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arXiv:2504.03437 · SciPost Physics Core

Tunneling with physics-informed RG flows in the anharmonic oscillator

Alfio Maurizio Bonanno, Friederike Ihssen, Jan Martin Pawlowski

Published Feb 2, 2026• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We solve the anharmonic oscillator using physics-informed renormalisation group (PIRG) flows, focusing on the weak coupling regime dominated by instanton-induced tunnelling processes. We demonstrate that the instanton physics underlying the exponential suppression of the energy gap is already captured at the first order of the derivative expansion within the PIRG framework. The key advances of this work are the implementation of a ground-state expansion in the PIRG flow and the adoption of high-precision Galerkin-based numerics. Our determination of the decay constant, $ a_{} = 1.910(2) $, agrees quantitatively with the analytic value $ a_{} = 1.886 $, differing by only 1\% 1 % . While the present formulation relies on a heuristic mapping that will be systematically refined in future extensions of the PIRG approach, these results already highlight the remarkable ability of the method to capture non-perturbative quantum phenomena within relatively simple truncations.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphyscore.9.1.005

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We solve the anharmonic oscillator using physics-informed renormalisation group (PIRG) flows, focusing on the weak coupling regime dominated by instanton-induced tunnelling processes. We demonstrate that the instanton physics underlying the exponential suppression of the energy gap is already captured at the first order of the derivative expansion within the PIRG framework. The key advances of this work are the implementation of a ground-state expansion in the PIRG flow and the adoption of high-precision Galerkin-based numerics. Our determination of the decay constant, a=1.910(2)a_{} = 1.910(2)a​=1.910(2), agrees quantitatively with the analytic value a=1.886a_{} = 1.886a​=1.886, differing by only 1% 1 % . While the present formulation relies on a heuristic mapping that will be systematically refined in future extensions of the PIRG approach, these results already highlight the remarkable ability of the method to capture non-perturbative quantum phenomena within relatively simple truncations.
The physics of strongly correlated systems offers some of the most intriguing physics challenges such as competing orders or the emergence of dynamical composite degrees of freedom. Often, the resolution of these physics challenges is computationally hard, but can be simplified enormously by a formulation in terms of the dynamical degrees of freedom and within an expansion about the physical ground state. Importantly, such a formulation does not only reduce or minimise the computational challenges, it also facilitates the access to the physics mechanisms at play. The tasks of finding the dynamical degrees of freedom and the physical ground state can be systematically addressed within the functional renormalisation group approach with flowing fields which accommodates both, emergent composites as well as the physical ground state. In the present work we use this approach to set up physics-informed renormalisation group flows (PIRG flows): Scale-dependent coordinate transformations in field space induce emergent composites, and the respective flows for the effective action generate a large set of target actions, formulated in these emergent composite fields. This novel perspective on RG flows bears a great potential both for conceptual as well as computational applications: to begin with, PIRG flows allow for a systematic search of the dynamical degrees of freedom and the respective ground state that leads to the most rapid convergence of expansion schemes, thus minimising the computational effort. Secondly, the resolution of the remaining computational tasks within a given expansion scheme can be further reduced by optimising the physics content within a given approximation. Thirdly, the maximal variability of PIRG flows can be used to reduce the analytic and numerical effort of solving the flows within a given approximation.
We discuss physics-informed renormalization group flows (PIRGs) for general operators. We show that operator PIRGs provide comprehensive access to all correlation functions of the quantum field theory under investigation. The operator PIRGs can be seen as a completion of the PIRG approach, whose qualitative computational simplification and structural insights are now fully accessible for general applications. The potential of this setup is assessed within a simple analytic example of the zero-dimensional ϕ 4 -theory, for which the generating functions of the fundamental field are computed within a vertex expansion, using the one- to ten-point functions.
In this work, we substantially advance the formalism of the temporal functional renormalisation group which constitutes a non-perturbative framework for computing the dynamics of correlation functions in quantum field theories. To that end we carefully revisit the derivation of the temporal flow equation, paying particular attention to properties arising from a causal temporal regulator. We use the manifest causality of the formalism to integrate the general temporal flow analytically. The result are novel one-loop exact equations for fully dressed correlation functions. Further leveraging causality, we derive the complete Dyson-Schwinger hierarchy and the s-channel effective vertex in terms of specific truncations of the temporal flow. We solve the problem of renormalising the general causal temporal flow. We demonstrate that certain types of causal integral equations can be solved by an explicit numerical method. We numerically solve the integrated flow in a truncation involving the propagator of the phi3\\phi^3phi3-theory in 1+11+11+1 dimensions. Our results indicate the emergence of universal dynamics. Due to the high degree of flexibility of approximation schemes of the temporal flow, energy conservation in generic truncations is not guaranteed automatically but becomes a non-trivial feature instead. We explore energy-conserving truncations by deriving the causal temporal flow of the energy-momentum tensor, which we integrate analytically.
We apply the functional renormalization group method to the calculation of dynamical properties of zero-dimensional interacting quantum systems. As case studies we discuss the anharmonic oscillator and the single impurity Anderson model. We truncate the hierarchy of flow equations such that the results are at least correct up to second order perturbation theory in the coupling. For the anharmonic oscillator energies and spectra obtained within two different functional renormalization group schemes are compared to numerically exact results, perturbation theory, and the mean field approximation. Even at large coupling the results obtained using the functional renormalization group agree quite well with the numerical exact solution. The better of the two schemes is used to calculate spectra of the single impurity Anderson model, which then are compared to the results of perturbation theory and the numerical renormalization group. For small to intermediate couplings the functional renormalization group gives results which are close to the ones obtained using the very accurate numerical renormalization group method. In particulare the low-energy scale (Kondo temperature) extracted from the functional renormalization group results shows the expected behavior.
Within the framework of the instanton approach, we present analytical results for the following model problems: (i) particle penetration through a parabolic potential barrier, where the instanton solution practically coincides with the exact (quantum) one; (ii) descriptions of highly excited states in anharmonic potentials of two types: double-well X 4 and decay X 3 . For the former potential, the instanton method accurately reproduces not only single-well and double-well quantization, but also a crossover region (in contrast to the standard WKB approach that fails to describe the crossover behavior); for the latter potential, the instanton method allows studying the resonance broadening and collapse phenomena. We also investigate resonance tunneling that plays a relevant role in many semiconducting devices. We show that the instanton approach gives exact (quantum) results in a broad range of energies. Applications of the method and of the results are applicable to various systems in physics, chemistry, and biology exhibiting double-level behavior and resonance tunneling.
We develop a general formalism for calculating the large-order behavior of perturbation theory for quantized systems of unequal-mass coupled anharmonic oscillators. Our technique is based on a generalization of the semiclassical approximation which was used to study equal-mass oscillators in the first paper of this series. The unequal-mass problem is much more difficult because the path which minimizes the classical action is not a straight line. Assuming that this tunneling path is known, we derive a general expression for the physical-optics approximation to the wave function of a tunneling particle. This derivation rests on the construction of a WKB approximation in curved space. We thus completely reduce the general quantum problem to the much simpler classical one of determining the path. Then we present a perturbation scheme for finding the classical path for systems of oscillators whose masses only differ by a small amount. Finally, we illustrate our techniques by solving a two-mode unequal-mass oscillator and comparing these results with a computer calculation. Our theoretical predictions and numerical calculations agree.