Abstract We revisit the Amit-Roginsky (AR) model in the light of recent studies on Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) and tensor models, with which it shares some important features. It is a model of N scalar fields transforming in an N-dimensional irreducible representation of SO(3). The most relevant (in renormalization group sense) invariant interaction is cubic in the fields and mediated by a Wigner 3jm symbol. The latter can be viewed as a particular rank-3 tensor coupling, thus highlighting the similarity to the SYK model, in which the tensor coupling is however random and of even rank. As in the SYK and tensor models, in the large-N limit the perturbative expansion is dominated by melonic diagrams. The lack of randomness, and the rapidly growing number of invariants that can be built with n fields, makes the AR model somewhat closer to tensor models. We review the results from the old work of Amit and Roginsky with the hindsight of recent developments, correcting and completing some of their statements, in particular concerning the spectrum of the operator product expansion of two fundamental fields. For 5.74 < d < 6 the fixed-point theory defines a real CFT, while for smaller d complex dimensions appear, after a merging of the lowest dimension with its shadow. We also introduce and study a long-range version of the model, for which the cubic interaction is exactly marginal at large N , and we find a real and unitary CFT for any d < 6, both for real and imaginary coupling constant, up to some critical coupling.
Abstract We revisit the Amit-Roginsky (AR) model in the light of recent studies on Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) and tensor models, with which it shares some important features. It is a model of N scalar fields transforming in an N-dimensional irreducible representation of SO(3). The most relevant (in renormalization group sense) invariant interaction is cubic in the fields and mediated by a Wigner 3jm symbol. The latter can be viewed as a particular rank-3 tensor coupling, thus highlighting the similarity to the SYK model, in which the tensor coupling is however random and of even rank. As in the SYK and tensor models, in the large-N limit the perturbative expansion is dominated by melonic diagrams. The lack of randomness, and the rapidly growing number of invariants that can be built with n fields, makes the AR model somewhat closer to tensor models. We review the results from the old work of Amit and Roginsky with the hindsight of recent developments, correcting and completing some of their statements, in particular concerning the spectrum of the operator product expansion of two fundamental fields. For 5.74 < d < 6 the fixed-point theory defines a real CFT, while for smaller d complex dimensions appear, after a merging of the lowest dimension with its shadow. We also introduce and study a long-range version of the model, for which the cubic interaction is exactly marginal at large N , and we find a real and unitary CFT for any d < 6, both for real and imaginary coupling constant, up to some critical coupling.
Certain models with rank-3 tensor degrees of freedom have been shown by Gurau and collaborators to possess a novel large N limit, where g2N3 is held fixed. In this limit the perturbative expansion in the quartic coupling constant, g, is dominated by a special class of ``melon'' diagrams. We study ``uncolored'' models of this type, which contain a single copy of real rank-3 tensor. Its three indices are distinguishable; therefore, the models possess O(N)3 symmetry with the tensor field transforming in the tri-fundamental representation. Such uncolored models also possess the large N limit dominated by the melon diagrams. The quantum mechanics of a real anticommuting tensor therefore has a similar large N limit to the model recently introduced by Witten as an implementation of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model which does not require disorder. Gauging the O(N)3 symmetry in our quantum mechanical model removes the nonsinglet states; therefore, one can search for its well-defined gravity dual. We point out, however, that the model possesses a vast number of gauge-invariant operators involving higher powers of the tensor field, suggesting that the complete gravity dual will be intricate. We also discuss the quantum mechanics of a complex 3-index anticommuting tensor, which has $U(N{)}^{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}O(N)$ symmetry and argue that it is equivalent in the large N limit to a version of SYK model with complex fermions. Finally, we discuss similar models of a commuting tensor in dimension d. While the quartic interaction is not positive definite, we construct the large N Schwinger-Dyson equation for the two-point function and show that its solution is consistent with conformal invariance. We carry out a perturbative check of this result using the $4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ expansion.
