Determining whether an additional local symmetry affects the universality class of a sta-tistical model is an important issue in the theory of critical phenomena. A basic example is provided by the RP N −1 model, in which N -component spin variables at each lattice site interact through an Hamiltonian invariant under global O(N ) rotations and local spin re-versals. The local symmetry makes the difference with the usual O(N ) model and amounts to the head-tail symmetry characteristic of liquid crystals. In three dimensions, the weak first order transition observed in numerical simulations of the ferromagnetic model is con-sistent with the mean field scenario. On the other hand, in the two-dimensional case –the one we focus on in this thesis – fluctuations are stronger and minimize the reliability of mean field predictions, as illustrated by the phase transition of the three-state Potts model, which becomes continuous on planar lattices. For the RP N −1 model, the absence of spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry in two dimensions generically suggests that criticality is limited to zero temperature, and Monte Carlo studies for T → 0 showed a fast growth of the correlation length which made particularly hard to reach the asymp-totic limit and draw conclusions. On the other hand, the possibility of finite temperature topological transitions similar to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) one – which should definitely occur for RP 1 ∼ O(2) – and mediated by ”disclination” defects has also been debated in numerical studies. While two-dimensional criticality has allowed for an impressive amount of exact solutions thanks to lattice integrability and conformal field theory, models with local symmetries traditionally remained outside the range of application of these methods. In this thesis, however, we show how the renormalization group fixed points of the RP N −1 model and of its complex generalization, the CP N −1 model, can be accessed in an exact way. This is achieved in the scale invariant scattering framework which, as we review in the introductory part of the thesis, implements in the basis of particle excitations the infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry characteristic of critical points in two dimensions and has provided in the last few years new results for pure and disordered systems. In the last part of the thesis, we will exploit the generality of the scale invariant scattering method to progress with another long standing problem of two-dimensional criticality, namely that of spin clusters in Potts correlated percolation. It has been known for long time that the problem can be addressed considering two coupled Potts models, but the need to consider the number of states of one of these models as a continuous variable has severely limited the analytical or numerical study of the critical points. Also here, the ability of the scattering method to enforce conformal invariance for the internal symmetry characteristic of the universality class will allow us to obtain exact equations for the critical points and to determine their solutions in the relevant limits.
A brief review is given of the ‘effective Lagrangian’ approach of Leutwyler, Hasenfratz and others, which describes the behaviour at low energies or temperatures, or large distances, in lattice systems which undergo a first-order transition involving spontaneous breakdown of a continuous symmetry. Universal predictions can be given, based on a continuum field theory of the massless Goldstone bosons generated by the breakdown of the symmetry, which control the behaviour in these regimes. In particular, the finite-size scaling behaviour can be predicted, in a way very similar to the predictions of conformal invariance for a two-dimensional system at a critical point. Conversely, measurements of the finite-size scaling behaviour can give estimates of the parameters of the Goldstone bosons. These points are illustrated using data for the O(2) Heisenberg spin model in (2+1) dimensions, and the XXZ antiferromagnet on a square lattice.
The two-dimensional
O(N) nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) is asymptotically free for
N>2: it exhibits neither a nontrivial fixed point nor spontaneous symmetry-breaking. Here we show that a nontrivial fixed point generically does exist in the complex coupling plane and is described by a complex conformal field theory (CCFT). This CCFT fixed point is generic in the sense that it has a single relevant singlet operator, and is thus expected to arise in any non-Hermitian model with
O(N) symmetry upon tuning a single complex parameter. We confirm this prediction numerically by locating the CCFT at
N=3 in two non-Hermitian spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains, and in a non-Hermitian spin-
1/2 ladder, finding good agreement between the complex central charge and scaling dimensions and those obtained by analytic continuation of real fixed points from
N≤2. We further construct a realistic Lindbladian for a spin-1 chain whose no-click dynamics are governed by the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian realizing the CCFT. Since the CCFT vacuum is the eigenstate with the smallest decay rate, the system naturally relaxes under dissipative dynamics toward a CFT state, thus providing a route to preparing long-range entangled states through engineered dissipation.
