Renormalization group methods are well-established tools for the (numerical) investigation of the low-energy properties of correlated quantum many-body systems, allowing us to capture their scale-dependent nature. The functional renormalization group (FRG) allows us to continuously evolve a microscopic model action to an effective low-energy action as a function of decreasing energy scales via an exact functional flow equation, which is then approximated by some truncation scheme to facilitate computation. Here, we report on our implementation of multiloop FRG, an extended truncation scheme recently developed for electronic FRG calculations, within the pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) framework for interacting quantum spin systems. We discuss in detail the conceptual intricacies of the flow equations generated by the multiloop truncation, as well as essential refinements to the integration scheme for the resulting integrodifferential equations. To benchmark our approach, we analyze antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models on the pyrochlore, simple cubic, and face-centered cubic lattice, discussing the convergence of physical observables for higher-loop calculations and comparing with existing results where available. Combined, these methodological refinements systematically improve the pf-FRG approach to one of the numerical tools of choice when exploring frustrated quantum magnetism in higher spatial dimensions.
Renormalization group methods are well-established tools for the (numerical) investigation of the low-energy properties of correlated quantum many-body systems, allowing us to capture their scale-dependent nature. The functional renormalization group (FRG) allows us to continuously evolve a microscopic model action to an effective low-energy action as a function of decreasing energy scales via an exact functional flow equation, which is then approximated by some truncation scheme to facilitate computation. Here, we report on our implementation of multiloop FRG, an extended truncation scheme recently developed for electronic FRG calculations, within the pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) framework for interacting quantum spin systems. We discuss in detail the conceptual intricacies of the flow equations generated by the multiloop truncation, as well as essential refinements to the integration scheme for the resulting integrodifferential equations. To benchmark our approach, we analyze antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models on the pyrochlore, simple cubic, and face-centered cubic lattice, discussing the convergence of physical observables for higher-loop calculations and comparing with existing results where available. Combined, these methodological refinements systematically improve the pf-FRG approach to one of the numerical tools of choice when exploring frustrated quantum magnetism in higher spatial dimensions.
Multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization for quantum spin systems: Application to the spin-21 kagome Heisenberg model
We present a multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pffRG) approach to quantum spin systems. As a test case, we study the spin-21 Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice, a prime example of a geometrically frustrated magnet believed to host a quantum spin liquid. Our main physical result is that, at pure nearest-neighbor coupling, the system shows indications for an algebraic spin liquid through slower-than-exponential decay with distance for the static spin susceptibility, while the pseudofermion self-energy develops intriguing low-energy features. Methodologically, the pseudofermion representation of spin models inherently yields a strongly interacting system, and the quantitative reliability of a truncated fRG flow is \textit{a priori} unclear. Our main technical result is the demonstration of convergence in loop number within multiloop pffRG. Through correspondence with the self-consistent parquet equations, this provides further evidence for the internal consistency of the approach. The loop order required for convergence of the pseudofermion vertices is rather large, but the spin susceptibility is more benign, appearing almost fully converged for loop orders ℓ≥5. The multiloop flow remains stable as the infrared cutoff Λ is reduced relative to the microscopic exchange interaction J, allowing us to reach values of Λ/J on the subpercent level in the spin-liquid phase. By contrast, solving the parquet equations via direct fixed-point iteration becomes increasingly difficult for low Λ/J. We also scrutinize the pseudofermion constraint of single occupation per site, which is only fulfilled on average in pffRG, by explicitly computing fermion-number fluctuations. Although the latter are not entirely suppressed, we find that they do not affect the qualitative conclusions drawn from the spin susceptibility.
The pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) is one of the few numerical approaches that has been demonstrated to quantitatively determine the ordering tendencies of frustrated quantum magnets in two and three spatial dimensions. The approach, however, relies on a number of presumptions and approximations, in particular the choice of pseudofermion decomposition and the truncation of an infinite number of flow equations to a finite set. Here we generalize the pf-FRG approach to SU(N)-spin systems with arbitrary N and demonstrate that the scheme becomes exact in the large-N limit. Numerically solving the generalized real-space renormalization group equations for arbitrary N, we can make a stringent connection between the physically most significant case of SU(2) spins and more accessible SU(N) models. In a case study of the square-lattice SU(N) Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we explicitly demonstrate that the generalized pf-FRG approach is capable of identifying the instability indicating the transition into a staggered flux spin liquid ground state in these models for large, but finite, values of N. In a companion paper [Roscher et al., Phys. Rev. B 97, 064416 (2018)] we formulate a momentum-space pf-FRG approach for SU(N) spin models that allows us to explicitly study the large-N limit and access the low-temperature spin liquid phase.
