Functional Renormalization Group Calculations Research Articles

DivERGe implements various Exact Renormalization Group examples

We present divERGe, an open source, high-performance C/C++/Python library for functional renormalization group (FRG) calculations on lattice fermions. The versatile model interface is tailored to real materials applications and seamlessly integrates with existing, standard tools from the ab-initio community. The code fully supports multi-site, multi-orbital, and non-SU(2) models in all of the three included FRG variants: TU^22FRG, N-patch FRG, and grid FRG. With this, the divERGe library paves the way for widespread application of FRG as a tool in the study of competing orders in quantum materials.

Codebase release 0.5 for divERGe

We present divERGe, an open source, high-performance C/C++/Python library for functional renormalization group (FRG) calculations on lattice fermions. The versatile model interface is tailored to real materials applications and seamlessly integrates with existing, standard tools from the ab-initio community. The code fully supports multi-site, multi-orbital, and non-SU(2) models in all of the three included FRG variants: TU^22FRG, N-patch FRG, and grid FRG. With this, the divERGe library paves the way for widespread application of FRG as a tool in the study of competing orders in quantum materials.

Quantum Effects on Unconventional Pinch Point Singularities.

Fracton phases are a particularly exotic type of quantum spin liquids where the elementary quasiparticles are intrinsically immobile. These phases may be described by unconventional gauge theories known as tensor or multipolar gauge theories, characteristic for so-called type-I or type-II fracton phases, respectively. Both variants have been associated with distinctive singular patterns in the spin structure factor, such as multifold pinch points for type-I and quadratic pinch points for type-II fracton phases. Here, we assess the impact of quantum fluctuations on these patterns by numerically investigating the spin S=1/2 quantum version of a classical spin model on the octahedral lattice featuring exact realizations of multifold and quadratic pinch points, as well as an unusual pinch line singularity. Based on large scale pseudofermion and pseudo-Majorana functional renormalization group calculations, we take the intactness of these spectroscopic signatures as a measure for the stability of the corresponding fracton phases. We find that in all three cases, quantum fluctuations significantly modify the shape of pinch points or lines by smearing them out and shifting signal away from the singularities in contrast to effects of pure thermal fluctuations. This indicates possible fragility of these phases and allows us to identify characteristic fingerprints of their remnants.

Codebase release 1.0 for SpinParser

We present the SpinParser open-source software [https://github.com/fbuessen/SpinParser]. The software is designed to perform pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) calculations for frustrated quantum magnets in two and three spatial dimensions. It aims to make such calculations readily accessible without the need to write specialized program code; instead, custom lattice graphs and microscopic spin models can be defined as plain-text input files. Underlying symmetries of the model are automatically analyzed and exploited by the numerical core written in C++ in order to optimize the performance across large-scale shared memory and/or distributed memory computing platforms.

The SpinParser software for pseudofermion functional renormalization group calculations on quantum magnets

We present the SpinParser open-source software [https://github.com/fbuessen/SpinParser]. The software is designed to perform pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) calculations for frustrated quantum magnets in two and three spatial dimensions. It aims to make such calculations readily accessible without the need to write specialized program code; instead, custom lattice graphs and microscopic spin models can be defined as plain-text input files. Underlying symmetries of the model are automatically analyzed and exploited by the numerical core written in C++ in order to optimize the performance across large-scale shared memory and/or distributed memory computing platforms.

Better integrators for functional renormalization group calculations

We analyze a variety of integration schemes for the momentum space functional renormalization group calculation with the goal of finding an optimized scheme. Using the square lattice t-t' Hubbard model as a testbed we define and benchmark the quality. Most notably we define an error estimate of the solution for the ordinary differential equation circumventing the issues introduced by the divergences at the end of the FRG flow. Using this measure to control for accuracy we find a threefold reduction in number of required integration steps achievable by choice of integrator. We herewith publish a set of recommended choices for the functional renormalization group, shown to decrease the computational cost for FRG calculations and representing a valuable basis for further investigations.Graphic abstract

