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Physical review. B, Solid state

Renormalization Group and Critical Phenomena. I. Renormalization Group and the Kadanoff Scaling Picture

Kenneth Geddes Wilson

Published Nov 1, 1971• 2,333 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Kadanoff theory of scaling near the critical point for an Ising ferromagnet is cast in differential form. The resulting differential equations are an example of the differential equations of the renormalization group. It is shown that the Widom-Kadanoff scaling laws arise naturally from these differential equations if the coefficients in the equations are analytic at the critical point. A generalization of the Kadanoff scaling picture involving an "irrelevant" variable is considered; in this case the scaling laws result from the renormalization-group equations only if the solution of the equations goes asymptotically to a fixed point.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.4.3174

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In the previous chapters, we introduced the scaling hypothesis and saw how Kadanoff's block-spin idea provides a conceptual bridge between microscopic models and macroscopic critical behavior. We also saw how Widom's scaling form and the resulting relations among critical exponents emerge from the assumption of scale invariance near the critical point. We are now ready to formalize these ideas into a mathematical framework: the renormalization group (RG).

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As discussed in the previous chapter, the phenomenological theory of critical phenomena finds a sound basis in the logical sequence of universality, scaling, relevant and irrelevant variables. The difficult problem of a large number of degrees of freedom strongly correlated within the coherence distance, which diverges at criticality, is thereby, in principle, reduced to the determination of the homogeneous form of the relevant response functions and of the evaluation of a few critical indices related to the relevant parameters, whereas the details specifying each system do not matter. In order to give a microscopic foundation to universality and to the scaling theory, an exact transformation is needed, which changes into a scaling transformation asymptotically near the critical point. This is the renormalization group (RG) approach, recently presented in a huge number of reviewpapers and books.Historically, the first comprehensive overview was given by the sixth volume of the series edited by Domb and Green (1976) and by the classic books by Patashinskij and Pokrovskij (1979) and by Ma (1976). Along with scaling theory, the field-theoretic renormalization group (RG) approach (Gell- Mann and Low (1954); Bogoliubov and Shirkov (1959); Bonch-Bruevich and Tyablikov (1962)) was introduced in critical phenomena (Di Castro and Jona-Lasinio (1969)) by showing how the RG equations generalize the universality relations in the sense that they relate one model system to another by varying the coupling and suitably rescaling the other variables and the correlation functions. At the same time a detailed analysis of the pertubative diagrammatic structure of the correlation functions together with the use of Ward identities yielded a renormalized theory (Migdal (1969); Polyakov (1968, 1969)). By iterating the RG transformation the coupling disappears from the equations near to the critical point, the homogeneous form of the static order-parameter correlation function is obtained and a microscopic definition of the critical indices is given. The scaling picture then acquires a theoretical basis. Wilson (Wilson (1971a, b); Wilson and Kogut (1974)) gave a great contribution to the understanding of the physics underlying the RG procedure and to the explicit calculation of the critical indices. He proposed a simple mathematical realization of the other very physical idea of universality due to Kadanoff of grouping together degrees of freedom on the scale s associated with larger and larger cells.

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Comment on "New approach to the renormalization group"

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Following previous discussions concerning the field-theoretical derivation of Kadanoff's scaling laws, we apply the method of "soft quantization" to the derivation of a homogeneous renormalization-group equation. This equation is similar to the one proposed recently by S. Weinberg. In addition to our attempt to close the "communication gap" between physicists working on critical phenomena and high-energy physics, we discuss some new applications of such homogeneous differential equations to perturbations of scale-invariant models.

Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields•Nov 15, 1974•14 citations
The Kadanoff theory of scaling near the critical point for an Ising ferromagnet is cast in differential form. The resulting differential equations are an example of the differential equations of the renormalization group. It is shown that the Widom-Kadanoff scaling laws arise naturally from these differential equations if the coefficients in the equations are analytic at the critical point. A generalization of the Kadanoff scaling picture involving an "irrelevant" variable is considered; in this case the scaling laws result from the renormalization-group equations only if the solution of the equations goes asymptotically to a fixed point.
As discussed in the previous chapter, the phenomenological theory of critical phenomena finds a sound basis in the logical sequence of universality, scaling, relevant and irrelevant variables. The difficult problem of a large number of degrees of freedom strongly correlated within the coherence distance, which diverges at criticality, is thereby, in principle, reduced to the determination of the homogeneous form of the relevant response functions and of the evaluation of a few critical indices related to the relevant parameters, whereas the details specifying each system do not matter. In order to give a microscopic foundation to universality and to the scaling theory, an exact transformation is needed, which changes into a scaling transformation asymptotically near the critical point. This is the renormalization group (RG) approach, recently presented in a huge number of reviewpapers and books.Historically, the first comprehensive overview was given by the sixth volume of the series edited by Domb and Green (1976) and by the classic books by Patashinskij and Pokrovskij (1979) and by Ma (1976). Along with scaling theory, the field-theoretic renormalization group (RG) approach (Gell- Mann and Low (1954); Bogoliubov and Shirkov (1959); Bonch-Bruevich and Tyablikov (1962)) was introduced in critical phenomena (Di Castro and Jona-Lasinio (1969)) by showing how the RG equations generalize the universality relations in the sense that they relate one model system to another by varying the coupling and suitably rescaling the other variables and the correlation functions. At the same time a detailed analysis of the pertubative diagrammatic structure of the correlation functions together with the use of Ward identities yielded a renormalized theory (Migdal (1969); Polyakov (1968, 1969)). By iterating the RG transformation the coupling disappears from the equations near to the critical point, the homogeneous form of the static order-parameter correlation function is obtained and a microscopic definition of the critical indices is given. The scaling picture then acquires a theoretical basis. Wilson (Wilson (1971a, b); Wilson and Kogut (1974)) gave a great contribution to the understanding of the physics underlying the RG procedure and to the explicit calculation of the critical indices. He proposed a simple mathematical realization of the other very physical idea of universality due to Kadanoff of grouping together degrees of freedom on the scale s associated with larger and larger cells.
The Widom-Kadanoff scaling laws are generalized to dynamic phenomena, by making assumptions on the structure of time-dependent correlation functions near Tc{T}_{c}Tc​. The theory is applied to isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet and predictions are made, which can be tested by inelastic neutron-scattering and nmr measurements. The ferromagnet is also briefly discussed.
The main idea of Wilson's renormalization group theory of critical phenomena is extended to the dynamical case. In the first place, a concept of dynamical fixed point is proposed. The dynamic scaling law is then derived from our new fixed-point hypothesis. Wilson's fixed-point hypothesis is also deduced from ours. Further, a method of renormalizing the master equation by eliminating the short wavelength modes is found. This is performed by means of the projection operator method. As an illustration, the dynamic critical exponents are calculated for a purely dissipative spin system. Related work based on the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation is examined.
The primary goal of modern theories of critical phenomena is the evaluation of critical exponents from first principles, implying the need to get beyond mean field theories which predict the same exponents independent of the nature of the system. This chapter focuses on a new approach emerged in the 1960s based on two ideas—scaling and renormalization. It presents the physical picture developed by L. P. Kadanoff that provides a conceptual basis for scaling and which has become part of the standard language of critical phenomena. Renormalization provides a way to calculate the free energy not involving a direct evaluation of the partition function—it's a new paradigm in statistical mechanics. The chapter analyzes a simplified, approximate set of recursion relations valid at high temperature for a model with nearest and next-nearest-neighbor interactions. In 1971 K. G. Wilson published two articles marking the introduction of the renormalization group to the study of critical phenomena.
Following previous discussions concerning the field-theoretical derivation of Kadanoff's scaling laws, we apply the method of "soft quantization" to the derivation of a homogeneous renormalization-group equation. This equation is similar to the one proposed recently by S. Weinberg. In addition to our attempt to close the "communication gap" between physicists working on critical phenomena and high-energy physics, we discuss some new applications of such homogeneous differential equations to perturbations of scale-invariant models.