In this short write-up we argue that self-consistent diagrammatic perturbation theory(i.e. Feynman diagrams) for the one-particle Green function is unable to capture some important qualitative features no matter how self-consistently the Green functions are obtained. This write-up is intended to highlight the short-comings of perturbation theory and also tout the advantages of the sea-boson technique(hep-th/9706006).
In this short write-up we argue that self-consistent diagrammatic perturbation theory(i.e. Feynman diagrams) for the one-particle Green function is unable to capture some important qualitative features no matter how self-consistently the Green functions are obtained. This write-up is intended to highlight the short-comings of perturbation theory and also tout the advantages of the sea-boson technique(hep-th/9706006).
Using a general-order ab initio many-body Green's function method, we numerically illustrate several pathological behaviors of the Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation expansion of one-particle many-body Green's functions as electron Feynman propagators. (i) The perturbation expansion of the frequency-dependent self-energy is not convergent at the exact self-energy in many frequency domains. (ii) An odd-perturbation-order self-energy has a qualitatively wrong shape and, as a result, many roots of the corresponding Dyson equation are nonphysical in that the poles may be complex or residues can exceed unity or be negative. (iii) A higher even-order self-energy consists of vertical lines at many frequencies, predicting numerous phantom poles with zero residues. (iv) Infinite partial resummations of diagrams by vertex or edge renormalization tend to exacerbate these pathologies. (v) The nonconvergence is caused by the nonanalyticity of the rational-function form of the exact Green's function at many frequencies, where the radius of convergence of its Taylor expansion is zero. This is consistent with the fact that (vi) Pad\'e approximants (power-series expansions of a rational function) can largely restore the correct shape and poles of the Green's function. Nevertheless, not only does the nonconvergence render higher-order Feynman-Dyson diagrammatic perturbation theory useless for many lower-lying ionization or higher-lying electron-attachment states but it also calls into question the validity of its combined use with the Ans\"atze requiring the knowledge of all poles and residues. Such Ans\"atze include the Galitskii-Migdal identity, the self-consistent Green's function methods, and some models of the algebraic diagrammatic construction.
Perturbation theory using self-consistent Green's functions is one of the most widely used approaches to study many-body effects in condensed matter. On the basis of general considerations and by performing analytical calculations for the specific example of the Hubbard atom, we discuss some key features of this approach. We show that when the domain of the functionals that are used to realize the map between the noninteracting and the interacting Green's functions is properly defined, there exists a class of self-energy functionals for which the self-consistent Dyson equation has only one solution, which is the physical one. We also show that manipulation of the perturbative expansion of the interacting Green's function may lead to a wrong self-energy as a functional of the interacting Green's function, at least for some regions of the parameter space. These findings confirm and explain numerical results of Kozik et al. for the widely used skeleton series of Luttinger and Ward [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 156402 (2015)]. Our study shows that it is important to distinguish between the maps between sets of functions and the functionals that realize those maps. We demonstrate that the self-consistent Green's functions approach itself is not problematic, whereas the functionals that are widely used may have a limited range of validity.
Strongly correlated quantum field theories present a formidable challenge to conventional theoretical methods, particularly those rooted in perturbative expansions. The breakdown of perturbation theory in regimes where interaction strengths are comparable to or exceed kinetic energies necessitates the development of non-perturbative approaches. This paper introduces and elaborates on a novel framework for diagrammatic renormalization specifically designed for strongly correlated quantum fields, moving beyond the limitations inherent in iterative or weak-coupling expansions. We explore how a systematic resummation of infinite classes of diagrams, guided by a functional renormalization group perspective, can capture the complex interplay of quantum fluctuations and emergent phenomena characteristic of these systems. Our approach leverages a self-consistent treatment of Green's functions and self-energies, allowing for the faithful description of spectral functions, phase transitions, and exotic ground states in a manner that traditional perturbation theory cannot. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings, computational strategies, and potential applications across diverse domains, including condensed matter physics, quantum chromodynamics, and ultracold atomic systems. The methodology aims to provide a robust, diagrammatically transparent pathway to understanding the non-trivial fixed points and scaling behaviors that govern strongly correlated phenomena, offering a powerful alternative where standard approximations fail.
At present, the only general method available for gaining knowledge from the fundamental principles about the dynamics of a system is the perturbative study. According to Feynman, as described in Chapter 4, instead of formulating quantum theory in terms of operators, the canonical formulation, for calculational purposes quantum dynamics can conveniently be formulated in terms of a few simple stenographic rules, the Feynman rules for propagators and interaction vertices. In Chapters 4 and 5, we showed how to arrive at the Feynman rules of diagrammatic perturbation theory for non-equilibrium states starting from the Hamiltonian defining the theory. The feature of non-equilibrium states, originally carried by the dynamical indices, could be expressed in terms of two simple universal vertex rules for the RAK-components of the matrix Green's functions. We are thus well acquainted with diagrammatics even for the description of non-equilibrium situations. However, for the situations studied using the quantum kinetic equations in Chapters 7 and 8, only the Dyson equation was needed, i.e. the self-energy, the 2-state one-particle irreducible amputated Green's function. No need for higher-order vertex functions was required, and the full flourishing diagrammatics was not put into action. In this chapter we shall proceed the other way around. We shall show that the diagrammatics of a physical theory, including the description of non-equilibrium states, can be obtained by simply stating quantum dynamics, the superposition principle, as the two exclusive options for a particle: to interact or not to interact ! From this simple Shakespearean approach we shall construct the Feynman diagrammatics of non-equilibrium dynamics.
We extend the self-consistent Green's functions formalism to take into account three-body interactions. We analyze the perturbative expansion in terms of Feynman diagrams and define effective one- and two-body interactions, which allows for a substantial reduction of the number of diagrams. The procedure can be taken as a generalization of the normal ordering of the Hamiltonian to fully correlated density matrices. We give examples up to third order in perturbation theory. To define nonperturbative approximations, we extend the equation-of-motion method in the presence of three-body interactions. We propose schemes that can provide nonperturbative resummation of three-body interactions. We also discuss two different extensions of the Koltun sum rule to compute the ground state of a many-body system.