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arXiv:hep-th/9505130

Phase Space Properties of Local Observables and Structure of Scaling Limits

Detlev Buchholz A

Published May 22, 1995• 17 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

For any given algebra of local observables in relativistic quantum field theory there exists an associated scaling algebra which permits one to introduce renormalization group transformations and to construct the scaling (short distance) limit of the theory. On the basis of this result it is discussed how the phase space properties of a theory determine the structure of its scaling limit. Bounds on the number of local degrees of freedom appearing in the scaling limit are given which allow one to distinguish between theories with classical and quantum scaling limits. The results can also be used to establish physically significant algebraic properties of the scaling limit theories, such as the split property.

DOI
10.3204/pubdb-2017-07017

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For any given algebra of local observables in relativistic quantum field theory there exists an associated scaling algebra which permits one to introduce renormalization group transformations and to construct the scaling (short distance) limit of the theory. On the basis of this result it is discussed how the phase space properties of a theory determine the structure of its scaling limit. Bounds on the number of local degrees of freedom appearing in the scaling limit are given which allow one to distinguish between theories with classical and quantum scaling limits. The results can also be used to establish physically significant algebraic properties of the scaling limit theories, such as the split property.
For any given algebra of local observables in Minkowski space an associated scaling algebra is constructed on which renormalization group (scaling) transformations act in a canonical manner. The method can be carried over to arbitrary space-time manifolds and provides a framework for the systematic analysis of the short distance properties of local quantum field theories. It is shown that every theory has a (possibly non-unique) scaling limit which can be classified according to its classical or quantum nature. Dilation invariant theories are stable under the action of the renormalization group. Within this framework the problem of wedge (Bisognano-Wichmann) duality in the scaling limit is discussed and some of its physical implications are outlined.
Short distance scaling limits of a class of integrable models on two-dimensional Minkowski space are considered in the algebraic framework of quantum field theory. Making use of the wedge-local quantum fields generating these models, it is shown that massless scaling limit theories exist, and decompose into (twisted) tensor products of chiral, translation-dilation covariant field theories. On the subspace which is generated from the vacuum by the observables localized in finite light ray intervals, this symmetry can be extended to the M\\"obius group. The structure of the interval-localized algebras in the chiral models is discussed in two explicit examples.
This book provides an elementary introduction to the notions of continuum limit and universality in statistical systems with a large number of degrees of freedom. The existence of a continuum limit requires the appearance of correlations at large distance, a situation that is encountered in second order phase transitions, near the critical temperature. In this context, the book emphasizes the role of gaussian distributions and their relations with the mean field approximation and Landau′s theory of critical phenomena. The book shows that quasi-gaussian or mean-field approximations cannot describe correctly phase transitions in three space dimensions. The book assigns this difficulty to the coupling of very different physical length scales, even though the systems we will consider have only local, that is, short range, interactions. To analyze the unusual situation, a new concept is required: the renormalization group, whose fixed points allow understanding the universality of physical properties at large distance, beyond mean-field theory. In the continuum limit, critical phenomena can be described by quantum field theories. In this framework, the renormalization group is directly related to the renormalization process; that is, the necessity to cancel the infinities that arise in straightforward formulations of the theory. The book discusses the renormalization group in the context of various relevant field theories. This leads to proofs of universality and to efficient tools for calculating universal quantities in a perturbative framework. Finally, the book constructs a general functional renormalization group, which can be used when perturbative methods are inadequate.
I Infinite Renormalization of the Hamiltonian Is Necessary.- II Quantum Field Theory Models.- I. The ?22n Model.- Fock space.- Q space.- The Hamiltonian H(g).- Removing the space cutoff.- Lorentz covariance and the Haag-Kastler axioms.- II. The Yukawa Model.- Preliminaries.- First and second order estimates.- Resolvent convergence and self adjointness.- The Heisenberg picture.- III Boson Quantum Field Models.- I. General Results.- Hermite operators.- Gaussian measures and the Schrodinger representation.- Hermite expansions and Fock space.- II. The Solution of Two-Dimensional Boson Models.- The interaction Hamiltonian.- The free Hamiltonian.- Self-adjointness of H(g).- The local algebras and the Lorentz group automorphisms.- IV Boson Quantum Field Models.- III. Further Developments.- Locally normal representations of the observables.- The construction of the physical vaccum.- Formal perturbation theory and models in three space-time dimensions.- V The Particle Structure of the Weakly Coupled P(?)2 Model and Other Applications of High Temperature Expansions.- I. Physics of Quantum Field Models.- Five years of models.- From estimates to physics.- Bound states and resonances.- Phase space localization and renormalization.- VI The Particle Structure of the Weakly Coupled P(?)2 Model and Other Applications of High Temperature Expansions.- II. The Cluster Expansion.- The main results.- The cluster expansion.- Clustering and analyticity: proof of the main results.- Convergence: the main ideas.- An equation of Kirkwood-Salsburg type.- Covariance operators.- Derivatives of covariance operators.- Gaussian integrals.- Convergence: the proof completed.- VII Particles and Bound States and Progess Toward Unitarity and Scaling.- VIII Critical Problems in Quantum Fields.- IX Existence of Phase Transitions for ?24 Quantum Fields.- X Critical Exponents and Renormalization in the ?4 Scaling Limit.- Formulation of the problem.- The scaling and critical point limits.- Renormalization of the ?2(x) field.- Existence of the scaling limit.- The Josephson inequality.- XI A Tutorial Course in Constructive Field Theory.- e?tH as a functional integral.- Examples.- Applications of the functional integral representation.- Ising, Gaussian and scaling limits.- Main results.- Correlation inequalities.- Absence of even bound states.- Bound on g.- Bound on dm2/d? and particles.- The conjecture ?(6) ? 0.- Cluster expansions.- The region of convergence.- The zeroth order expansion.- The primitive expansion.- Factorization and partial resummation.- Typical applications.
The large distance behaviour, near the critical temperature, of continuous phase transitions with short range interactions can be reproduced by an effective local field theory. Within this framework, the universal properties of the large distance can be determined by finding fixed points of general, functional renormalization group (RG) equations (Wilson, Wegner). For dimension D > 4, the large scale behavior is governed by the Gaussian fixed point (related to mean field theory), while for D < 4 the Gaussian fixed point is unstable. Near D = 4, the RG equations can be solved in the form of an ǫ = 4 − D expansion, a new stable fixed point is found and this leads to the famous Wilson-Fisher expansion for critical exponents and other universal quantities. Moreover, one realizes that, in this framework, the effective field theory can be reduced to a renormalizable field theory and, at leading order in the critical domain, the much simpler quantum field theory renormalization group can be used. A number of physicists, including the Saclay group (Brezin, Le Guillou, Zinn-Justin) have developed sophisticated field theory techniques, to prove general scaling laws and to calculate exponents to higher orders [1].