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arXiv:1701.05356

Interacting fermions on the half-line: boundary counterterms and boundary corrections

Giovanni Antinucci

Published Jan 19, 2017• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Recent years witnessed an extensive development of the theory of the critical point in two-dimensional statistical systems, which allowed to prove {\it existence} and {\it conformal invariance} of the {\it scaling limit} for two-dimensional Ising model and dimers in planar graphs. Unfortunately, we are still far from a full understanding of the subject: so far, exact solutions at the lattice level, in particular determinant structure and exact discrete holomorphicity, play a cucial role in the rigorous control of the scaling limit. The few results about not-integrable (interacting) systems at criticality are still unable to deal with {\it finite domains} and {\it boundary corrections}, which are of course crucial for getting informations about conformal covariance. In this thesis, we address the question of adapting constructive Renormalization Group methods to non-integrable critical systems in $d= 1+1$ dimensions. We study a system of interacting spinless fermions on a one-dimensional semi-infinite lattice, which can be considered as a prototype of the Luttinger universality class with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions. We develop a convergent renormalized expression for the thermodynamic observables in the presence of a quadratic {\it boundary defect} counterterm, polynomially localized at the boundary. In particular, we get explicit bounds on the boundary corrections to the specific ground state energy.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1701.05356

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Recent years witnessed an extensive development of the theory of the critical point in two-dimensional statistical systems, which allowed to prove {\it existence} and {\it conformal invariance} of the {\it scaling limit} for two-dimensional Ising model and dimers in planar graphs. Unfortunately, we are still far from a full understanding of the subject: so far, exact solutions at the lattice level, in particular determinant structure and exact discrete holomorphicity, play a cucial role in the rigorous control of the scaling limit. The few results about not-integrable (interacting) systems at criticality are still unable to deal with {\it finite domains} and {\it boundary corrections}, which are of course crucial for getting informations about conformal covariance. In this thesis, we address the question of adapting constructive Renormalization Group methods to non-integrable critical systems in d=1+1d= 1+1d=1+1 dimensions. We study a system of interacting spinless fermions on a one-dimensional semi-infinite lattice, which can be considered as a prototype of the Luttinger universality class with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions. We develop a convergent renormalized expression for the thermodynamic observables in the presence of a quadratic {\it boundary defect} counterterm, polynomially localized at the boundary. In particular, we get explicit bounds on the boundary corrections to the specific ground state energy.
With conformal-invariance methods, Burkhardt, Guim, and Xue studied the critical Ising model, defined on the upper half plane y>0 with different boundary conditions a and b on the negative and positive x axes. For ab=-+ and f+, they determined the one- and two-point averages of the spin σ and energy ε. Here +,-, and f stand for spin-up, spin-down, and free-spin boundaries, respectively. The case +-+-+⋯, where the boundary condition switches between + and - at arbitrary points, ζ_{1},ζ_{2},⋯ on the x axis was also analyzed. In the first half of this paper a similar study is carried out for the alternating boundary condition +f+f+⋯ and the case -f+ of three different boundary conditions. Exact results for the one- and two-point averages of σ,ε, and the stress tensor T are derived with conformal-invariance methods. From the results for 〈T〉, the critical Casimir interaction with the boundary of a wedge-shaped inclusion is derived for mixed boundary conditions. In the second half of the paper, arbitrary two-dimensional critical systems with mixed boundary conditions are analyzed with boundary-operator expansions. Two distinct types of expansions-away from switching points of the boundary condition and at switching points-are considered. Using the expansions, we express the asymptotic behavior of two-point averages near boundaries in terms of one-point averages. We also consider the strip geometry with mixed boundary conditions and derive the distant-wall corrections to one-point averages near one edge due to the other edge. Finally we confirm the consistency of the predictions obtained with conformal-invariance methods and with boundary-operator expansions, in the the first and second halves of the paper.
We present the finite-size scaling theory of one-dimensional quantum critical systems in the presence of boundaries. While the finite-size spectrum in the conformal limit, namely of a conformal field theory with conformally invariant boundary conditions, is related to the dimensions of boundary operators by Cardy, the actual spectra of lattice models are affected by both bulk and boundary perturbations and contain non-universal boundary energies. We obtain a general expression of the finite-size energy levels in the presence of bulk and boundary perturbations. In particular, a generic boundary perturbation related to the energy-momentum tensor gives rise to a renormalization of the effective system size. We verify our field-theory formulation by comparing the results with the exact solution of the critical transverse-field Ising chain and with accurate numerical results on the critical three-state Potts chain obtained by Density-Matrix Renormalization Group.
