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arXiv:2212.13851

RG flows from WZW models

Ken Kikuchi

Published Dec 28, 2022• 1 citation
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Abstract

We constrain renormalization group flows from $ABCDE$ type Wess-Zumino-Witten models triggered by adjoint primaries. We propose positive Lagrangian coupling leads to massless flow and negative to massive. In the conformal phase, we prove an interface with the half-integral condition obeys the double braiding relations. Distinguishing simple and non-simple flows, we conjecture the former satisfies the half-integral condition. If the conjecture is true, some previously allowed massless flows are ruled out. For $A$ type, known mixed anomalies fix the ambiguity in identifications of Verlinde lines; an object is identified with its charge conjugate. In the massive phase, we compute ground state degeneracies.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2212.13851

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We constrain renormalization group flows from ABCDEABCDEABCDE type Wess-Zumino-Witten models triggered by adjoint primaries. We propose positive Lagrangian coupling leads to massless flow and negative to massive. In the conformal phase, we prove an interface with the half-integral condition obeys the double braiding relations. Distinguishing simple and non-simple flows, we conjecture the former satisfies the half-integral condition. If the conjecture is true, some previously allowed massless flows are ruled out. For AAA type, known mixed anomalies fix the ambiguity in identifications of Verlinde lines; an object is identified with its charge conjugate. In the massive phase, we compute ground state degeneracies.
We consider loop observables in gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten models, and study the action of renormalization group flows on them. In the WZW model based on a compact Lie group G, we analyze at the classical level how the space of renormalizable defects is reduced upon the imposition of global and affine symmetries. We identify families of loop observables which are invariant with respect to an affine symmetry corresponding to a subgroup H of G, and show that they descend to gauge-invariant defects in the gauged model based on G/H. We study the flows acting on these families perturbatively, and quantize the fixed points of the flows exactly. From their action on boundary states, we present a derivation of the “generalized Affleck-Ludwig rule”, which describes a large class of boundary renormalization group flows in rational conformal field theories.
Renormalization group flows are constrained by symmetries. Traditionally, we have made the most of 't Hooft anomalies associated to the symmetries. The anomaly is mathematically part of the data for the monoidal structure on symmetry categories. The symmetry categories sometimes admit additional structures such as braiding. It was found that the additional structures give further constraints on renormalization group flows. One of these constraints is the half-integer condition. The condition claims the following. Braidings are characterized by conformal dimensions. A symmetry object ccc in a braided symmetry category surviving all along the flow thus has two conformal dimensions, one in ultraviolet hcUVh_c^\text{UV}hcUV​ and the other in infrared hcIRh_c^\text{IR}hcIR​. In a renormalization group flow with a renormalization group defect, they add up to a half-integer hcUV+hcIR∈12Zh_c^\text{UV}+h_c^\text{IR}\in\frac12\mathbb ZhcUV​+hcIR​∈21​Z. We find a necessary condition for the sum to be half-integer. We solve some flows with the refined half-integer condition.
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.
We study the SU ( 2 ) k Wess–Zumino–Novikov–Witten (WZNW) theory perturbed by the trace of the primary field in the adjoint representation, a theory governing the low-energy behavior of a class of strongly correlated electronic systems. While the model is non-integrable, its dynamics can be investigated using the numerical technique of the truncated conformal spectrum approach combined with numerical and analytical renormalization groups (TCSA + RG). The numerical results so obtained provide support for a semiclassical analysis valid at k ≫ 1 . Namely, we find that the low energy behavior is sensitive to the sign of the coupling constant, λ . Moreover, for λ > 0 this behavior depends on whether k is even or odd. With k even, we find definitive evidence that the model at low energies is equivalent to the massive O(3) sigma model. For k odd, the numerical evidence is more equivocal, but we find indications that the low energy effective theory is critical.