Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Generation and Coherent Control of Pulsed Quantum Frequency Combs
Published on: June 8, 2018
Deep reinforcement learning for complex evaluation of one-loop diagrams in quantum field theory
Andreas Windisch1,2, Thomas Gallien2, Christopher Schwarzlmüller2
1Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
Abstract:
In this paper we present a technique based on deep reinforcement learning that allows for numerical analytic continuation of integrals that are often encountered in one-loop diagrams in quantum field theory. To extract certain quantities of two-point functions, such as spectral densities, mass poles or multiparticle thresholds, it is necessary to perform an analytic continuation of the correlator in question. At one-loop level in Euclidean space, this results in the necessity to deform the integration contour of the loop integral in the complex plane of the square of the loop momentum, to avoid nonanalyticities in the integration plane. Using a toy model for which an exact solution is known, we train a reinforcement learning agent to perform the required contour deformations. Our study shows great promise for an agent to be deployed in iterative numerical approaches used to compute nonperturbative two-point functions, such as the quark propagator Dyson-Schwinger equation, or more generally, Fredholm equations of the second kind, in the complex domain.
Related Concept Videos
Ladder Diagrams: Complexation Equilibria
The formation constant, K1, for the formation of Cd(NH3)2+ complex from cadmium and ammonia is 3.55 × 102. Log K1 (i.e. pNH3) is 2.55, and...
Woodward–Hoffmann Selection Rules and Microscopic Reversibility
Block Diagram Reduction
The first step in this process is the identification and relocation of a branch point. A branch point, where a...
Divergence and Curl of Electric Field
Relation between Mathematical Equations and Block Diagrams
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom

