Truncated Conformal Space Approach (TCSA) is a highly efficient method to compute spectra, operator matrix elements and time evolution in quantum field theories defined as relevant perturbations of 1+1-dimensional conformal field theories. However, similarly to other exact diagonalisation methods, TCSA is ridden with the “curse of dimensionality”: the dimension of the Hilbert space increases exponentially with the (square root of the) truncation level, limiting its precision by the available memory resources. Here we describe an algorithm which exploits the chiral factorisation property of conformal field theory with periodic boundary conditions to achieve a substantial improvement in the truncation level. The Chirally Factorised TCSA (CFTCSA) algorithm presented here works with inputs describing the necessary CFT data in a specified format. It makes possible much more precise calculations with given computing resources and extends the reach of the method to problems requiring large Hilbert space dimensions. In fact, it has already been used in a number of recent works ranging from determination of form factors, through studying confinement of topological excitations to non-equilibrium dynamics. Besides the description of the algorithm, a MATLAB implementation of the algorithm is also provided as an ancillary file package, supplemented with example codes computing spectra, matrix elements and time evolution, and with CFT data for three different quantum field theories. We also give a detailed how-to guide for constructing the required CFT data for Virasoro minimal models with central charge c<1, and for the massless free boson with c=1.
Truncated Conformal Space Approach (TCSA) is a highly efficient method to compute spectra, operator matrix elements and time evolution in quantum field theories defined as relevant perturbations of 1+1-dimensional conformal field theories. However, similarly to other exact diagonalisation methods, TCSA is ridden with the “curse of dimensionality”: the dimension of the Hilbert space increases exponentially with the (square root of the) truncation level, limiting its precision by the available memory resources. Here we describe an algorithm which exploits the chiral factorisation property of conformal field theory with periodic boundary conditions to achieve a substantial improvement in the truncation level. The Chirally Factorised TCSA (CFTCSA) algorithm presented here works with inputs describing the necessary CFT data in a specified format. It makes possible much more precise calculations with given computing resources and extends the reach of the method to problems requiring large Hilbert space dimensions. In fact, it has already been used in a number of recent works ranging from determination of form factors, through studying confinement of topological excitations to non-equilibrium dynamics. Besides the description of the algorithm, a MATLAB implementation of the algorithm is also provided as an ancillary file package, supplemented with example codes computing spectra, matrix elements and time evolution, and with CFT data for three different quantum field theories. We also give a detailed how-to guide for constructing the required CFT data for Virasoro minimal models with central charge c<1, and for the massless free boson with c=1.
Truncated Conformal Space Approach (TCSA) is a highly efficient method to compute spectra, operator matrix elements and time evolution in quantum field theories defined as relevant perturbations of 1+1-dimensional conformal field theories. However, similarly to other exact diagonalisation methods, TCSA is ridden with the “curse of dimensionality”: the dimension of the Hilbert space increases exponentially with the (square root of the) truncation level, limiting its precision by the available memory resources. Here we describe an algorithm which exploits the chiral factorisation property of conformal field theory with periodic boundary conditions to achieve a substantial improvement in the truncation level. The Chirally Factorised TCSA (CFTCSA) algorithm presented here works with inputs describing the necessary CFT data in a specified format. It makes possible much more precise calculations with given computing resources and extends the reach of the method to problems requiring large Hilbert space dimensions. In fact, it has already been used in a number of recent works ranging from determination of form factors, through studying confinement of topological excitations to non-equilibrium dynamics. Besides the description of the algorithm, a MATLAB implementation of the algorithm is also provided as an ancillary file package, supplemented with example codes computing spectra, matrix elements and time evolution, and with CFT data for three different quantum field theories. We also give a detailed how-to guide for constructing the required CFT data for Virasoro minimal models with central charge c<1, and for the massless free boson with c=1.
<!--HTML-->I give an introduction the Truncated Conformal Space Approach, which was originally invented by Yurov and Zamolodchikov in the framework of the scaling Lee-Yang model. Since then it has become a very powerful tool to study not only finite volume spectra, but also form factors, resonances, phase transitions and renormalization group flows in one-dimensional quantum field theories, both integrable and non-integrable. Its scope has been extended to theories with boundaries and impurities, and also generalized to settings beyond perturbed conformal field theories. In this talk, beyond explaining the basics of the approach I also give a brief overview of the recently introduced renormalization methods to deal with cut-off dependence, which led to a major improvement in precision and also widened the potential scope of applications.
