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arXiv:1811.07599 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Critical Ising model with boundary magnetic field: RG interface and effective Hamiltonians

Anatoly Konechny

Published Apr 1, 2019• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Critical 2D Ising model with a boundary magnetic field is arguably the simplest QFT that interpolates between two non-trivial fixed points. We use the diagonalising Bogolyubov transformation for this model to investigate two quantities. Firstly we explicitly construct an RG interface operator that is a boundary condition changing operator linking the free boundary condition with the one with a boundary magnetic field. We investigate its properties and in particular show that in the limit of large magnetic field this operator becomes the dimension 1/16 primary field linking the free and fixed boundary conditions. Secondly we use Schrieffer-Wolff method to construct effective Hamiltonians both near the UV and IR fixed points.

DOI
10.1007/jhep04(2019)001

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Abstract Critical 2D Ising model with a boundary magnetic field is arguably the simplest QFT that interpolates between two non-trivial fixed points. We use the diagonalising Bogolyubov transformation for this model to investigate two quantities. Firstly we explicitly construct an RG interface operator that is a boundary condition changing operator linking the free boundary condition with the one with a boundary magnetic field. We investigate its properties and in particular show that in the limit of large magnetic field this operator becomes the dimension 1/16 primary field linking the free and fixed boundary conditions. Secondly we use Schrieffer-Wolff method to construct effective Hamiltonians both near the UV and IR fixed points.
Abstract We consider RG interfaces for boundary RG flows in two-dimensional QFTs. Such interfaces are particular boundary condition changing operators linking the UV and IR conformal boundary conditions. We refer to them as RG operators. In this paper we study their general properties putting forward a number of conjectures. We conjecture that an RG operator is always a conformal primary such that the OPE of this operator with its conjugate must contain the perturbing UV operator when taken in one order and the leading irrelevant operator (when it exists) along which the flow enters the IR fixed point, when taken in the other order. We support our conjectures by perturbative calculations for flows between nearby fixed points, by a non-perturbative variational method inspired by the variational method proposed by J. Cardy for massive RG flows, and by numerical results obtained using boundary TCSA. The variational method has a merit of its own as it can be used as a first approximation in charting the global structure of the space of boundary RG flows. We also discuss the role of the RG operators in the transport of states and local operators. Some of our considerations can be generalised to two-dimensional bulk flows, clarifying some conceptual issues related to the RG interface put forward by D. Gaiotto for bulk 𝜙1,3 flows.
Abstract We consider a two-dimensional Ising field theory on a space with boundary in the presence of a piecewise constant boundary magnetic field which is allowed to change value discontinuously along the boundary. We assume zero magnetic field in the bulk. The positions of discontinuities are averaged over as in the annealed disorder. This model is described by a boundary field theory in which a superposition of the free spin boundary condition is perturbed by a collection of boundary condition changing operators. The corresponding boundary couplings give the allowed constant values of the magnetic field as well as the fugacities for the transitions between them. We show that when the value of the magnetic field is allowed to take only two different values which are the same in magnitude but have different signs the model can be described by a quadratic Lagrangian. We calculate and analyse the exact reflection matrix for this model. We also calculate the boundary entropy and study in detail the space of RG flows in a three-parameter space and with four different infrared fixed points. We discuss the likely breakdown of integrability in the extended model which allows for two generic values of the boundary magnetic field, backing it by some calculations.
We compute the exact partition function, the universal ground state degeneracy and boundary state of the 2-D Ising model with boundary magnetic field at off-critical temperatures. The model has a domain that exhibits states localized near the boundaries. We study this domain of boundary bound state and derive exact expressions for the ``g function'' and boundary state for all temperatures and boundary magnetic fields. In the massless limit we recover the boundary renormalization group flow between the conformally invariant free and fixed boundary conditions.
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.
Abstract We consider perturbations of 2D CFTs by multiple relevant operators. The massive phases of such perturbations can be labeled by conformal boundary conditions. Cardy’s variational ansatz approximates the vacuum state of the perturbed theory by a smeared conformal boundary state. In this paper we study the limitations and propose generalisations of this ansatz using both analytic and numerical insights based on TCSA. In particular we analyse the stability of Cardy’s ansatz states with respect to boundary relevant perturbations using bulk-boundary OPE coefficients. We show that certain transitions between the massive phases arise from a pair of boundary RG flows. The RG flows start from the conformal boundary on the transition surface and end on those that lie on the two sides of it. As an example we work out the details of the phase diagram for the Ising field theory and for the tricritical Ising model perturbed by the leading thermal and magnetic fields. For the latter we find a pair of novel transition lines that correspond to pairs of RG flows. Although the mass gap remains finite at the transition lines, several one-point functions change their behaviour. We discuss how these lines fit into the standard phase diagram of the tricritical Ising model. We show that each line extends to a two-dimensional surface ξσ,c in a three coupling space when we add perturbations by the subleading magnetic field. Close to this surface we locate symmetry breaking critical lines leading to the critical Ising model. Near the critical lines we find first order phase transition lines describing two-phase coexistence regions as predicted in Landau theory. The surface ξσ,c is determined from the CFT data using Cardy’s ansatz and its properties are checked using TCSA numerics.
We explore the phase diagram of Ising spins on one-dimensional chains which criss-cross in two perpendicular directions and are connected by interchain couplings. This system is of interest as a simpler, classical analog of a quantum Hamiltonian which has been proposed as a model of magnetic behavior in Nb12_{12}12​O29_{29}29​ and also, conceptually, as a geometry which is intermediate between one and two dimensions. Using mean field theory as well as Metropolis Monte Carlo and Wang-Landau simulations, we locate quantitatively the boundaries of four ordered phases. Each becomes an effective Ising model with unique effective couplings at large interchain coupling. Away from this limit we demonstrate non-trivial critical behavior, including tricritical points which separate first and second order phase transitions. Finally, we find that the crossover of the magnetization critical exponent from the Ising to tricritical Ising value shows an unusual non-monotonic behavior.