Real-time methods for spectral functions

In this paper we develop and compare different real-time methods to calculate spectral functions. These include classical-statistical simulations, the Gaussian state approximation (GSA), and the functional renormalization group (FRG) formulated on the Keldysh closed-time path. Our test-bed system is the quartic anharmonic oscillator, a single self-interacting bosonic degree of freedom, coupled to an external heat bath providing dissipation analogous to the Caldeira-Leggett model. As our benchmark we use the spectral function from exact diagonalization with constant Ohmic damping. To extend the GSA for the open system, we solve the corresponding Heisenberg-Langevin equations in the Gaussian approximation. For the real-time FRG, we introduce a novel general prescription to construct causal regulators based on introducing scale-dependent fictitious heat baths. Our results explicitly demonstrate how the discrete transition lines of the quantum system gradually build up the broad continuous structures in the classical spectral function as temperature increases. At sufficiently high temperatures, classical, GSA, and exact-diagonalization results all coincide. The real-time FRG is able to reproduce the effective thermal mass, but it overestimates broadening and only qualitatively describes higher excitations, at the present order of our combined vertex and loop expansion. As temperature is lowered, the GSA follows the ensemble average of the exact solution better than the classical spectral function. In the low-temperature strong-coupling regime, the qualitative features of the exact result are best captured by our real-time FRG calculation, with quantitative improvements to be expected at higher truncation orders.

Functional renormalization for repulsive Bose-Bose mixtures at zero temperature

We study weakly-repulsive Bose-Bose mixtures in two and three dimensions at zero temperature using the functional renormalization group (FRG). We examine the RG flows and the role of density and spin fluctuations. We study the condition for phase separation and find that this occurs at the mean-field point within the range of parameters explored. Finally, we examine the energy per particle and condensation depletion. We obtain that our FRG calculations compare favorably with known results from perturbative approaches for macroscopic properties.

Dynamical functional renormalization group computation of order parameters and critical temperatures in the two-dimensional Hubbard model

We analyze the interplay of antiferromagnetism and pairing in the two-dimensional Hubbard model with a moderate repulsive interaction. Coupled charge, magnetic, and pairing fluctuations above the energy scale of spontaneous symmetry breaking are treated by a functional renormalization group flow, while the formation of gaps and order below that scale is treated in mean-field theory. The full frequency dependences of the interaction vertices and gap functions are taken into account. We compute the magnetic and pairing gap functions as a function of doping $p$ and compare with results from a static approximation. In spite of the strong frequency dependences of the effective interactions and of the pairing gap, important physical results from previous static functional renormalization group calculations are confirmed. In particular, there is a sizable doping regime with robust pairing coexisting with N\'eel or incommensurate antiferromagnetism. The critical temperature for magnetic order is interpreted as the pseudogap crossover temperature. Computing the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature from the superfluid phase stiffness, we obtain a superconducting dome in the $(p,T)$ phase diagram centered around 15% hole doping.

Q=0 long-range magnetic order in centennialite CaCu3(OD)6Cl2·0.6D2O : A spin- 12 perfect kagome antiferromagnet with J1−J2−Jd

Crystal and magnetic structures of the mineral centennialite CaCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2\cdot0.6$H$_2$O are investigated by means of synchrotron x-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction measurements complemented by density functional theory (DFT) and pseudofermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG) calculations. CaCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2\cdot0.6$H$_2$O crystallizes in the $P\bar{3}m1$ space group and Cu$^{2+}$ ions form a geometrically perfect kagome network with antiferromagnetic $J_1$. No intersite disorder between Cu$^{2+}$ and Ca$^{2+}$ ions is detected. CaCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2\cdot0.6$H$_2$O enters a magnetic long-range ordered state below $T_\text{N}=7.2$~K, and the $\mathbf{q}=\mathbf{0}$ magnetic structure with negative vector spin chirality is obtained. The ordered moment at 0.3~K is suppressed to $0.58(2)\mu_\text{B}$. Our DFT calculations indicate the presence of antiferromagnetic $J_2$ and ferromagnetic $J_d$ superexchange couplings of a strength which places the system at the crossroads of three magnetic orders (at the classical level) and a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ PFFRG analysis shows a dominance of $\mathbf{q}=\mathbf{0}$ type magnetic correlations, consistent with and indicating proximity to the observed $\mathbf{q}=\mathbf{0}$ spin structure. The results suggest that this material is located close to a quantum critical point and is a good realization of a $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_d$ kagome antiferromagnet.

Impact of the chromo-electromagnetic field fluctuations on transport coefficients of heavy quarks and shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of quark-gluon plasma

The chromo-electromagnetic field fluctuations in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) play an important role as these field fluctuations result energy gain of heavy quarks. We consider these fluctuations and evaluate the transport coefficients, e.g., drag and diffusion coefficients of charm quarks and shear viscosity to entropy density ratio (η/s) of the QGP. We find a significant effect of such fluctuations on the transport coefficients. These fluctuations cause a reduction of the drag and diffusion coefficients. We also observe that the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the QGP is closer to the value obtained in Lattice QCD (LQCD) and functional renormalization group calculations when the effects of such fluctuations are included.