This thesis contains three main parts, which are largely independent. In the first part we deal with the boundary bootstrap in supersymmetric factorized scattering theory. We give a description of supersymmetry in the case when the space is a half-line and present rules for the determination of the representations in which higher level boundary bound states transform, and for the determination of the supersymmetric one-particle reflection matrix factors for the higher level boundary bound states. These rules apply under the condition that the bulk particles transform in the kink or in the boson-fermion representation. Examples for the application of these rules to specific models are also given. In the second part we investigate the problem whether the TCSA spectrum can be approximated by the spectrum of the original Hamiltonian operator in which the coefficients of the terms are suitably changed. The investigation is done in the case of the critical Ising model on a strip with an external magnetic field on one of the boundaries. Another truncation method that preserves the solvability of the model is also considered. The results of perturbative and numerical calculations show that the above approximation is possible and that the qualitative behaviour of the truncated spectrum as a function of the coupling constant depends on the truncation method. In the third part we investigate the phase structure of the two- and three-frequency sine-Gordon models using the TCSA. In the case of the three-frequency model the tricritical point, several points of the critical line and a few points of the line of first order transition are found.
In this thesis two rather different topics are addressed: • the application of the Truncated Conformal Spectrum Approach (TCSA) to pertur- bations of SU(2)k Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) models, and to Landau-Ginzburg (LG) theories; • the analysis of the role of quantum statistics in the steady flow patterns of 2d driven ideal Fermi gases in a non-integrable geometry. A common methodological question unifies the two topics: how to simulate numerically quantum systems with infinite spaces of states. This problem is typically faced either introducing a lattice in the real space or directly in the continuum, and the two addressed topics can be seen as examples of these two cases. The TCSA is aimed to tackle perturbed conformal field theories directly in the continuum. Instead, to study the ideal Fermi gas we introduce a lattice which naturally captures the features of the chosen non-integrable geometry. Chapter 1: This part of the thesis is mainly methodological and it is focused on the application of the TCSA to c = 1 conformal field theories. In particular, our interest is concerned with perturbations of WZW models with SU(2)k symmetry, which capture low energy properties of k/2-Heisenberg spin-chains. The new problem faced is how to apply the method in the presence of marginal perturbations, where UV divergences result in non-universal contributions in the simulations. A generic framework to cure this pathology is proposed, and tested in the case of the current-current deformation of SU(2)1. Among c = 1 theories, Landau-Ginzburg theories are of great interest, since their classical structure of the vacua captures the massive phases of deformation of minimal models. The most important methodological problem we faced here is that LG theories have an uncountable space of states. We show that the TCSA applies also in this case, once the target space of the LG field is properly compactified. The TCSA is thus used to very an existing conjecture on the number of stable neutral bound states. Chapter 2: Interacting quantum gases, such as the electron liquid, are known to admit a hydrodynamic description and, as for classical interacting fluids, they develop turbulence at sufficiently strong driving. On the other hand, ideal classical fluids cannot develop any turbulent flow. We ask whether this property extends to ideal quantum gases. Indeed, Fermi gases satisfy the exclusion principle that could play the role of an effective interaction, resulting in non-trivial flows. We are going to describe an ideal Fermi gas which flows form a narrow channel into a wider region. A lattice which approximates the geometry is introduced, and the system is tackled within two approaches: the micro-canonical formalism and the Lindblad equation. In the first case the system is closed, while in the second one it is coupled to external baths. Despite this difference, the observed physics turns out to be the same far from the boundaries. We show that, in specific regimes, quantum statistics induces non-trivial patterns in the vorticity, which generates local magnetic moments of a measurable intensity.
This thesis investigates two aspects of Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) in D dimensions. Its first part is devoted to conformal blocks, special functions that arise in the partial wave expansion of CFT four-point functions. We prove that these conformal blocks admit an expansion in terms of polar coordinates and show that the expansion coefficients are determined by recursion relations. Conformal blocks are naturally defined on the complex plane: we study their restriction to the real line, and show that they obey a fourth-order differential equation there. This ODE can be used to efficiently compute conformal blocks and their derivatives in general D. Several applications to the conformal bootstrap program are mentioned.The second half of this thesis investigates RG flows that are defined by perturbing a CFT by a number of relevant operators. We study such flows using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach (TCSA) of Yurov and Zamolodchikov, a numerical method that allows for controlled computations in strongly coupled QFTs. Two different RG flows are considered: the free scalar field deformed by a mass term, and phi^4 theory. The former is used as a benchmark, in order to compare numerical TCSA results to exact predictions. TCSA results for phi^4 theory display spontaneous Z_2 symmetry breaking at strong coupling: we study the spectrum of this theory both in the Z_2-broken and preserved phase, and we compare the critical exponents governing the phase transition to known values. In a separate chapter, we show how truncation errors can be reduced by adding suitable counterterms to the bare TCSA action, following earlier work in two dimensions.
In this paper we continue the study of the truncated conformal space approach to perturbed conformal field theories, this time applied to bulk perturbations and focusing on the leading truncation-dependent corrections to the spectrum. We find expressions for the leading terms in the ground state energy divergence, the coupling constant renormalisation and the energy rescaling. We apply these methods to problems treated in two seminal papers and show how these RG improvements greatly increase the predictive power of the TCSA approach. One important outcome is that the TCSA spectrum of excitations is predicted not to converge for perturbations of conformal weight greater than 3/4, but the ratios of excitation energies should converge.