Fermionic fixed-point structure of asymptotically safe QED with a Pauli term

Abstract

We test the physical viability of a recent proposal for an asymptotically safe modification of quantum electrodynamics (QED), whose ultraviolet physics is dominated by a non-perturbative Pauli spin-field coupling. We focus in particular on its compatibility with the absence of dynamical generation of fermion mass in QED. Studying the renormalization group flow of chiral four-fermion operators and their fixed points, we discover a distinct class of behavior compared to the standard picture of fixed-point annihilation at large gauge couplings and the ensuing formation of chiral condensates. Instead, transcritical bifurcations, where the fixed points merely exchange infrared stability, are observed. Provided that non-chiral operators remain irrelevant, our theory accommodates a universality class of light fermions for Nf>1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$N_{\ extrm{f}}> 1$$\\end{document} irreducible Dirac flavors. On the contrary, in the special case of Nf=1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$N_{\ extrm{f}}= 1$$\\end{document} flavor, this comes only at the expense of introducing one additional relevant parameter.