The stability or lack thereof of nonrelativistic fermionic systems to interactions is studied within the renormalization-group (RG) framework, in close analogy with the study of critical phenomena using ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ scalar field theory. A brief introduction to ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory in four dimensions and the path-integral formulation for fermions is given before turning to the problem at hand. As for the latter, the following procedure is used. First, the modes on either side of the Fermi surface within a cutoff $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ are chosen for study, in analogy with the modes near the origin in ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory, and a path integral is written to describe them. Next, an RG transformation that eliminates a part of these modes, but preserves the action of the noninteracting system, is identified. Finally the possible perturbations of this free-field fixed point are classified as relevant, irrelevant or marginal. A
d=1 warmup calculation involving a system of fermions shows how, in contrast to mean-field theory, which predicts a charge-density wave for arbitrarily weak repulsion, and superconductivity for arbitrarily weak attraction, the renormalization-group approach correctly yields a scale-invariant system (Luttinger liquid) by taking into account both instabilities. Application of the renormalization group in
d=2and3, for rotationally invariant Fermi surfaces, automatically leads to Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, which appears as a fixed point characterized by an effective mass and a Landau function
F, with the only relevant perturbations being of the superconducting (BCS) type. The functional flow equations for the BCS couplings are derived and separated into an infinite number of flows, one for each angular momentum. It is shown that similar results hold for rotationally noninvariant (but time-reversal-invariant) Fermi surfaces also, with obvious loss of rotational invariance in the parametrization of the fixed-point interactions. A study of a nested Fermi surface shows an additional relevant flow leading to charge-density-wave formation. It is pointed out that, for small $\frac{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}{{K}_{F}}$, a
N1 expansion emerges, with $N=\frac{{K}_{F}}{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$, which explains why one is able to solve the narrow-cutoff theory. The search for non-Fermi liquids in
d=2 using the RG is discussed. Bringing a variety of phenomena (Landau theory, charge-density waves, BCS instability, nesting, etc.) under the one unifying principle of the RG not only allows us to better understand and unify them, but also paves the way for generalizations and extensions. The article is pedagogical in nature and is expected to be accessible to any serious graduate student. On the other hand, its survey of the vast literature is mostly limited to the RG approach.
We review the theory of interacting Fermi systems whose low-energy physics is dominated by forward scattering, that is scattering processes generated by effective interactions with small momentum transfers. These systems include Fermi liquids as well as several important non-Fermi-liquid phases: one-dimensional Luttinger liquids, systems with long-range interactions, and fermions coupled to a gauge field. We report results for the critical dimensions separating different 'universality classes' and discuss the behaviour of physical quantities such as the momentum distribution function, the single-particle propagator and low-energy response functions in each class. The renormalization group for Fermi systems will be reviewed and applied as a link between microscopic models and effective lowenergy theories. Particular attention is paid to conservation laws, which constrain any effective low-energy theory of interacting Fermi systems. In scattering processes with small momentum transfers the velocity of each scattering particle is (almost) conserved. This asymptotic conservation law leads to non-trivial cancellations of Feynman diagrams and other simplifications, making thus possible a non-perturbative treatment of forward scattering via Ward identities or bosonization techniques.
We develop a new formulation of the functional renormalization group (RG) for interacting fermions. Our approach unifies the purely fermionic formulation based on the Grassmannian functional integral, which has been used in recent years by many authors, with the traditional Wilsonian RG approach to quantum systems pioneered by Hertz [Phys. Rev. B 14, 1165 (1976)], which attempts to describe the infrared behavior of the system in terms of an effective bosonic theory associated with the soft modes of the underlying fermionic problem. In our approach, we decouple the interaction by means of a suitable Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation (following the Hertz approach), but do not eliminate the fermions; instead, we derive an exact hierarchy of RG flow equations for the irreducible vertices of the resulting coupled field theory involving both fermionic and bosonic fields. The freedom of choosing a momentum transfer cutoff for the bosonic soft modes in addition to the usual band cutoff for the fermions opens the possibility of new RG schemes. In particular, we show how the exact solution of the Tomonaga-Luttinger model (i.e., one-dimensional fermions with linear energy dispersion and interactions involving only small momentum transfers) emerges from the functional RG if one works with a momentum transfer cutoff. Then the Ward identities associated with the local particle conservation at each Fermi point are valid at every stage of the RG flow and provide a solution of an infinite hierarchy of flow equations for the irreducible vertices. The RG flow equation for the irreducible single-particle self-energy can then be closed and can be reduced to a linear integrodifferential equation, the solution of which yields the result familiar from bosonization. We suggest new truncation schemes of the exact hierarchy of flow equations, which might be useful even outside the weak coupling regime.
