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The renormalization group (RG) approach: The critical theory near four dimensions

Jean Zinn‐Justin

Published Apr 15, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract In Chapter 14, the singular behavior of ferromagnetic systems with O(N) symmetry and short-range interactions, near a second order phase transition has been determined in the mean-field approximation, which is also a quasi-Gaussian approximation. The mean-field approximation predicts a set of universal properties, properties independent of the detailed structure of the microscopic Hamiltonian, the dimension of space, and, to a large extent, of the symmetry of systems. However, the leading corrections to the mean-field approximation, in dimensions smaller than or equal to four, diverge at the critical temperature, and the universal predictions of the mean-field approximation cannot be correct. Such a problem originates from the non-decoupling of scales and leads to the question of possible universality. In Chapter 9, the question has been answered in four dimensions using renormalization theory, and related renormalization group (RG) equations. Moreover, below four dimensions, in an expansion around the mean-field, the most singular terms near criticality can be also formally recovered from a continuum, low-mass φ4 field theory. More generally, following Wilson, to understand universality beyond the mean-field approximation, it is necessary to build a general renormalization group in the form of flow equations for effective Hamiltonians and to find fixed points of the flow equations. Near four dimensions, the flow equations can be approximated by the renormalization group of quantum field theory (QFT), and the fixed points and critical behaviours derived within the framework of the Wilson-Fisher ϵ expansion.

DOI
10.1093/oso/9780198834625.003.0015

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Abstract In Chapter 14, the singular behavior of ferromagnetic systems with O(N) symmetry and short-range interactions, near a second order phase transition has been determined in the mean-field approximation, which is also a quasi-Gaussian approximation. The mean-field approximation predicts a set of universal properties, properties independent of the detailed structure of the microscopic Hamiltonian, the dimension of space, and, to a large extent, of the symmetry of systems. However, the leading corrections to the mean-field approximation, in dimensions smaller than or equal to four, diverge at the critical temperature, and the universal predictions of the mean-field approximation cannot be correct. Such a problem originates from the non-decoupling of scales and leads to the question of possible universality. In Chapter 9, the question has been answered in four dimensions using renormalization theory, and related renormalization group (RG) equations. Moreover, below four dimensions, in an expansion around the mean-field, the most singular terms near criticality can be also formally recovered from a continuum, low-mass φ4 field theory. More generally, following Wilson, to understand universality beyond the mean-field approximation, it is necessary to build a general renormalization group in the form of flow equations for effective Hamiltonians and to find fixed points of the flow equations. Near four dimensions, the flow equations can be approximated by the renormalization group of quantum field theory (QFT), and the fixed points and critical behaviours derived within the framework of the Wilson-Fisher ϵ expansion.
Abstract Chapter 6 describes how the perturbative renormalization group (RG) of quantum field theory has made it possible to derive universal properties of continuous macroscopic phase transitions. The RG initially emerged as a consequence of the necessity to cancel infinities that appear in the perturbative expansion (the renormalization procedure) and the possibility of defining the parameters of the renormalized theory at different momentum scales. Although the field theory RG is now understood to be an asymptotic form, it has made it possible to confirm the Wilson–Fisher fixed point and led to an understanding of universality for a large class of critical phenomena. In the framework of dimensional continuation, zeros of RG beta functions, which correspond to Wilson–Fisher’s fixed points, have made it possible to recover Wilson–Fisher’s epsilon expansion, proving scaling relations and calculating critical exponents. Series summation methods have then been used to generate precise values of exponents.
Abstract Chapter 5 first recalls the importance of the concept of scale decoupling in physics. It then emphasizes that quantum field theory and the theory of critical phenomena have provided two examples where this concepts fails. To deal with such a situation, a new tool has been invented: the renormalization group. In the framework of effective quantum field theory, a perturbative renormalization group has been formulated. Its implementation has led to the discovery of fixed points as zeros of beta functions, and calculations of critical exponents of a class of macroscopic phase transitions in the form of Wilson–Fisher epsilon or fixed dimension expansions. These expansions being divergent, they could summed by methods based on the Borel transformation and the determination of the large order behaviour of perturbation theory.
Abstract Mean-field theory is usually taken as a first step toward understanding critical phenomena, providing an overview that reveals qualitative behaviour of physical quantities. However, it is necessary to proceed beyond the mean-field theory to better understand the situation, both qualitatively and quantitatively, when fluctuations play vital roles leading to exponents that cannot be explained by dimensional analysis, thus introducing anomalous dimensions. The present chapter explains the basic concepts of the renormalization group and scaling theory, which allow us to analyze critical phenomena with fluctuations systematically taken into account. The essential step in a renormalization group calculation consists of establishing recursion relations between the parameters defining the Hamiltonian of the system. These recursion or renormalization group equations define a flow with well-defined fixed points. Details other than the values of the relevant operators have no influence on the critical exponents and this represents universality.
Abstract This chapter is devoted to a brief review of general properties of phase transitions in macroscopic physics and, in particular in lattice models. Some of these lattice models actually appear as lattice regularizations of Euclidean (imaginary time) quantum physics theory (QFT). Most of the transitions considered in this work have the following character: spins on the lattice, or macroscopic particles in the continuum, interact through short-range forces, assumed, for simplicity, to decay exponentially. For simple systems, it is possible to find a local observable, called order parameter, whose expectation values depend on the phase in the several phase region, for example, the spin in ferromagnetic systems. In the disordered phase, the connected two-point function decreases exponentially at large distance, at a rate characterized by the correlation length (the inverse of the smallest physical mass in particle physics). In continuous transitions, the correlation length diverges at the critical temperature. Within the mean-field approximation (consistent with Landau's theory of critical phenomena), it can be shown that the singular behaviour of thermodynamic quantities at the critical temperature is universal. These properties can also be reproduced by calculating correlation functions with a perturbed Gaussian measure. It is then shown that the leading corrections to the mean-field approximation, in Ising-like systems, diverge at the critical temperature for dimensions smaller than or equal to 444.
1. Quantum Field Theory and Renormalization Group 2. Gaussian Expectation Values. Steepest Descent Method . 3. Universality and Continuum Limit 4. Classical Statistical Physics: One Dimension 5. Continuum Limit and Path Integral 6. Ferromagnetic Systems. Correlations 7. Phase transitions: Generalities and Examples 8. Quasi-Gaussian Approximation: Universality, Critical Dimension 9. Renormalization Group: General Formulation 10. Perturbative Renormalization Group: Explicit Calculations 11. Renormalization group: N-component fields 12. Statistical Field Theory: Perturbative Expansion 13. The sigma4 Field Theory near Dimension 4 14. The O(N) Symmetric (phi2)2 Field Theory: Large N Limit 15. The Non-Linear sigma-Model 16. Functional Renormalization Group Appendix 1. Quantum Field Theory and Renormalization Group 2. Gaussian Expectation Values. Steepest Descent Method . 3. Universality and Continuum Limit 4. Classical Statistical Physics: One Dimension 5. Continuum Limit and Path Integral 6. Ferromagnetic Systems. Correlations 7. Phase transitions: Generalities and Examples 8. Quasi-Gaussian Approximation: Universality, Critical Dimension 9. Renormalization Group: General Formulation 10. Perturbative Renormalization Group: Explicit Calculations 11. Renormalization group: N-component fields 12. Statistical Field Theory: Perturbative Expansion 13. The sigma4 Field Theory near Dimension 4 14. The O(N) Symmetric (phi2)2 Field Theory: Large N Limit 15. The Non-Linear sigma-Model 16. Functional Renormalization Group Appendix
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.