Osterwalder-Schrader Axioms for the Gaussian Free Field

We construct the massive Gaussian Free Field (GFF) in four spacetime dimensions as a probability measure on the space of tempered distributions S'(ℝ⁴), and prove that it satisfies all five Osterwalder-Schrader axioms for a Euclidean quantum field theory. The construction and proofs are formalized in Lean 4 / Mathlib, following the conventions and methods of proof in Glimm and Jaffe, Quantum Physics: A Functional Integral Point of View (Springer, 1987).

Master Theorem

theorem gaussianFreeField_satisfies_all_OS_axioms (m : ℝ) [Fact (0 < m)] :
  OS0_Analyticity (μ_GFF m) ∧
  OS1_Regularity (μ_GFF m) ∧
  OS2_EuclideanInvariance (μ_GFF m) ∧
  OS3_ReflectionPositivity (μ_GFF m) ∧
  OS4_Clustering (μ_GFF m) ∧
  OS4_Ergodicity (μ_GFF m)

Status: Version 2.0, March 2026. 0 sorries, 0 axioms, ~32,000 lines of Lean across 47 files.

All results are fully proved — no assumed axioms. Nuclear space structure and the Minlos theorem are provided by the external libraries bochner and gaussian-field, which are themselves axiom-free. The Minlos proof uses the external library kolmogorov_extension4.

Project Structure

The 47 library files are organized into 6 layers, with imports flowing from earlier to later sections. See docs/architecture.md for dependency structure, design choices, and proof outlines. The dependency graph is in dependency/import_graph.svg.


1. General Mathematics — OSforGFF/General/

Pure extensions of Mathlib with no project-specific definitions.

FileContents
FunctionalAnalysisL² Fourier transform infrastructure, Plancherel identity
FrobeniusPositivityFrobenius inner product, positive semidefinite matrix theory
SchurProductSchur product theorem (Hadamard product preserves PSD)
HadamardExpEntrywise exponential of PSD matrices is PSD
PositiveDefinitePositive definite functions and kernels
GaussianRBFGaussian RBF kernel exp(-‖x-y‖²) is positive definite
FourierTransforms1D Fourier identities: Lorentzian ↔ exponential decay
LaplaceIntegralLaplace integral identity (Bessel K_{1/2}): ∫ s^{-1/2} e^{-a/s-bs} ds
BesselFunctionModified Bessel function K₁ via integral representation
QuantitativeDecaySchwartz bilinear forms with exponentially decaying kernels have polynomial decay
SchwartzTranslationDecaySchwartz seminorm bounds under translation
L2TimeIntegralL² bounds for time integrals: Cauchy-Schwarz, Fubini, Minkowski

2. Spacetime — OSforGFF/Spacetime/

Test functions, symmetries, and integration infrastructure.

FileContents
BasicSpaceTime (ℝ⁴), TestFunction, FieldConfiguration, distribution pairing
EuclideanEuclidean group E(4) = ℝ⁴ ⋊ O(4) and its action on test functions
DiscreteSymmetryTime reflection Θ: (t,x̄) ↦ (−t,x̄)
DecompositionMeasure-preserving SpaceTime ≃ ℝ × ℝ³ decomposition
ComplexTestFunctionComplex-valued Schwartz test functions and conjugation
PositiveTimeTestFunctionSubtype of test functions supported at positive time
TimeTranslationTime translation operators T_s on Schwartz space
ProdIntegrableIntegrability of Schwartz function products
TonelliTonelli/Fubini for Schwartz integrands on spacetime

3. Schwinger — OSforGFF/Schwinger/

Generating functionals and correlation functions.

FileContents
DefsGenerating functional Z[J] = ∫ e^{i⟨φ,J⟩} dμ, Schwinger n-point functions
TwoPointTwo-point function S₂(x) as mollifier limit
GaussianMomentsGaussian moments: all n-point functions are integrable

4. Covariance — OSforGFF/Covariance/

The free scalar field propagator C(x,y) = (m/4π²|x−y|) K₁(m|x−y|) and its properties.

FileContents
MomentumMomentum-space propagator 1/(k²+m²), decay bounds
ParsevalParseval identity: ⟨f,Cf⟩ = ∫|f̂(k)|² P(k) dk
PositionPosition-space covariance, Euclidean invariance, Schwinger representation
RealFormReal covariance bilinear form, square root propagator embedding

5. Measure — OSforGFF/Measure/

Construction of the GFF probability measure via the Minlos theorem.

FileContents
NuclearSpaceSchwartz space is Hilbert-nuclear and separable (bridges bochner + gaussian-field)
MinlosMinlos theorem application, Gaussian measure construction
MinlosAnalyticSymmetry and moments for Gaussian measures (sign-flip invariance, zero mean)
ConstructGFF measure construction: covariance → characteristic functional → μ
IsGaussianVerification that S₂(f,g) = C(f,g) via OS0 derivative interchange
GaussianFreeFieldMain GFF assembly: μ_GFF m as a ProbabilityMeasure

Note: IsGaussian imports OS0_Analyticity because it uses the proved analyticity of Z[z₀f + z₁g] to identify S₂(f,g) = C(f,g) via the identity theorem. The dependency is on the OS0 result, not on OS0-specific infrastructure.