Tensor network methods are playing a central role in multiple disciplines of modern quantum physics, such as condensed matter physics, quantum information and quantum gravity. Based on renormalization group (RG) ideas, they provide a large class of variational ansatz for quantum many-body systems. There are various tensor network structures which are suited for different systems based on their entanglement structures, such as matrix product states (MPS), projected entangled pair states (PEPS), multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). Numerous techniques involving coarse-graining tensor networks have been developed, such as tensor renormalization group (TRG), tensor network renormalization (TNR) and its variants. \n \nFirst, we study the generalization of MERA to continuous systems, or cMERA, which is expected to become a powerful variational ansatz for the ground state of strongly interacting quantum field theories. We investigate, in the simpler context of Gaussian cMERA for free theories, the extent to which the cMERA state
ketPsicM with finite UV cut-off
Lambda can capture the spacetime symmetries of the ground state
ketPsi. For a free boson conformal field theory (CFT) in 1+1 dimensions as a concrete example, we build a quasi-local unitary transformation
V that maps
ketPsi into
ketPsicM and show two main results. (i) Any spacetime symmetry of the ground state
ketPsi is also mapped by
V into a spacetime symmetry of the cMERA
ketPsicM. However, while in the CFT the stress-energy tensor
Tmunu(x) (in terms of which all the spacetime symmetry generators are expressed) is local, the corresponding cMERA stress-energy tensor
TmunucM(x)=VTmunu(x)Vdagger is quasi-local. (ii) From the cMERA, we can extract quasi-local scaling operators
OalphacM(x) characterized by the exact same scaling dimensions
Deltaalpha, conformal spins
salpha, operator product expansion coefficients
Calphabetagamma, and central charge
c as the original CFT. We argue that these results should also apply to interacting theories. \n \nSecond we extend TNR to field theories in the continuum. A short-distance length scale
1/Lambda is introduced in the continuum partition function by smearing the fields. The resulting object is still defined in the continuum but has no fluctuations at distances shorter than
1/Lambda. An infinitesimal coarse-graining step is then generated by the combined action of a \\textit{rescaling} operator
mathfrakL and a \\textit{disentangling} operator
mathfrakK that implements a quasilocal field redefinition. As demonstrated for a free boson in two dimensions, continuous TNR exactly preserves translation and rotation symmetries and can generate a proper RG flow. Moreover, from a critical fixed point of this RG flow one can then extract the conformal data of the underlying conformal field theory. \n \nLeaving behind tensor network methods, we explore the universal structure that emerges from the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrix (RDM) for 1+1 dimensional critical lattice systems. Using the Ising model as an example, we demonstrate that the large-weight eigenvectors are related to the low-lying states of the underlying CFT with suitable boundary conditions by a conformal map, and they transform accordingly under the Virasoro generators. \n \nFinally, using the quantum renormalization group (QRG), we derive the bulk geometry that emerges in the holographic dual of the fermionic U(
N) vector model at a nonzero charge density. The obstruction that prohibits the metallic state from being smoothly deformable to the direct product state under the renormalization group flow gives rise to a horizon at a finite radial coordinate in the bulk. The region outside the horizon is described by the Lifshitz geometry with a higher-spin hair determined by microscopic details of the boundary theory. On the other hand, the interior of the horizon is not described by any Riemannian manifold, as it exhibits an algebraic non-locality. The non-local structure inside the horizon carries the information on the shape of the filled Fermi sea.
Chapter 31 discussed the generic O(N) non-linear σ-model. We have noticed that the abelian case N = 2 is special because the RG β-function vanishes in two dimensions. The corresponding O(2) invariant spin model is specially interesting: it provides an example of the celebrated Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition and will be examined in Chapter 33. However, a thorough discussion of this model requires a new technique: we have to establish relations, special to two dimensions, between fermion and boson local field theories, by a method called bosonization. This chapter illustrates the derivation involves several steps with the help of various other two-dimensional models which are physically interesting in their own right. It first studies the free massless boson and fermion fields. It evaluates the determinant of the covariant fermion derivative in the presence of an external gauge field. The result is at the basis of the bosonization technique. The chapter then discusses the sine–Gordon (SG) model. It solves the Schwinger model, QED with massless fermions. Finally, it demonstrates the equivalence between the SG model and two fermion models with current-current interaction: the Thirring model and another model with two species of fermions.
We investigate critical phenomena in the
O(2) models using symmetry-twisted partition functions that can be efficiently computed within the tensor renormalization group framework. We first demonstrate, taking the three-dimensional model as an example, that symmetry-twisted partition functions detect the spontaneous breaking of global continuous symmetry. We then consider the same model in two dimensions, where the Berezinskii--Kosterlitz--Thouless (BKT) transition occurs. Since symmetry-twisted partition functions directly provide the helicity modulus at a finite twist angle, we determine the BKT transition point. These results are presented based on Ref.~\cite{Akiyama:2026dzg}. Finally, in addition to the original paper~\cite{Akiyama:2026dzg}, we apply this approach to the two-dimensional generalized
O(2) model and confirm that it successfully identifies the phase transitions between the ferromagnetic and nematic phases, as well as between the nematic and paramagnetic phases.