omega_n(\tau-\tau')}}{-i\omega_n+E}$$ where $0\leq\tau'\leq\tau\leq\beta$ and $\omega_n=(2n+1)\frac{\pi}{\beta}$ is called the Matsubara frequency. We want to evaluate this sum, with the final answer being $$I_{\beta}(\tau,\tau')=\frac{e^{-E(\tau-\tau')}}{e^{-\beta E}+1}$$ While I am very close to obtaining this, I'm missing one step. Let me share what I have so far. I define two functions. The first is $$f_\beta(z)=\frac{\beta}{e^{-\beta z}+1}$$ which has infinitely many poles along the imaginary axis at $z_n=i\omega_n$. It is easy to show that $z_n$ is a simple pole, and that the residue of $f$ at $z_n$ is 1. Next, I define $$g(z;\tau,\tau')=\frac{e^{-z(\tau-\tau')}}{-z+E}$$ It clearly has a simple pole at $z=E$. I then define the region $S$ to be the rectangle going from $-i\infty$ to $+i\infty$ along the imaginary axis and $-x$ to $x$ along the real axis (where $x < E$ so that the pole of $g$ is not contained in $S$). By Cauchy residue theorem, $$\begin{align} \frac{1}{\beta}\oint_{\gamma=\partial S}\ \frac{dz}{2\pi i}\ g(z; \tau, \tau') f_\beta (z) &= \frac{1}{\beta}\sum_n \text{Res}\left[g(z)f(z), i\omega_n\right]\\ &= \frac{1}{\beta}\sum_n g(i\omega_n)\\ &= I_{\beta}(\tau,\tau') \end{align}$$ To evaluate the integral, we deform the contour $\gamma=\partial S$. The new contour consists of (i) an infinite counterclockwise circle and (ii) a small clockwise circle enclosing $E$ on the real axis (if this part is not clear I can elaborate). If we assume that the integral over (i) vanishes, then we are left with $$-\frac{1}{\beta}\text{Res}\left[g(z)f(z), E\right]$$ which matches the correct answer I gave above. The problem is that I do not see how the integral over (i) vanishes. We have $$\begin{align} \lim_{|z|\rightarrow \infty}\ \left|g(z;\tau,\tau')f_\beta (z)\right|&= \lim_{|z|\rightarrow \infty} \left|\frac{\beta}{-z+E}\right|\cdot\left|\frac{e^{z(\tau'-\tau)}}{e^{-\beta z}+1}\right|\\ \end{align}$$ But this is apparently not zero. For example, suppose $\tau'\neq\tau$. It seems the sign of the exponent in the numerator can be positive or negative depending on the sign of $\text{Re}(z)$. The infinite contour can be subdivided into two halves, one with positive real part and one with negative real part. So there is specifically a problem with the left half.

Am I not calculating this limit correctly? Alternatively, did I make a mistake elsewhere in my approach? Is there a better method/function to choose to evaluate the sum?