6. OS Axioms — OSforGFF/OS/

Axiom definitions, individual proofs, and master theorem.

FileContents
AxiomsFormal Lean definitions of OS0 through OS4
OS0_AnalyticityClosed-form Z[f] = exp(-½ C(f,f)) via identity theorem + Fernique
OS1_RegularityPlancherel + momentum-space bound: |Z[f]| ≤ exp(‖f‖²/2m²)
OS2_InvarianceC(x,y) depends only on |x−y|, Lebesgue measure invariance
OS3_MixedRepInfraSchwinger parametrization and Fubini theorems for absolute integrability
OS3_MixedRepMixed representation via Schwinger → heat kernel → Laplace transform
OS3_CovarianceRPCovariance reflection positivity: ⟨Θf, Cf⟩ = ∫ (1/ω)|F_ω|² ≥ 0
OS3_ReflectionPositivitySchur–Hadamard lifts covariance RP to generating functional
OS4_MGFShared infrastructure: MGF formula, time translation duality
OS4_ClusteringGaussian factorization + convolution decay lemma (domain split at ‖y‖=‖x‖/2)
OS4_ErgodicityPolynomial clustering (α=6) → L² convergence
NonTrivialNontriviality: C(f,f) > 0, positive variance, UV divergence C(x,y) → ∞
MasterAssembles OS0–OS4 into gaussianFreeField_satisfies_all_OS_axioms

External Libraries

We depend on three auxiliary Lean libraries for nuclear space theory and measure construction. All are axiom-free.

bochner (BochnerMinlos)

ModuleWhat we useImported by
Minlos.Mainminlos_theorem — existence and uniqueness of probability measures from characteristic functionals on nuclear spacesMinlos
Minlos.NuclearSpaceIsHilbertNuclear typeclass; MeasurableSpace (WeakDual ℝ E) cylinder σ-algebra instanceBasic, NuclearSpace
Minlos.PietschBridgeisHilbertNuclear_of_nuclear — bridge from Pietsch to Hilbert-Schmidt characterizationNuclearSpace
Bochner.PositiveDefiniteIsPositiveDefinite structure for characteristic functionalsMinlos

gaussian-field (GaussianField)

ModuleWhat we useImported by
SchwartzNuclear.HermiteNuclearschwartz_separableSpace — Schwartz space is separable (via Hermite basis)NuclearSpace
Nuclear.NuclearSpaceDyninMityaginSpaceNuclearSpace — proves Schwartz space is nuclearNuclearSpace

kolmogorov_extension4 (transitive, via bochner)

ModuleWhat we useImported by
KolmogorovExtension4.KolmogorovExtensionprojectiveLimit — Kolmogorov extension theorem: constructs a measure on the infinite product from a consistent projective family of finite-dimensional measuresbochner's Minlos.ProjectiveFamily

Dependencies and Cross-Cutting Concerns

The import graph (dependency/import_graph.svg) is mostly layered, with one cross-cutting dependency:

  1. IsGaussian → OS0_Analyticity: Gaussianity verification uses the OS0 analyticity result to identify S₂(f,g) = C(f,g) via the identity theorem (see Section 5 note)

This prevents a perfectly linear ordering but does not create a circular dependency.

Building

lake build

Requires Lean 4 and Mathlib (pinned via lake-manifest.json).

Related Work

  • or4nge19/OSforGFF — A fork by Matteo Cipollina pursuing a different measure construction pipeline: finite-dimensional Gaussians → Kolmogorov extension on test functions → nuclear support → pushforward to distribution space, avoiding the Minlos theorem. Develops coordinate-free Euclidean time-direction and dimension-agnostic Hermite APIs.

Planned Generalizations

  1. Other spacetime dimensions, as discussed in docs/dimension_dependence.md
  2. Explicit construction of the measure not using Minlos — Done. The Minlos theorem and Kolmogorov extension are now fully proved in bochner and kolmogorov_extension4.

Authors

Michael R. Douglas, Sarah Hoback, Anna Mei, Ron Nissim

Coding Assistance

Claude Opus 4.6, Gemini 3 Pro, GPT-5.2 Codex

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

References

  • Glimm, Jaffe: Quantum Physics (Springer, 1987), pp. 89–90
  • Osterwalder, Schrader: Axioms for Euclidean Green's functions I & II (1973, 1975)
  • Gel'fand, Vilenkin: Generalized Functions, Vol. 4 (Academic Press, 1964)
  • Reed, Simon: Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics, Vol. II (1975)
  • Degenne, Pfaffelhuber: Formalizing the Kolmogorov Extension Theorem in Lean (kolmogorov_extension4)