We investigate two-dimensional spin models and begin with an introduction to critical phenomena with emphasis on classical systems with boundaries and conformal invariance. Then we introduce the antiferromagnetic quantum Heisenberg model with frustrating interactions. Conformal invariance of a statistical mechanical system at criticality has powerful implications in two dimensions. With the use of conformal field theory, we investigate finite-size and boundary effects for a class of N-critical models that describe the simplest type of multicritical behaviour. In Papers I and II, correlation functions for the order parameter and other operators of these multicritical Ising models are derived for restricted domains (semi-infinite plane, infinite strip, disc and rectangle) with free or fixed boundary conditions. These yield the corresponding universal surface exponents and allow for a detailed analysis of correlations lengths, structure factors and response functions. The interplay between duality and boundary conditions is also made explicit. In Paper III, we analyse structure factors at criticality and show how apparent power- law scaling at intermediate momenta - induced by finite size and boundaries - depends on the boundary conditions applied. The predictions are confirmed by using correlation functions calculated in Papers I and II. Two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnets have attracted much attention because of their relation to high-Tc superconductors. The second part of the thesis (Papers IV and V) treats spin-1/2 antiferromagnets defined on square- and honeycomb lattices with frustrating interactions. By using a Schwinger-boson mean-field theory, we calculate low-temperature quantum corrections to thermodynamic parameters, such as spin-wave velocity and transverse susceptibility. Their dependence on frustration is explicated and used to estimate the stability of the Néel state via a mapping to the nonlinear .sigma. model that describes the low-energy limit of the antiferromagnet.
This thesis is concerned with two-dimensional models that are integrable in the presence of a boundary and whose spectrum in the bulk is constituted of massless particles. Although there is already a vast literature on the subject (e.g. Kondo and Callan-Rubakov models), the common minimal denominator in all these situations is the fact that the bulk theory is conformal invariant and it is the boundary that is responsible for the broken scale invariance. Here, our purpose is to consider the alternative situation, where the boundary respects the conformal invariance of the theory and the renormalization group trajectory is controlled by a bulk perturbation. The model in question is the principal chiral model at level k = 1. We propose the set of permissible boundary conditions suggested by the symmetries of the problem and compute the corresponding minimal reflection matrices. For one of the boundary conditions we compute the boundary ground state energy and the boundary entropy using the technique of boundary thermodynamic Bethe ansatz. In the infrared limit our results are shown to be in complete agreement with the predictions of the boundary conformal field theory approach. Finally, we consider the classical supersymmetric Liouville theory on the half-line and compute the boundary conditions compatible with the superconformal invariance. We construct an infinite set of commuting integrals of motion using Lax-pair techniques and discuss some aspects of the quantum theory as well as its relation to the super Korteweg-de Vries equation.
Determining whether an additional local symmetry affects the universality class of a sta-tistical model is an important issue in the theory of critical phenomena. A basic example is provided by the RP N −1 model, in which N -component spin variables at each lattice site interact through an Hamiltonian invariant under global O(N ) rotations and local spin re-versals. The local symmetry makes the difference with the usual O(N ) model and amounts to the head-tail symmetry characteristic of liquid crystals. In three dimensions, the weak first order transition observed in numerical simulations of the ferromagnetic model is con-sistent with the mean field scenario. On the other hand, in the two-dimensional case –the one we focus on in this thesis – fluctuations are stronger and minimize the reliability of mean field predictions, as illustrated by the phase transition of the three-state Potts model, which becomes continuous on planar lattices. For the RP N −1 model, the absence of spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry in two dimensions generically suggests that criticality is limited to zero temperature, and Monte Carlo studies for T → 0 showed a fast growth of the correlation length which made particularly hard to reach the asymp-totic limit and draw conclusions. On the other hand, the possibility of finite temperature topological transitions similar to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) one – which should definitely occur for RP 1 ∼ O(2) – and mediated by ”disclination” defects has also been debated in numerical studies. While two-dimensional criticality has allowed for an impressive amount of exact solutions thanks to lattice integrability and conformal field theory, models with local symmetries traditionally remained outside the range of application of these methods. In this thesis, however, we show how the renormalization group fixed points of the RP N −1 model and of its complex generalization, the CP N −1 model, can be accessed in an exact way. This is achieved in the scale invariant scattering framework which, as we review in the introductory part of the thesis, implements in the basis of particle excitations the infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry characteristic of critical points in two dimensions and has provided in the last few years new results for pure and disordered systems. In the last part of the thesis, we will exploit the generality of the scale invariant scattering method to progress with another long standing problem of two-dimensional criticality, namely that of spin clusters in Potts correlated percolation. It has been known for long time that the problem can be addressed considering two coupled Potts models, but the need to consider the number of states of one of these models as a continuous variable has severely limited the analytical or numerical study of the critical points. Also here, the ability of the scattering method to enforce conformal invariance for the internal symmetry characteristic of the universality class will allow us to obtain exact equations for the critical points and to determine their solutions in the relevant limits.
An emergent gauge field can control boundary critical behavior without changing the bulk quantum spin liquid. We investigate the boundary criticality in (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional U(1)U(1)U(1) Dirac spin liquid, whose low-energy physics is described by massless quantum electrodynamics. Using a perturbative renormalization-group analysis in a half-space, we show that Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions for the emergent gauge field lead to distinct boundary universality classes. We determine the boundary scaling dimensions of the fundamental fields and gauge-invariant operators that provide observable signatures. We further propose a fermion-gauge lattice model with tunable boundary interactions as a microscopic setting for realizing and probing these boundary universality classes.