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Epsilon Expansion for Multicritical Fixed Points and Exact Renormalisation Group Equations

H. Osborn

Published Nov 26, 2012• 32 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The Polchinski version of the exact renormalisation group equations is applied to multicritical fixed points, which are present for dimensions between two and four, for scalar theories using both the local potential approximation and its extension, the derivative expansion. The results are compared with the epsilon expansion by showing that the non linear differential equations may be linearised at each multicritical point and the epsilon expansion treated as a perturbative expansion. The results for critical exponents are compared with corresponding epsilon expansion results from standard perturbation theory. The results provide a test for the validity of the local potential approximation and also the derivative expansion. An alternative truncation of the exact RG equation leads to equations which are similar to those found in the derivative expansion but which gives correct results for critical exponents to order ε and also for the field anomalous dimension to order ε 2. An exact marginal operator for the full RG equations is also constructed.

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The Polchinski version of the exact renormalisation group equations is applied to multicritical fixed points, which are present for dimensions between two and four, for scalar theories using both the local potential approximation and its extension, the derivative expansion. The results are compared with the epsilon expansion by showing that the non linear differential equations may be linearised at each multicritical point and the epsilon expansion treated as a perturbative expansion. The results for critical exponents are compared with corresponding epsilon expansion results from standard perturbation theory. The results provide a test for the validity of the local potential approximation and also the derivative expansion. An alternative truncation of the exact RG equation leads to equations which are similar to those found in the derivative expansion but which gives correct results for critical exponents to order ε and also for the field anomalous dimension to order ε 2. An exact marginal operator for the full RG equations is also constructed.
Equations related to the Polchinski version of the exact renormalization group (RG) equations for scalar fields which extend the local potential approximation to first order in a derivative expansion, and which maintain reparameterization invariance, are postulated. Reparameterization invariance ensures that the equations determine the anomalous dimension η unambiguously and the equations are such that the result is exact to O (ε 2 ) in an ε-expansion for any multi-critical fixed point. It is also straightforward to determine η numerically. When the dimension d = 3 numerical results for a wide range of critical exponents are obtained in theories with O ( N ) symmetry, for various N and for ranges of η, are obtained within the local potential approximation. The associated η, which follows from the derivative approximation described here, is found for various N . The large N limit of the equations is also analysed. A corresponding discussion is also given in a perturbative RG framework and scaling dimensions for derivative operators are calculated to first order in ε.
We employ perturbative renormalization group and $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$-expansion to study multicritical single-scalar field theories with higher derivative kinetic terms of the form $\ensuremath{\phi}(\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\square}{)}^{k}\ensuremath{\phi}$. We focus on those with a Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​-symmetric critical point which are characterized by an upper critical dimension ${d}_{c}=2nk/(n\ensuremath{-}1)$ accumulating at even integers. We distinguish two types of theories depending on whether or not the numbers kkk and $n\ensuremath{-}1$ are relatively prime. When they are, the critical theory involves a marginal powerlike interaction ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{2n}$ and the deformations admit a derivative expansion that at leading order involves only the potential. In this case we present the beta functional of the potential and use this to calculate some anomalous dimensions and operator product expansion coefficients. These confirm some conformal field theory data obtained using conformal-block techniques, while giving new results. In the second case where kkk and $n\ensuremath{-}1$ have a common divisor, the theories show a much richer structure induced by the presence of marginal derivative operators at criticality. We study the case k=2k=2k=2 with odd values of nnn, which fall in the second class, and calculate the functional flows and spectrum. These theories have a phase diagram characterized at leading order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ by four fixed points which apart from the Gaussian UV fixed point include an IR fixed point with a purely derivative interaction.
Continuous phase transitions provide a natural setting for understanding universality. Near criticality, the correlation length diverges, microscopic details become increasingly irrelevant, and physical observables obey scaling laws characterized by universal critical exponents. Within the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG), this scale dependence is described through the Effective Average Action, which progressively incorporates fluctuations as the momentum scale is lowered. A first part of this thesis is developed within the Local Potential Approximation (LPA), where we study multicritical fixed points of scalar field theories. Their universal properties are compared with results obtained at higher orders in the derivative expansion. Particular attention is devoted to the relation between global fixed-point potentials and their local representations through finite polynomial truncations. We show that the convergence of such expansions is constrained by the analytic structure of the global solution, and that expanding around a suitable nonzero stationary point significantly improves the reconstruction of multicritical branches. Beyond the structure of individual fixed points, a central part of this thesis concerns RG irreversibility. In two dimensions, Zamolodchikov’s c-theorem describes the flow from the ultraviolet to the infrared through a monotonically decreasing c-function. Within the FRG framework, we develop a variational procedure to reconstruct RG trajectories between fixed points and integrate the corresponding c-function along them. The resulting quantity displays monotonic behaviour and becomes increasingly stable as the truncation order is raised, providing a manifestation of RG irreversibility within the approximation considered. Finally, close to the upper critical dimensions, the linearized FRG flow around the Gaussian fixed point is naturally organized in terms of Hermite polynomials. Using the epsilon-expansion, we derive a curvature-based candidate c-function and obtain an analytic explanation for the alternating curvature of successive multicritical fixed points and for their progressive accumulation around the Gaussian fixed point.
The Polchinski exact renormalization group equation for a scalar field theory in arbitrary dimensions is translated, by means of a covariant Hamiltonian formalism, into a partial differential equation for an effective Hamiltonian density that depends on an infinite tower of momenta fields with higher spin. A natural approximation scheme is then expanding the Hamiltonian in momenta with increasing rank. The first order of this expansion, one next to the local potential approximation, is regulator-independent and already includes infinitely many derivative interactions. Further truncating this down to a quadratic dependence on the momenta leads to an alternative to the first order of the derivative expansion, which is used to compute η=0.03616(1)η=0.03616(1)η=0.03616(1) for the critical exponent of the three dimensional Ising model.
We apply the derivative expansion of the effective action in the exact renormalization group equation up to fourth order to the Z_{2} and O(N) symmetric scalar models in d=3 Euclidean dimensions. We compute the critical exponents ν, η, and ω using polynomial expansion in the field. We obtain our predictions for the exponents employing two regulators widely used in exact renormalization group computations. We apply Wynn's epsilon algorithm to improve the predictions for the critical exponents, extrapolating beyond the next-to-next-to-leading order prediction of the derivative expansion.
Abstract The known approximation schemes for the solution of the Wetterich exact renormalization group (RG) equation are critically reconsidered, and a new truncation scheme is proposed. In particular, the equations of the derivative expansion up to the ∂ 2 order for a scalar model are derived in a suitable form, clarifying the role of the off-diagonal terms in the matrix of functional derivatives. The natural domain of validity of the derivative expansion appears to be limited to small values of q / k in the calculation of the critical two-point correlation function, depending on the wave-vector magnitude q and the infrared cut-off scale k . The new approximation scheme has the advantage to be valid for any q / k , and, therefore, it can be auspicious in many current and potential applications of the celebrated Wetterich equation and similar models. Contrary to the derivative expansion, derivatives are not truncated at a finite order in the new scheme. The RG flow equations in the first approximation of this new scheme are derived and approximately solved as an example. It is shown that the derivative expansion up to the ∂ 2 order is just the small- q approximation of our new equations at the first order of truncation.