Feynman Diagrams via Graphical Calculus

Abstract

This paper is an introduction to the language of Feynman Diagrams. We use Reshetikhin-Turaev graphical calculus to define Feynman diagrams and prove that asymptotic expansions of Gaussian integrals can be written as a sum over a suitable family of graphs. We discuss how different kind of interactions give rise to different families of graphs. In particular, we show how symmetric and cyclic interactions lead to ``ordinary'' and ``ribbon'' graphs respectively. As an example, the 't Hooft-Kontsevich model for 2D quantum gravity is treated in some detail.