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arXiv:2511.08686 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Variational Method in Quantum Field Theory

Arthur Hutsalyuk, Márton Lájer, Giuseppe Mussardo, Andrea Stampiggi

hep-thcond-mat.stat-mechquant-phSubmitted Nov 11, 2025• Announced Nov 13, 2025• 0 citations• Revised Dec 18, 2025 (v2)
v1 · Nov 11, 2025v2 · Dec 18, 2025v3 · Jun 1, 2026
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Abstract

We develop a variational framework for addressing two-dimensional non-integrable quantum field theories through the exact structure of their integrable counterparts. Concentrating on the $\varphi^4$ Landau-Ginzburg model, we use the analytical Vacuum Expectation Values and Form Factors of local operators in the sinh-Gordon theory as the foundation of a variational ansatz. In this way, we obtain controlled estimates of central physical quantities of the $\varphi^4$ theory - such as the finite-volume ground-state energy and the physical mass as a function of the coupling constant. The strengths of the variational methods are leveraged in combination with the Hamiltonian truncation techniques and the LeClair-Mussardo formula, which also allow to probe the accuracy of the variational approximation varying the system size. Within the weak-coupling regime, a detailed numerical analysis reveals the behaviour of the finite-volume spectrum, the ground-state energy, and the elastic part of the scattering matrix, showing how the rigorous machinery of integrable models can serve as a guiding light into the complex landscape of non-integrable quantum field dynamics.

Journal reference
JHEP05(2026)269
DOI
10.1007/JHEP05(2026)269
Comments
v2: expanded references and expanded discussion in Section 6.5

