Joshua Ellisi · vi · mmxxvi

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simpler-wick

Wick contractions for quantum field theory, made readable

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Wick contractions appear in quantum field theory calculations where they connect field operators in time-ordered products to recover propagators. Writing them in LaTeX is tedious with the standard simplewick package, which requires manual bracket matching and is sensitive to spacing.

simpler-wick provides a cleaner syntax: contractions are specified by pairing labels, and the package handles the bracket drawing automatically.

Usage

\usepackage{simpler-wick}

% Contract fields 1–3 and 2–4:
\(
  \wick{
    \c1\psi \c2\bar\psi \c2\phi \c1\bar\phi
  }
\)

The package renders arcs above or below the expression at the correct height, avoids overlapping brackets, and handles nested contractions cleanly. It works seamlessly with amsmath environments.

Available on CTAN.