In quantum field theory, the operator product expansion (OPE) is used as an axiom to define the product of fields as a sum over the same fields. As an axiom, it offers a non-perturbative approach to quantum field theory. One example is the vertex operator algebra, which has been used to construct two-dimensional conformal field theories. Whether this result can be extended to QFT in general, thus resolving many of the difficulties of a perturbative approach, remains an open research question.
In practical calculations, such as those needed for scattering amplitudes in various collider experiments, the operator product expansion is used in QCD sum rules to combine results from both perturbative and non-perturbative (condensate) calculations.
2D Euclidean quantum field theory
In 2D Euclidean field theory, the operator product expansion is a Laurent series expansion associated with two operators. In such an expansion, there are finitely many negative powers of the variable, in addition to potentially infinitely many positive powers of the variable.
This expansion is a locally convergent sum. More precisely, if <math> y </math> is a point, and <math> A </math> and <math> B </math> are operator-valued fields, then there is an open neighborhood <math> O </math> of <math> y </math> such that for all <math> x \in O\setminus \{y\} </math>
:<math>A(x)B(y)=\sum_{i}c_i(x-y) C_i(y)</math>
Heuristically, in quantum field theory the interest is in the physical observables represented by operators. To know the result of making two physical observations at two points <math>z</math> and <math>w</math>, their operators can be ordered in increasing time.
In conformal coordinate mappings, the radial ordering is instead more relevant. This is the analogue of time ordering where increasing time has been mapped to some increasing radius on the complex plane. Normal ordering of creation operators is useful when working in the second quantization formalism.
A radial-ordered OPE can be written as a normal-ordered OPE minus the non-normal-ordered terms. The non-normal-ordered terms can often be written as a commutator, and these have useful simplifying identities. The radial ordering supplies the convergence of the expansion.
The result is a convergent expansion of the product of two operators in terms of some terms that have poles in the complex plane (the Laurent terms) and terms that are finite. This result represents the expansion of two operators at two different points in the original coordinate system as an expansion around just one point in the space of displacements between points, with terms of the form:
:<math>\frac{1}{(z-w)^n}</math>.
Related to this is that an operator on the complex plane is in general written as a function of <math>z</math> and <math>\bar{z}</math>. These are referred to as the holomorphic and anti-holomorphic parts respectively, as they are continuous and differentiable functions with finitely many singularities.