Ground States of the $\phi^4$ Double-Well QFT

Abstract

At second order in perturbation theory, we find the ground states of the $\phi^4$ double-well quantum field theory in 1+1 dimensions. The operators which create these ground states from the free vacuum are constructed explicitly at this order, as is the operator which interpolates between the ground states. As a warm up we perform the analogous calculation in quantum mechanics, where the true ground state is unique but in perturbation theory there are also two ground states.