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arXiv:1209.3252 · WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks

A REVIEW OF THE 1/N EXPANSION IN RANDOM TENSOR MODELS

Razvan Gurău

Published Oct 1, 2013• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Matrix models are a highly successful framework for the analytic study of random two dimensional surfaces with applications to quantum gravity in two dimensions, string theory, conformal field theory, statistical physics in random geometry, etc. Their success relies crucially on the so called 1/N expansion introduced by 't Hooft. In higher dimensions matrix models generalize to tensor models. In the absence of a viable 1/N expansion tensor models have for a long time been less successful in providing an analytically controlled theory of random higher dimensional topological spaces. This situation has drastically changed recently. Models for a generic complex tensor have been shown to admit a 1/N expansion dominated by graphs of spherical topology in arbitrary dimensions and to undergo a phase transition to a continuum theory.

DOI
10.1142/9789814449243_0067

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Matrix models are a highly successful framework for the analytic study of random two dimensional surfaces with applications to quantum gravity in two dimensions, string theory, conformal field theory, statistical physics in random geometry, etc. Their success relies crucially on the so called 1/N expansion introduced by 't Hooft. In higher dimensions matrix models generalize to tensor models. In the absence of a viable 1/N expansion tensor models have for a long time been less successful in providing an analytically controlled theory of random higher dimensional topological spaces. This situation has drastically changed recently. Models for a generic complex tensor have been shown to admit a 1/N expansion dominated by graphs of spherical topology in arbitrary dimensions and to undergo a phase transition to a continuum theory.
This thesis focuses on renormalization of quantum field theories. Its first part considers three tensor models in three dimensions, a Fermionic quartic with tensors of rank-3 and two Bosonic sextic, of ranks 3 and 5. We rely upon the large-NNN melonic expansion of tensor models. For the first model, invariant under U(N)3U(N)^3U(N)3, we obtain the RG flow of the two melonic couplings and the vacuum phase diagram, from a reformulation with a diagonalizable matrix intermediate field. The discrete chiral symmetry breaks spontaneously and we compare with the three-dimensional Gross-Neveu model. Beyond the massless U(N)3U(N)^3U(N)3 symmetric phase, we also observe a massive phase of same symmetry and another where the symmetry breaks into U(N2)×U(N/2)×U(N/2)U(N^2)\times U(N/2)\times U(N/2)U(N2)×U(N/2)×U(N/2). A matrix model invariant under U(N)×U(N2)U(N)\times U(N^2)U(N)×U(N2), with close properties, is also studied. For the other models, with symmetry groups U(N)3U(N)^3U(N)3 and O(N)5O(N)^5O(N)5, a non-melonic coupling (the "wheel") with an optimal scaling in NNN drives us to a generalized melonic expansion. The kinetic terms are taken of short- and long-range, and we analyze perturbatively, at large-NNN, the RG flows of the sextic couplings up to four loops. Only the rank-3 model displays non-trivial fixed points (two real Wilson-Fisher-like in the short-range case and a line of fixed points in the other). We finally obtain the real conformal dimensions of the primary bilinear operators. In the second part, we establish the first results of perturbative multi-scale renormalization for a quartic scalar field on critical Galton-Watson trees, with a long-range kinetic term. At criticality, an emergent infinite spine provides a space of effective dimension 4/34/34/3 on which to compute averaged correlation fonctions. This approach formalizes the notion of a QFT on a random geometry. We use known probabilistic bounds on the heat-kernel on a random graph reviewed in detail.
Two direct connections between random tensors and random matrices are discussed in this article. In the rst part, we introduce U( \tau ) matrix models which generate fully packed, oriented loops on random surfaces. e latter are found to be in bijection with a set of regular edge-colored graphs. It is shown that the expansion in the number of loops is organized like the 1/ N expansion of rank-three tensor models. Recent results on tensor models are applied in this context. For example, congurations which maximize the number of loops are precisely the melonic graphs of tensor models and a scaling limit which projects onto themelonic sector is found. is approach is generalized to higher-rank tensor models, which generate loops with fugacity \tau on triangulations in dimension d–1 . In the second part, we introduce singular value decompositions to evaluate the expectations of polynomial observables of Gaussian random tensors. Performing the integrals over the unitary group leads to a notion of eective observables which expand onto regular trace invariants. We show that both asymptotic and exact new calculations of expectations can be performed this way.
