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arXiv:0707.4110 · Journal of Physics Condensed Matter

Functional renormalization group in the broken symmetry phase: momentum dependence and two-parameter scaling of the self-energy

Andreas Sinner, N. Hasselmann, Peter Kopietz

Published Jan 25, 2008• 20 citations
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Abstract

We include spontaneous symmetry breaking in the functional renormalization group equations for the irreducible vertices of Ginzburg–Landau theories by augmenting these equations by a flow equation for the order parameter, which is determined from the requirement that at each renormalization group (RG) step the vertex with one external leg vanishes identically. Using this strategy, we propose a simple truncation of the coupled RG flow equations for the vertices in the broken symmetry phase of the Ising universality class in D dimensions. Our truncation yields the full momentum dependence of the self-energy Σ( k ) and interpolates between lowest-order perturbation theory at large momenta k and the critical scaling regime for small k . Close to the critical point, our method yields the self-energy in the scaling form Σ( k ) = k c 2 σ − (| k |ξ,| k |/ k c ), where ξ is the order parameter correlation length, k c is the Ginzburg scale, and σ − ( x , y ) is a dimensionless two-parameter scaling function for the broken symmetry phase which we calculate explicitly within our truncation.

DOI
10.1088/0953-8984/20/7/075208

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We include spontaneous symmetry breaking in the functional renormalization group equations for the irreducible vertices of Ginzburg–Landau theories by augmenting these equations by a flow equation for the order parameter, which is determined from the requirement that at each renormalization group (RG) step the vertex with one external leg vanishes identically. Using this strategy, we propose a simple truncation of the coupled RG flow equations for the vertices in the broken symmetry phase of the Ising universality class in D dimensions. Our truncation yields the full momentum dependence of the self-energy Σ( k ) and interpolates between lowest-order perturbation theory at large momenta k and the critical scaling regime for small k . Close to the critical point, our method yields the self-energy in the scaling form Σ( k ) = k c 2 σ − (| k |ξ,| k |/ k c ), where ξ is the order parameter correlation length, k c is the Ginzburg scale, and σ − ( x , y ) is a dimensionless two-parameter scaling function for the broken symmetry phase which we calculate explicitly within our truncation.
The perturbative renormalization of the Ginzburg–Landau model is reconsidered based on the Feynman diagram technique. We derive renormalization group (RG) flow equations, exactly calculating all vertices appearing in the perturbative renormalization of the ' 4 model up to the 3 order of the -expansion. In this case, the ' 2 , ' 4 , ' 6 , and ' 8 vertices appear. All these are relevant in the sense that they do not vanish at the fixed point. We have tested the expected basic properties of the RG flow, such as the semigroup property. Under repeated RG transformation Rs, appropriately represented RG flow on the critical surface converges to certain s–independent fixed point. The Fourier–transformed two–point correlation function G(k) has been considered. Although the -expansion of X(k) = 1=G(k) is well defined on the critical surface, we have revealed a fundamental inconsistency of the perturbative method with the exact rescaling of X(k), represented as an expansion in powers of k at k ! 0. We discuss also certain paradox, related to the -expansion of X(k) above the critical point. Apart from the –expansion, we have tested also a modified approach, where the ' 4 coupling constant u is the expansion parameter at a fixed spatial dimensionality d. Our tests point to some internal inconsistency of such a method.
We construct exact functional renormalization group (RG) flow equations for nonrelativistic fermions in arbitrary dimensions, taking into account not only mode elimination, but also the rescaling of the momenta, frequencies, and fermionic fields. The complete RG flow of all relevant, marginal, and irrelevant couplings can be described by a system of coupled flow equations for the irreducible n-point vertices. Introducing suitable dimensionless variables, we obtain flow equations for generalized scaling functions which are continuous functions of the flow parameter, even if we consider quantities which are dominated by momenta close to the Fermi surface, such as the density-density correlation function at long wavelengths. We also show how the problem of constructing the renormalized Fermi surface can be reduced to the problem of finding the RG fixed point of the irreducible two-point vertex at vanishing momentum and frequency. We argue that only if the degrees of freedom are properly rescaled is it possible to reach scale-invariant non-Fermi-liquid fixed points within a truncation of the exact RG flow equations.
The perturbative renormalization of the Ginzburg-Landau model is reconsidered based on the Feynman diagram technique. We derive renormalization group (RG) flow equations, exactly calculating all vertices appearing in the perturbative renormalization of the phi^4 model up to the epsilon^3 order of the epsilon-expansion. In this case, the phi^2, phi^4, phi^6, and phi^8 vertices appear. All these vertices are relevant. We have tested the expected basic properties of the RG flow, such as the semigroup property. Under repeated RG transformation R_s, appropriately represented RG flow on the critical surface converges to certain s-independent fixed point. The Fourier-transformed two-point correlation function G(k) has been considered. Although the epsilon-expansion of X(k)=1/G(k) is well defined on the critical surface, we have revealed an inconsistency of the perturbative method with the exact rescaling of X(k), represented as an expansion in powers of k at k --> 0. We have discussed also some aspects of the perturbative renormalization of the two-point correlation function slightly above the critical point. Apart from the epsilon-expansion, we have tested and briefly discussed also a modified approach, where the phi^4 coupling constant u is the expansion parameter at a fixed spatial dimensionality d.
We extend the Hertz--Millis theory of quantum phase transitions in itinerant electron systems to phases with broken discrete symmetry. By using a set of coupled flow equations derived within the functional renormalization group framework, we compute the second order phase transition line ${T}_{c}(\ensuremath{\delta})$, where $\ensuremath{\delta}$ is a nonthermal control parameter, near a quantum critical point. We analyze the interplay and relative importance of quantum and classical fluctuations at different energy scales, and we compare the Ginzburg temperature TG{T}_{G}TG​ to the transition temperature Tc{T}_{c}Tc​, the latter being associated with a non-Gaussian fixed point.