We consider systems of non-relativistic, interacting electrons at finite density and zero temperature in d = 2, 3, ... dimensions. Our main concern is to characterize those systems that, under the renormalization flow, are driven away from the Landau Fermi liquid (LFL) renormalization group fixed point. We are especially interested in understanding under what circumstances such a system is a Marginal Fermi liquid (MFL) when the dimension of space is greater or equal than 2 . The interacting electron system is analyzed by combining renormalization group (RG) methods with bosonization techniques. The RG calculations are organized as a double expansion in the inverse scale parameter,
λ−1, which is proportional to the width of the effective momentum space around the Fermi surface and in the running coupling constant, $ g_λ, $ which measures the strength of electron interactions at corresponding energy scales. Excluding a superconducting instability, the system can be analyzed by means of bosonization. The RG and the underlying perturbation expansion in powers of $ λ^{-1} $ serve to characterize the approximations involved by bosonizing the system. We argue that systems with short-range interactions flow to the LFL fixed point. Within the approximations involved by bosonization, the same holds for systems with long-range, longitudinal, density-density interactions. For electron systems interacting via long-range, transverse, current-current interactions a deviation from LFL behaviour is possible : the results of the bosonization calculation are consistent with a MFL, if the exponent parametrizing the singularity of the interaction potential in momentum space is greater than or equal to d-1.
We consider systems of nonrelativistic, interacting electrons at finite density and zero temperature in d=2,3,ldots dimensions. Our main concern is to characterize those systems that, under the renormalization flow, are driven away from the Landau Fermi-liquid (LFL) renormalization-group fixed point. We are especially interested in understanding under what circumstances such a system is a marginal Fermi-liquid (MFL) when the dimension of space is d\ensuremath{\geqslant}2. The interacting electron system is analyzed by combining renormalization-group (RG) methods with so called 'Luther-Haldane' bosonization techniques. The RG calculations are organized as a double expansion in the inverse scale parameter ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ , which is proportional to the width of the effective momentum space around the Fermi surface and in the running coupling constant ${\mathrm{g}}_{\ensuremath{\lambda}}$ , which measures the strength of electron interactions at energy scales \ensuremath{\sim}
vF kF /\ensuremath{\lambda}. For systems with a strictly convex Fermi surface, superconductivity is the only symmetry-breaking instability. Excluding such an instability, the system can be analyzed by means of bosonization. The RG and the underlying perturbation expansion in powers of ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ serve to characterize the approximations involved by bosonizing the system. We argue that systems with short-range interactions flow to the LFL fixed point. Within the approximations involved by bosonization, the same holds for systems with long-range, longitudinal, density-density interactions. For electron systems interacting via long-range, transverse, current-current interactions, a deviation from LFL behavior is possible: if the exponent \ensuremath{\alpha} parametrizing the singularity of the interaction potential in momentum space by V-hat(|p|)\ensuremath{\sim}1/|p${\mathrm{|}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}$ is greater than or equal to d-1, the results of the bosonization calculation are consistent with a MFL.
The one-dimensional Fermi system with Tomonaga-type (
g2) and back-scattering (
g1) interactions is studied by a weak-coupling renormalization-group method at the three-loop level. When the transfer cutoff procedure is used, the Gell-Mann-Low function for
g1 depends on
g1 alone, $\frac{d{g}_{1}}{d\ensuremath{\xi}}={{g}_{1}}^{2}+\frac{1}{2}{{g}_{1}}^{3}+\frac{1}{8}{{g}_{1}}^{4}$. Further, in the absence of umklapp processes the combination ${g}_{1}\ensuremath{-}2{g}_{2}$ is a scale invariant. These conclusions agree with the results of Luther and Emery derived by the boson representation method. Some novel calculational techniques for the derivation of the scaling equations are described and compared to the conventional scheme.