Tensor models and tensor field theories admit a 1/N expansion and a melonic large N limit which is simpler than the planar limit of random matrices and richer than the large N limit of vector models. They provide examples of analytically tractable but non-trivial strongly coupled quantum field theories and lead to a new class of conformal field theories. We present a compact introduction to the topic, covering both some of the classical results in the field, like the details of the 1/N expansion, as well as recent developments. These notes are loosely bases on four lectures given at the Journées de physique mathématique Lyon 2019: Random tensors and SYK models.
This article outlines a tutorial review of some recent progress in the theory of phase transitions and criticality. Topics mentioned are: |φ|6 field theories in (d=3)-dimensional space which correspond to the limits of tricriticality in spherical models; the desirability of finding real systems displaying critical endpoints, etc., in a magnetic field; scaling theories for first-order magnetic transitions in block and cylinder geometries, including spin-wave contributions, ϵ=4 - d expansions for finite-size effects at and near criticality; the universal correlation length amplitude for critical-point correlations in a finite cylinder and its evaluation in d = 2 dimensions on the basis of conformal covariance; the predictions of conformal covariance for other finite-size and surface critical-point properties; the implications, stemming from field theory, of conformal covariance and unitarity for general criticality in two dimensions, including infinitely many sets of exact critical exponents for Ising-like, three-state Potts-like, … systems; the discovery of new, exactly soluble two-dimensional, “restricted solid-on-solid” models which display all the predicted conformally covariant multicritical points and a second infinite set as well!
Abstract We consider a random matrix model with both pairwise and non-pairwise contracted indices. The partition function of the matrix model is similar to that appearing in some replicated systems with random tensor couplings, such as the ppp-spin spherical model for the spin glass. We analyze the model using Feynman diagrammatic expansions, and provide an exhaustive characterization of the graphs that dominate when the dimensions of the pairwise and (or) non-pairwise contracted indices are large. We apply this to investigate the properties of the wave function of a toy model closely related to a tensor model in the Hamilton formalism, which is studied in a quantum gravity context, and obtain a result in favor of the consistency of the quantum probabilistic interpretation of this tensor model.
The first part of these lecture notes is mostly devoted to a comparative discussion of the three basic large NNN limits, which apply to fields which are vectors, matrices, or tensors of rank three and higher. After a brief review of some physical applications of large NNN limits, we present a few solvable examples in zero space-time dimension. Using models with fields in the fundamental representation of O(N)O(N)O(N), O(N)2O(N)^2O(N)2, or O(N)3O(N)^3O(N)3 symmetry, we compare their combinatorial properties and highlight a competition between the snail and melon diagrams. We exhibit the different methods used for solving the vector, matrix, and tensor large NNN limits. In the latter example we review how the dominance of melonic diagrams follows when a special ``tetrahedral" interaction is introduced. The second part of the lectures is mostly about the fermionic quantum mechanical tensor models, whose large NNN limits are similar to that in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. The minimal Majorana model with O(N)3O(N)^3O(N)3 symmetry and the tetrahedral Hamiltonian is reviewed in some detail; it is the closest tensor counterpart of the SYK model. Also reviewed are generalizations to complex fermionic tensors, including a model with SU(N)2×O(N)×U(1)SU(N)^2\times O(N)\times U(1)SU(N)2×O(N)×U(1) symmetry, which is a tensor counterpart of the complex SYK model. The bosonic large NNN tensor models, which are formally tractable in continuous spacetime dimension, are reviewed briefly at the end.