This thesis focuses on renormalization of tensor field theories. Its first part considers a quartic tensor model with O(N)3 symmetry and long-range propagator. The existence of a non-perturbative fixed point in any d at large N is established. We found four lines of fixed points parametrized by the so-called tetrahedral coupling. One of them is infrared attractive, strongly interacting and gives rise to a new kind of CFT, called melonic CFTs which are then studied in more details. We first compute dimensions of bilinears and OPE coefficients at the fixed point which are consistent with a unitary CFT at large N. We then compute 1/N corrections. At next-to-leading order, the line of fixed points collapses to one fixed point. However, the corrections are complex and unitarity is broken at NLO. Finally, we show that this model respects the F-theorem. The next part of the thesis investigates sextic tensor field theories in rank 3 and 5. In rank 3, we found two IR stable real fixed points in short range and a line of IR stable real fixed points in long range. Surprisingly, the only fixed point in rank 5 is the Gaussian one. For the rank 3 model, in the short-range case, we still find two IR stable fixed points at NLO. However, in the long-range case, the corrections to the fixed points are non-perturbative and hence unreliable: we found no precursor of the large N fixed point. The last part of the thesis investigates the class of model exhibiting a melonic large N limit. We prove that models with tensors in an irreducible representation of O(N) or Sp(N) in rank 5 indeed admit a large N limit. This generalization relies on recursive bounds derived from a detailed combinatorial analysis of Feynman graphs involved in the perturbative expansion of our model.
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-N melonic expansion of tensor models. For the first model, invariant under U(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)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). A matrix model invariant under U(N)×U(N2), with close properties, is also studied. For the other models, with symmetry groups U(N)3 and O(N)5, a non-melonic coupling (the "wheel") with an optimal scaling in N drives us to a generalized melonic expansion. The kinetic terms are taken of short- and long-range, and we analyze perturbatively, at large-N, 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 4/3 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.
We study quantum mechanical models in which the dynamical degrees of freedom are real fermionic tensors of rank 5 and higher. They are the nonrandom counterparts of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models where the Hamiltonian couples six or more fermions. For the tensors of rank 5, there is a unique O(N)5 symmetric sixth-order Hamiltonian leading to a solvable $\mathrm{large}\text{\ensuremath{-}}N$ limit dominated by the melonic diagrams. We solve for the complete energy spectrum of this model when N=2 and deduce exact expressions for all the eigenvalues. The subset of states which are gauge invariant exhibits degeneracies related to the discrete symmetries of the gauged model. We also study quantum chaos properties of the tensor model and compare them with those of the q=6 SYK model. For q>6, there is a rapidly growing number of $O(N{)}^{q\ensuremath{-}1}$ invariant tensor interactions. We focus on those of them that are maximally single trace---their stranded diagrams stay connected when any set of $q\ensuremath{-}3$ colors is erased. We present a general discussion of why the tensor models with maximally single-trace interactions have $\mathrm{large}\text{\ensuremath{-}}N$ limits dominated by the melonic diagrams. We solve the $\mathrm{large}\text{\ensuremath{-}}N$ Schwinger-Dyson equations for the higher rank Majorana tensor models and show that they match those of the corresponding SYK models exactly. We also study other gauge invariant operators present in the tensor models.
We study the spectrum of the large N quantum field theory of bosonic rank-3 tensors, the quartic interactions of which are such that the perturbative expansion is dominated by the melonic diagrams. We use the Schwinger-Dyson equations to determine the scaling dimensions of the bilinear operators of arbitrary spin. Using the fact that the theory is renormalizable in d=4, we compare some of these results with the $4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ expansion, finding perfect agreement. This helps elucidate why the dimension of operator ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{abc}{\ensuremath{\phi}}^{abc}$ is complex for d<4: the large N fixed point in $d=4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ has complex values of the couplings for some of the O(N)3 invariant operators. We show that a similar phenomenon holds in the O(N)2 symmetric theory of a matrix field ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{ab}$, where the double-trace operator has a complex coupling in $4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ dimensions. We also study the spectra of bosonic theories of rank-$q\ensuremath{-}1$ tensors with ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{q}$ interactions. In dimensions d>1.93, there is a critical value of q, above which we have not found any complex scaling dimensions. The critical value is a decreasing function of d, and it becomes 6 in $d\ensuremath{\approx}2.97$. This raises a possibility that the large N theory of rank-5 tensors with sextic potential has an IR fixed point which is free of perturbative instabilities for 2.97<d<3. This theory may be studied using renormalized perturbation theory in $d=3\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$.
The first part of these lecture notes is mostly devoted to a comparative discussion of the three basic large N 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 N 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)2, or O(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 N 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 N limits are similar to that in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. The minimal Majorana model with O(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) symmetry, which is a tensor counterpart of the complex SYK model. The bosonic large N tensor models, which are formally tractable in continuous spacetime dimension, are reviewed briefly at the end.