Quantum Field Theory over $\mathbb{F}_q$

Abstract

We consider the number $\bar N(q)$ of points in the projective complement of graph hypersurfaces over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and show that the smallest graphs with non-polynomial $\bar N(q)$ have 14 edges. We give six examples which fall into two classes. One class has an exceptional prime 2 whereas in the other class $\bar N(q)$ depends on the number of cube roots of unity in $\mathbb{F}_q$. At graphs with 16 edges we find examples where $\bar N(q)$ is given by a polynomial in $q$ plus $q^2$ times the number of points in the projective complement of a singular K3 in $\mathbb{P}^3$.

In the second part of the paper we show that applying momentum space Feynman-rules over $\mathbb{F}_q$ lets the perturbation series terminate for renormalizable and non-renormalizable bosonic quantum field theories.