Abstract The pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pffRG) is a computational method for determining zero-temperature phase diagrams of frustrated quantum magnets. In a recent methodological advance, the commonly employed Katanin truncation of the flow equations was extended to include multiloop corrections, thereby capturing additional contributions from the three-particle vertex (Thoenniss et al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.01268 ; Kiese et al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.01269 ). This development has also stimulated significant progress in the numerical implementation of pffRG, allowing one to track the evolution of pseudofermion vertices under the renormalization group flow with unprecedented accuracy. However, cutting-edge solvers differ in their integration algorithms, heuristics to discretize Matsubara frequency grids, and more. To lend confidence in the numerical robustness of state-of-the-art multiloop pffRG codes, we present and compare results produced with two independently developed and algorithmically distinct solvers for Heisenberg models on three-dimensional lattice geometries. Using the cubic lattice Heisenberg (anti)ferromagnet with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions as a generic benchmark model, we find the two codes to quantitatively agree, often up to several orders of magnitude in digital precision, both on the level of spin-spin correlation functions and renormalized fermionic vertices for varying loop orders. These benchmark calculations further substantiate the usage of multiloop pffRG solvers to tackle unconventional forms of quantum magnetism. Graphic abstract
Strongly correlated electron systems host a plethora of fascinating physical phenomena and pose formidable challenges in their theoretical analysis. The challenges originate from the inherent complexity of the quantum many-body problem - no classical computer will ever be able to fully simulate these systems - and the lack of an effective single-particle picture, as the strong mutual interactions make it impossible to regard the electrons as independent from each other. As a consequence, most systems of correlated electrons can only be tackled approximately and numerically. In this thesis, we develop a set of numerical methods for strongly correlated electrons, which are inspired by the renormalization group (RG) idea of including degrees of freedom successively from high to low energies. This enables an efficient organization of the diverse fluctuations and is key for an accurate treatment of interacting quantum systems, where collective behavior and composite objects emerge at energy scales far below those of the microscopic constituents. In a first part, we consider the functional renormalization group (fRG), a versatile framework to study the flow of correlation functions upon modulating the underlying action. Though widely used, it has often acted more as a qualitative rather than quantitative method, due a nontransparent approximation induced by truncating the hierarchy of flow equations. We develop an iterative multiloop fRG (mfRG) scheme, which ameliorates this approximation and eliminates many of the drawbacks of fRG experienced hitherto. In particular, it restores the independence of results on the choice of RG regulator and establishes a rigorous relation to the parquet formalism. Furthermore, we show how to derive the flow equations directly from self-consistent many-body relations. This establishes a form of diagrammatic resummations at the two-particle level which circumvents ill-behaved two-particle-irreducible vertices. An application to the prototypical two-dimensional Hubbard model illustrates how our multiloop scheme elevates the fRG approach to correlated electron systems to a quantitative level. Secondly, we employ the numerical renormalization group (NRG), based on the iterative diagonalization of impurity Hamiltonians, in conjunction with the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) to describe local correlations in multiorbital systems. Having access to arbitrarily low temperatures and energies, NRG is a unique, real-frequency impurity solver for DMFT. It has been pivotal to the understanding of Hund metals, where strong correlations arise from Hund's rules even at moderate Coulomb repulsion. Building on recent methodological advances, we extend the range of application of DMFT+NRG from orbital-degenerate models to more realistic setups: We first study orbital differentiation in a three-orbital Hund-metal model and unravel key effects of the orbital-selective Mott transition. In a real-materials setting, we then incorporate the bandstructure from density functional theory (DFT) and analyze the archetypal Hund-metal material Sr2RuO4. We particularly follow its RG flow to the Fermi-liquid regime at previously inaccessible low temperatures and generally present DFT+DMFT+NRG as a new computational paradigm for strongly correlated materials. As a side project of our fRG work, we develop an algorithm to count Feynman diagrams from closed many-body relations, which reveals the surprising outcome that totally irreducible contributions are responsible for the factorial growth in the number of diagrams. Additionally, we use NRG to study transport through three-level quantum dots and provide benchmark data for other RG methods, which aim at further describing these systems in nonequilibrium.
The functional renormalization group (fRG) is an established tool in the treatment of correlated electron systems, notably for the description of competing instabilities. In recent years, methodological advancements led to the multiloop extension of the fRG, which systematically includes loop corrections beyond the conventional one-loop truncation and yields a quantitatively accurate description of two-dimensional lattice systems. At the same time, the single-boson exchange (SBE) decomposition of the two-particle vertex has been shown to offer both computational and interpretative advantages paving the way to more affordable approximation schemes. We here apply their combination coined as multiloop SBE fRG to the two-dimensional Hubbard model at weak coupling. After providing a detailed account of the underlying formalism in physical channels, we analyze the results for the frequency- and momentum-dependent vertex functions. We find that the SBE approximation, i.e., neglecting the flow of the multi-boson exchange contributions, accurately reproduces the parquet approximation at loop convergence. The presented algorithmic improvement opens the route for the treatment of more challenging parameter regimes and more realistic models.
We present a functional renormalization group (fRG) study of the two dimensional Hubbard model, performed with an algorithmic implementation which lifts some of the common approximations made in fRG calculations. In particular, in our fRG flow; (i) we take explicitly into account the momentum and the frequency dependence of the vertex functions; (ii) we include the feedback effect of the self-energy; (iii) we implement the recently introduced multiloop extension which allows us to sum up all the diagrams of the parquet approximation with their exact weight. Due to its iterative structure based on successive one-loop computations, the loop convergence of the fRG results can be obtained with an affordable numerical effort. In particular, focusing on the analysis of the physical response functions, we show that the results become independent from the chosen cutoff scheme and from the way the fRG susceptibilities are computed, i.e., either through flowing couplings to external fields, or through a “post-processing” contraction of the interaction vertex at the end of the flow. The presented substantial refinement of fRG-based computation schemes paves a promising route towards future quantitative fRG analyses of more challenging systems and/or parameter regimes.