We develop a theoretical framework based on the nonperturvative renormalization group (RG) in the one-particle irreducible (Wetterich) formulation to tackle the interplay of coupled fermionic and order-parameter fluctuations at metallic quantum critical points (QCPs) with ordering wavevector Q⃗=0⃗\vec{Q}=\vec{0}Q​=0. We consistently treat the dynamical emergence of the Landau damping of the bosonic mode and non-Fermi liquid scaling of fermions upon lowering the cutoff scale. The loop integrals of the present theory involve only contributions from fluctuations above the cutoff scale, which protects the system from developing singular bosonic interactions. We emphasize the importance of the nontrivial relative scaling of the bosonic and fermionic cutoffs ΛΛΛ and ΛfΛ_fΛf​, which we fix by analyzing the RG flow of the scale-dependent ordering wave-vector Q⃗Λ\vec{Q}_ΛQ​Λ​. Upon neglecting Fermi self-energy in the loop integrals of the functional RG flow, we identify a non-Fermi liquid RG fixed point and recover the features obtained earlier within RPA-type approaches. In a subsequent step, we self-consistently include the scaling of the self-energy and the Yukawa coupling. We find a generic instability of the non-Fermi liquid RG fixed point. This implies, at least at this truncation level, absence of the QCP with Q⃗=0⃗\vec{Q}=\vec{0}Q​=0 and development of a first-order phase transition or a phase characterized by Q⃗≠0⃗\vec{Q}\neq\vec{0}Q​=0.
The topic of this thesis is the functional renormalization group. We discuss some approximations schemes. Thereafter we apply these approximations to study different fields of condensed matter physics. Generally we have to evaluate an infinite set of vertex functions describing the scattering of particles. These vertex functions get renormalized away from their bare values governed by an infinite hierarchy of flow equations. We cannot expect to actually solve these equations but have to apply a couple of approximations. The aim is to somehow separate relevant contributions from irrelevant ones. One possible scheme opens up if we rescale fields and vertices. Here "relevance" is used in a quantitative way to describe the scaling behaviour of vertices close to a fixed point of the RG. One disadvantage of describing the system in terms of infinitely many vertices is that the majority of these vertices we have to evaluate are not of interest to us. In most cases we are just looking for the self-energy or the two-particle effective interaction. However there might be contributions to the flow of these vertices that are generated by irrelevant vertices. We generally assume that we can express irrelevant vertices in terms of the relevant and marginal ones. Then in turn it should be possible to write the contributions of these irrelevant vertices to the flow of relevant and marginal ones in terms of relevant and marginal vertices as well. We show how this can be achieved by what we term the adiabatic approximation. We now consider weakly interacting bosons at the critical point of Bose-Einstein condensation. As the transition takes place at a finite temperature this temperature defines an effective ultraviolet cut-off. For the investigation of physical properties that depend on momenta smaller than this cut-off it is therefore sufficient to describe the system by a classical field theory. Our central topic here is the self-energy of the bosons and we are able to evaluate it with the full momentum dependence. For small momenta it approaches a scaling form and as the momentum is gradually increased we observe a crossover to the perturbative regime. As a test for the reliability of our expression for the selfenergy we investigate the interaction induced shift of the critical. Our results compare quite satisfactory to the best available estimates for this shift. For the anomalous dimension our approach predicts the correct order of magnitude however with a considerable error. As an improvement we include more vertices into our calculations. Here we observe that our fixed point estimates indeed approach the best known results but this convergence is quite weak. We turn toward systems of interacting fermions. The formulation of the functional renormalization group implicitly requires knowledge of the true Fermi surface of the full interacting system. In general however we can just calculate it a-posteriori from the self-energy. The requirement to flow into a fixed point can be translated into a fine-tuning of the frequency/momentum independent part r_0 of the rescaled 2-point function. We show how this bare value is related to the momentum dependent effective interaction along the complete trajectory of the RG. On the other hand r_0 expresses the difference between the bare and the true Fermi surface. Putting both equations together results into an exact selfconsistency equation for the Fermi surface. We apply our self-consistency equation above to tackle the problem of finding the true Fermi surface of interacting fermions in low dimensions. The most simple non-trivial model with an inhomogeneous Fermi surface is a system of two coupled metallic chains. The process of interband backward scattering leads to a smoothing of the Fermi surface. Of special interest is if the Fermi momenta of the two bands collapse into just one value. We propose the term confinement transition for this behaviour. We bosonize the interband backward scattering by means of a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation and treat our system as a single channel problem. This bosonization together with the adiabatic approximation allows us to investigate the system even at strong coupling. Within a simple one-loop treatment our method predicts a confinement transition at strong coupling. However taken vertex renormalizations into account we observe that this confinement is destroyed by fluctuations beyond one-loop. Actually we observe how the confined phase can be stabilized by the inclusion of interband umklapp scattering. Thereafter we consider the physically more relevant case of a two-dimensional system of infinitely many coupled metallic chains. Here the Fermi surface consists of two disconnected weakly curved sheets. We are able to repeat the calculations we have performed for our toy model. Within a self-consistent 2-loop calculation indeed signs for a confinement transition at finite coupling strength emerge.