A bstract The fundamental theorem in renormalization group flows in two dimensions is the c -theorem, which dictates that the number of degrees of freedom must decrease monotonically along the renormalization group flow. The k -theorem claims that the number of charged degrees of freedom also decreases monotonically. Here, k is the current central charge defined by the two-point function of the current. A recent derivation of the c-theorem by Hartman and Mathys, which uses the three-point function sum rule and the positivity of the averaged null energy (ANE) operator, motivates us to seek a similar proof of the k -theorem. In the case of the k -theorem, the partial contact terms need to be taken into consideration. While ignoring the partial contact terms yields contradictory results, our careful analysis incorporating them leads to the correct sum rule and a complete proof based on the positivity of the ANE operator.
A bstract The fundamental theorem in renormalization group flows in two dimensions is the c -theorem, which dictates that the number of degrees of freedom must decrease monotonically along the renormalization group flow. The k -theorem claims that the number of charged degrees of freedom also decreases monotonically. Here, k is the current central charge defined by the two-point function of the current. A recent derivation of the c-theorem by Hartman and Mathys, which uses the three-point function sum rule and the positivity of the averaged null energy (ANE) operator, motivates us to seek a similar proof of the k -theorem. In the case of the k -theorem, the partial contact terms need to be taken into consideration. While ignoring the partial contact terms yields contradictory results, our careful analysis incorporating them leads to the correct sum rule and a complete proof based on the positivity of the ANE operator.
A bstract We study applications of spectral positivity and the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) to renormalization group (RG) flows in two-dimensional quantum field theory. We find a succinct new proof of the Zamolodchikov c -theorem, and derive further independent constraints along the flow. In particular, we identify a natural C -function that is a completely monotonic function of scale, meaning its derivatives satisfy the alternating inequalities (–1) n C ( n ) ( μ 2 ) ≥ 0. The completely monotonic C -function is identical to the Zamolodchikov C -function at the endpoints, but differs along the RG flow. In addition, we apply Lorentzian techniques that we developed recently to study anomalies and RG flows in four dimensions, and show that the Zamolodchikov c -theorem can be restated as a Lorentzian sum rule relating the change in the central charge to the average null energy. This establishes that the ANEC implies the c -theorem in two dimensions, and provides a second, simpler example of the Lorentzian sum rule.
A bstract Energy-momentum tensor in general conformal field theories have improvement ambiguity and it can affect the argument in deriving c-theorem. While the derivation of Zamolodchikov’s c-theorem is still formally valid with the improved energy-momentum tensor, the behavior of the c-function proposed by Zamolodchikov becomes different. When the theory suffers an IR divergence due to the non-compactness, the c-function can be unbounded and may even show non-monotonicity. We find that one of the three-point function sum rule proposed by Hartman and Mathys motivated by the averaged null energy condition, however, is agnostic about the improvement and gives the (effective) Virasoro central charge, when the IR theory is gapped.
A fundamental quantity in 1+1 dimensional quantum field theories is Zamolodchikov's c-function. A function of a renormalization group distance parameter r that interpolates between UV and IR fixed points, its value is usually interpreted as a measure of the number of degrees of freedom of a model at a particular energy scale. The c-theorem establishes that c(r) is a monotonically decreasing function of r and that its derivative may only vanish at quantum critical points. At those points c(r) becomes the central charge of the conformal field theory which describes the critical point. In this letter we argue that a different function proposed by Calabrese and Cardy, defined in terms of the two-point function of a branch point twist field and the trace of the stress-energy tensor, has exactly the same qualitative features as c(r).
A fundamental quantity in 1+1 dimensional quantum field theories is Zamolodchikov's c-function. A function of a renormalization group distance parameter r that interpolates between UV and IR fixed points, its value is usually interpreted as a measure of the number of degrees of freedom of a model at a particular energy scale. The c-theorem establishes that c(r) is a monotonically decreasing function of r and that its derivative may only vanish at quantum critical points. At those points c(r) becomes the central charge of the conformal field theory which describes the critical point. In this letter we argue that a different function proposed by Calabrese and Cardy, defined in terms of the two-point function of a branch point twist field and the trace of the stress-energy tensor, has exactly the same qualitative features as c(r).
