Topological Renormalisation of the O(3) Sigma Model

Abstract

We show that the one-instanton sector moduli-space divergence of the O(3) Sigma Model leads to an unacceptable dependence of Green's functions on the arbitrary way that the field is split into a quantum fluctuation about a classical background. Since the divergence is associated with the degeneration of field configurations to those of the zero-instanton sector this arbitrariness may be cancelled by a `topological counter-term' which we construct.