MATHPH In the literature: open

Construct the continuum $2\mathrm{D}$ $O(N)$ sigma model as an interacting theory

In plain words

Zooming out at the scale of the correlation length while the temperature goes to zero should give a continuum quantum field theory with massive interacting particles. Building it rigorously would be a two-dimensional model of the Yang-Mills construction problem.

Precise statement

Show that lattice $O(N)$ correlations ($N \ge 3$) at separations $x = y\,\xi(\beta),\ y\ \text{fixed}$, converge as $\beta \to \infty$ to the Schwinger functions of a non-Gaussian Euclidean field theory on $R^2$ satisfying the Osterwalder-Schrader axioms with a mass gap, and identify its scattering with the factorized S-matrix of A. B. and Al. B. Zamolodchikov (1979). Answer: a construction with proof.

What would settle it

A proof of convergence of the rescaled lattice correlations to an Osterwalder-Schrader theory with non-Gaussian four-point function.

See also