The concept of renormalization group (RG) flow is one of the most novel and broad-reaching aspects of quantum field theory (QFT). The RG flow is implemented by constructing effective descriptions of a QFT at decreasing energy scales. One reason that RG flow is useful is that often one is interested in low-energy properties of theories with complicated short-distance structures. RG flows are subject to C theorems in relativistic QFT. The C theorems order the space of Lorentz-invariant QFTs. RG flows generically begin at scale-invariant fixed points known as conformal field theories (CFTs) and end in trivial massive theories. With tuning, the RG flows may end at non-trivial CFTs. Each CFT has an associated dimensionless C value. The C theorem states that under RG flow from a UV to an IR fixed point, the C value decreases. In this Dissertation I present the F-theorem, which is a C theorem in three spacetime dimensions. I show that the correct quantity to consider is the Euclidean free energy of the CFT conformally mapped to the three-sphere, known as the F value. After motivating the F-theorem, I develop tools for calculating the F value in a variety of CFTs, with and without supersymmetry, including free field theories and gauge theories with large numbers of flavors. I also show that the F value is itself a useful quantity for probing the gauge/gravity duality and understanding other aspects of CFT, such as the scaling dimensions of monopole operators. The F theorem is closely related to quantum entanglement entropy. At conformal fixed points, the F value is equal to minus the renormalized entanglement entropy (REE) in flat Minkowski space across a circle. Away from the fixed points, the REE is a monotonically decreasing function along the RG flow. I compute the REE in a variety of holographic and non-holographic theories. I conclude the Dissertation by discussing a somewhat surprising result: the REE is not stationary at conformal fixed points.
In the successful framework of the Renormalization Group (RG) approach to Quantum Field Theories (QFT), establishing general constraints on the RG flow has become a central problem. This is formally addressed by the monotonicity theorems, such as Zamolodchikov’s c-theorem in d=2, the a-theorem in d=4, and the F-theorem in d=3. Essentially, these theorems state that if a RG trajectory leads from a UV fixed point to a IR one, each described by a Conformal Field Theory (CFT), then a suitable positive quantity decreases. In both even and odd dimensions, this quantity can be extracted, at fixed points, from the free energy of the CFT on a sphere, leading to the conjecture of a generalized F-theorem valid in continuous dimension d. In this thesis we investigate this framework in a multicritical multiscalar theory with a generic sextic interaction for N massless scalar fields below its upper critical dimension d=3. This model captures, among many others, the critical features of the Tricritical Ising universality class. A first step is to establish whether the RG flow admits a gradient structure, i.e. that there exists a monotonic function A whose gradient yields the beta function up to a positive-definite metric in the space of couplings. This is one of the strongest realizations of monotonicity, as it guarantees the irreversibility of the RG flow and gives an intrinsic geometric structure to the theory space. Given the known beta function up to next-to-leading order, we solve the gradient flow equation perturbatively, finding a parametric family of solutions for the monotonic A-function together with the metric at and below the upper critical dimension, so that the RG flow admits a gradient structure at this order. As this procedure leaves some parameters undetermined, to turn it into a physical statement these functions must be matched to suitable observables of the CFTs describing the fixed points. We therefore compute the CFT candidates suggested by the generalized F-theorem, namely the sphere free energy of the CFT and the Zamolodchikov metric. Specializing to the O(N)-symmetric fixed point, we consistently match the RG and CFT results, fixing all the free parameters in a unique way. This matching is the central result of this work: it establishes that the RG flow admits a gradient structure perturbatively, with F as the monotonic function and Zamolodchikov's metric as the metric on the theory space, recovered from the geometric construction for a specific and unique choice of the free parameters. Importantly, this result provides a nontrivial, perturbative confirmation of the F-theorem in its strongest form, at and below the upper critical dimension, for renormalizable three-dimensional multiscalar theories.