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Physical Review Letters

Variational Principles and Approximate Renormalization Group Calculations

Leo P. Kadanoff

Published Apr 21, 1975• 172 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Approximate recursion relations which give upper and lower bounds on the free energy are described. "Optimal" calculations of the free energy can then be obtained by treating parameters within the renormalization equations variationally. As an example, simple lower-bound relations are defined for the two- and three-dimensional Ising models. At the fixed point, a parameter is set variationally, and then critical indices are calculated.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.34.1005

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Approximate recursion relations which give upper and lower bounds on the free energy are described. "Optimal" calculations of the free energy can then be obtained by treating parameters within the renormalization equations variationally. As an example, simple lower-bound relations are defined for the two- and three-dimensional Ising models. At the fixed point, a parameter is set variationally, and then critical indices are calculated.
The use of variational approximations in the study and application of renormalization groups is discussed. In particular, a simple approximation is derived which yields an upper bound to the free energy of Ising models on d-dimensional lattices. The optimal transformation, which yields the least upper bound, is determined analytically. The criterion proposed by Kadanoff (1975) to determine the 'best' approximation to the fixed point is found to fail in this case. The reasons for this failure and several of the basic problems posed by variational approximations are discussed.
A variational approximation to the Ising model in a magnetic field (T< TcT<~{T}_{c}T< Tc​), based on the zero-field solution, yields an upper bound on the free energy, an approximate equation of state, and a lower bound on the magnetization, all having the correct critical indices. In two dimensions, these are numerically evaluated, and compared with the results of series expansions.
Variational principles for lower bounds to the energy, or free energy for T > 0°, of many-body systems are obtained in a form requiring density matrix minimization subject to certain model restrictions. The latter restrict the domain in which the density matrices can vary, and only utilize the energy—or free energy—for the model Hamiltonian HM. Increasingly accurate bounds are obtained as the model system begins to resemble the system of interest, and the behavior of the error as H − HM approaches zero is shown by two examples based upon the Ising model. Coupling the lower bound principle for the free energy with the standard Gibbs-Bogoliubov upper bound principle results in bounds on generalized susceptibility as well.
Abstract In Chapter 8 we gave an introduction to the formalism of the renormalization group. A renormalization transformation changes the scale of a system by a factor b. Systems at criticality flow to fixed points under the transformation and their critical exponents and scaling behaviour are determined by linearizing the recursion equations about the fixed point. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: firstly to illustrate these ideas by giving several examples of renormalization group transformations and secondly to demonstrate the ways in which they can be used to calculate critical properties. Our examples are divided into three classes. In Section 9.1, we shall consider a one-dimensional model where the recursion relations can be written down exactly. The drawback of this as a canonical example is that any critical behaviour is at zero temperature. The decimation transformation presented in one dimension is an example of a real-space transformation and the second task, in Section 9.2, is to show how these may be used approximately to treat models in higher dimensions. Thirdly, in Section 9.5, we shall mention the E-expansion where the renormalization takes place in momentum space. This enables an understanding of the crossover to mean-field behaviour. However, the formalism is somewhat involved and the details are beyond the scope of this book.
The partition function of the Ising model with NNN spins, written as a functional integral, is approximated by replacing the field ${\ensuremath{\psi}}_{l}$ at the lattice site lll by the root-mean-square value of these fields, and evaluating the integral by a saddle-point method. A phase transition, whose mechanism is mathematically similar to that of the spherical model, is predicted at a temperature lower than the Weiss critical temperature. After parametrizing the mean-square field, one may apply a general variational principle to choose the parameters which minimize the difference between the approximate free energy and the exact Ising-model free energy. This optimum choice leads to the Horwitz-Callen theory.