A σ-model, generically, is a spinless quantum field theory with an appropriate group symmetry structure. Normally, it serves as an effective theory of pseudoscalar mesons rising out of chiral symmetry breaking in QCD, and a scalar σ whose v.e.v. controls PCAC; this is the linear model. The nonlinear σ model has this σ field frozen to its v.e.v. and thus absent from the spectrum.
A σ-model, generically, is a spinless quantum field theory with an appropriate group symmetry structure. Normally, it serves as an effective theory of pseudoscalar mesons rising out of chiral symmetry breaking in QCD, and a scalar σ whose v.e.v. controls PCAC; this is the linear model. The nonlinear σ model has this σ field frozen to its v.e.v. and thus absent from the spectrum.