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We develop a variational framework for addressing two-dimensional non-integrable quantum field theories through the exact structure of their integrable counterparts. Concentrating on the φ4\varphi^4φ4 Landau-Ginzburg model, we use the analytical Vacuum Expectation Values and Form Factors of local operators in the sinh-Gordon theory as the foundation of a variational ansatz. In this way, we obtain controlled estimates of central physical quantities of the φ4\varphi^4φ4 theory - such as the finite-volume ground-state energy and the physical mass as a function of the coupling constant. The strengths of the variational methods are leveraged in combination with the Hamiltonian truncation techniques and the LeClair-Mussardo formula, which also allow to probe the accuracy of the variational approximation varying the system size. Within the weak-coupling regime, a detailed numerical analysis reveals the behaviour of the finite-volume spectrum, the ground-state energy, and the elastic part of the scattering matrix, showing how the rigorous machinery of integrable models can serve as a guiding light into the complex landscape of non-integrable quantum field dynamics.
Strongly coupled quantum field theories in (1+1)(1+1)(1+1) dimensions are notoriously hard to solve non-perturbatively. Variational methods, despite their success for quantum many-body physics on the lattice, have long lacked a natural ansatz adapted to the relativistic setting. This monograph explains the intuition behind relativistic continuous matrix product states (RCMPS), a variational ansatz tailored to (1+1)(1+1)(1+1)-dimensional QFT, and reports on several years of progress in developing and applying this approach. Using Riemannian optimization on the manifold of RCMPS, we obtain competitive non-perturbative approximations to ground state energies and local observables in the φ4φ^4φ4, Sine-Gordon, and Sinh-Gordon models, including in strongly coupled regimes where perturbation theory fails. We then describe extensions to models with several interacting fields. Beyond energy density and local observables, we show how the framework can be used to evaluate non-local observables (defects) and, through an original linear programming approach, to extract spectral data such as particle masses. We close by discussing the current limitations of the method and the most promising directions for future work.
We study different aspects of integrable boundary quantum field theories, focusing mostly on the ``boundary sine-Gordon model'' and its applications to condensed matter physics. The first part of the review deals with formal problems. We analyze the classical limit and perform semi-classical quantization. We show that the non-relativistic limit corresponds to the Calogero-Moser model with a boundary potential. We construct a lattice regularization of the problem via the XXZ chain. We classify boundary bound states. We generalize the Destri de Vega method to compute the ground state energy of the theory on a finite interval. The second part deals with some applications to condensed matter physics. We show how to compute analytically time and space dependent correlations in one-dimensional quantum integrable systems with an impurity. Our approach is based on a description of these systems in terms of massless scattering of quasiparticles. Correlators follow then from matrix elements of local operators between multiparticle states -- the massless form-factors. Although, in general an infinite sum of these form-factors has to be considered, we find that for the current, spin and energy operators only a few (two or three) are necessary to obtain an accuracy of more than 1\%. Our results hold for arbitrary impurity strength, in contrary to the perturbative expansions in the coupling constants. As an example, we compute the frequency dependent condunctance, at zero temperature, in a Luttinger liquid with an impurity, and also discuss the susceptibility in the Kondo model and the time-dependent properties of the two-state problem with dissipation.
<!--HTML-->The Sinh-Gordon model is a 1+1 dimensional quantum field theory with a potential cosh(b phi) that is quite peculiar. It is at the same time exactly solvable (for many observables) and not well understood. I will present the results of a variational exploration of its strong coupling regime with a recent generalization of continuous matrix product states. The advantage of this method is that it does not require introducing a cutoff, UV or IR, is fully non-perturbative, typically converges fast for Hamiltonians with polynomial interactions, and gives rigorous energy upper bounds. Its application to the Sinh-Gordon model is only partly successful: observables can be computed accurately up to fairly large values of the coupling, but the ultra strong coupling regime remains difficult to access without extrapolations. As a result, the behavior near the self-dual point is not yet fully settled. I will show the basics of relativistic continuous matrix product states, explain how they typically work for phi^4 like theories or even the easier Sine-Gordon model and finally discuss my attempts at taming Sinh-Gordon.
We present a variational neural network approach for solving quantum field theories in the field basis, focusing on the free Klein-Gordon model formulated in momentum space. While recent studies have explored neural-network-based variational methods for scalar field theory in position space, a systematic benchmark of the analytically solvable Klein-Gordon ground state—particularly in the momentum-space field basis—has been lacking. In this work, we represent the ground-state wavefunctional as a neural network defined on a discretized set of field configurations and train it by minimizing the Hamiltonian expectation value. This framework enables direct comparison to exact analytic results for a range of key observables, including the ground-state energy, two-point correlators, expectation value of the field, and the structure of the learned wavefunctional itself. Our results provide quantitative diagnostics of accuracy and establish a validated foundation for extending neural-network wavefunctional methods to interacting field theories and position-space formulations.
I study the Sine-Gordon (SG) and Sinh-Gordon (ShG) quantum field theories with a recently introduced variational method, the relativistic continuous matrix product states (RCMPS). The main advantage is to work directly in the thermodynamic limit, and without any UV regulator. The SG model is well understood and integrable, which provides a convenient benchmark for the variational method and serves as a warm-up. RCMPS approximate the ground state of the SG model arbitrary well up to the free Fermion point [coupling β=4πβ=\sqrt{4π}β=4π​ in equal-time quantization convention, or b=1/2b=1/\sqrt{2}b=1/2​ in CFT convention], where the ground energy collapses to −∞-\infty−∞, and some renormalized ansatz would be needed. The ShG model, while integrable, is less understood and its strong coupling regime β≈1β\approx 1β≈1 is subject to some controversy. RCMPS also fit the ground state of the ShG model up to approximately b=1/2b=1/\sqrt{2}b=1/2​, after which their predictions start to deviate substantially from the "exact" results. This is more puzzling as nothing is expected to happen physically for the ShG model at that point (eg, the ground energy density does not diverge). Either the "exact" ShG results are not exact (the analytic continuation of the SG Bethe Ansatz solution is unwarranted), or, more likely, the physical structure of the ShG ground state changes in such a way that it becomes out of reach of the RCMPS manifold for reasonable bond dimensions.
We review two important non-perturbative approaches for extracting the physics of low-dimensional strongly correlated quantum systems. Firstly, we start by providing a comprehensive review of non-Abelian bosonization. This includes an introduction to the basic elements of conformal field theory as applied to systems with a current algebra, and we orient the reader by presenting a number of applications of non-Abelian bosonization to models with large symmetries. We then tie this technique into recent advances in the ability of cold atomic systems to realize complex symmetries. Secondly, we discuss truncated spectrum methods for the numerical study of systems in one and two dimensions. For one-dimensional systems we provide the reader with considerable insight into the methodology by reviewing canonical applications of the technique to the Ising model (and its variants) and the sine-Gordon model. Following this we review recent work on the development of renormalization groups, both numerical and analytical, that alleviate the effects of truncating the spectrum. Using these technologies, we consider a number of applications to one-dimensional systems: properties of carbon nanotubes, quenches in the Lieb-Liniger model, 1 + 1D quantum chromodynamics, as well as Landau-Ginzburg theories. In the final part we move our attention to consider truncated spectrum methods applied to two-dimensional systems. This involves combining truncated spectrum methods with matrix product state algorithms. We describe applications of this method to two-dimensional systems of free fermions and the quantum Ising model, including their non-equilibrium dynamics.