Functional renormalization-group calculation of the equation of state of one-dimensional uniform matter inspired by the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem

We present the first successful functional renormalization group(FRG)-aided density-functional (DFT) calculation of the equation of state (EOS) of an infinite nuclear matter (NM) in (1+1)-dimensions composed of spinless nucleons. We give a formulation to describe infinite matters in which the 'flowing' chemical potential is introduced to control the particle number during the flow. The resultant saturation energy of the NM coincides with that obtained by the Monte-Carlo method within a few percent. Our result demonstrates that the FRG-aided DFT can be as powerful as any other methods in quantum many-body theory.

Non-Fermi-liquid fixed points and anomalous Landau damping in a quantum critical metal

We present a functional renormalization-group calculation of the properties of a quantum critical metal in $d=2$ spatial dimensions. Our theory describes a general class of Pomeranchuk instabilities with ${N}_{b}$ flavors of boson. At small ${N}_{b}$ we find a family of fixed points characterized by weakly non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the conduction electrons and $z\ensuremath{\approx}2$ critical dynamics for the order-parameter fluctuations, in agreement with the scaling observed by Schattner et al. [Phys. Rev. X 6, 031028 (2016)] for the Ising-nematic transition. Contrary to recent suggestions that this represents an intermediate regime en route to the scaling limit, our calculation suggests that this behavior may persist all the way to the critical point. As the number of bosons ${N}_{b}$ is increased, the model's fixed-point properties cross over to $z\ensuremath{\approx}1$ scaling and non-Fermi-liquid behavior similar to that obtained by Fitzpatrick et al. [Phys. Rev. B 88, 125116 (2013)].

Numerical analytic continuation of Euclidean data

In this work we present a direct comparison of three different numerical analytic continuation methods: the Maximum Entropy Method, the Backus–Gilbert method and the Schlessinger point or Resonances Via Padé method. First, we perform a benchmark test based on a model spectral function and study the regime of applicability of these methods depending on the number of input points and their statistical error. We then apply these methods to more realistic examples, namely to numerical data on Euclidean propagators obtained from a Functional Renormalization Group calculation, to data from a lattice Quantum Chromodynamics simulation and to data obtained from a tight-binding model for graphene in order to extract the electrical conductivity.

Renormalization group analysis of dipolar Heisenberg model on square lattice

We present a detailed functional renormalization group analysis of spin-1/2 dipolar Heisenberg model on square lattice. This model is similar to the well known $J_1$-$J_2$ model and describes the pseudospin degrees of freedom of polar molecules confined in deep optical lattice with long-range anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions. Previous study of this model based on tensor network ansatz indicates a paramagnetic ground state for certain dipole tilting angles which can be tuned in experiments to control the exchange couplings. The tensor ansatz formulated on a small cluster unit cell is inadequate to describe the spiral order, and therefore the phase diagram at high azimuthal tilting angles remains undetermined. Here we obtain the full phase diagram of the model from numerical pseudofermion functional renormalization group calculations. We show that an extended quantum paramagnetic phase is realized between the N\'{e}el and stripe/spiral phase. In this region, the spin susceptibility flows smoothly down to the lowest numerical renormalization group scales with no sign of divergence or breakdown of the flow, in sharp contrast to the flow towards the long-range ordered phases. Our results provide further evidence that the dipolar Heisenberg model is a fertile ground for quantum spin liquids.

Functional renormalization group study of the quark-meson model with ω meson

We study the phase diagram of two-flavor massless QCD at finite baryon density by applying the functional renormalization group (FRG) for a quark-meson model with $\sigma, \pi$, and $\omega$ mesons. The dynamical fluctuations of quarks, $\sigma$, and $\pi$ are included into the flow equations, while the amplitudes of $\omega$-fields are also allowed to fluctuate. At high temperature the effects of the $\omega$-field on the phase boundary are qualitatively similar to the mean-field calculations; the phase boundary is shifted to the higher chemical potential region. As the temperature is lowered, however, the transition line bends back to the lower chemical potential region, irrespective to the strength of the vector coupling. In our FRG calculations, the driving force of the low temperature first order line is the fluctuations rather the quark density, and the effects of $\omega$-fields have little impact. At low temperature, the effective potential at small $\sigma$ field is very sensitive to the infrared cutoff scale, and this significantly affects our determination of the phase boundaries. The critical chemical potential at the tricritical point is affected by the $\omega$-field effects but its critical temperature stays around the similar value. Some caveats are given in interpreting our model results.

Umklapp scattering as the origin of T -linear resistivity in the normal state of high- Tc cuprate superconductors

The high-temperature normal state of the unconventional cuprate superconductors has resistivity linear in temperature $T$, which persists to values well beyond the Mott-Ioffe-Regel upper bound. At low-temperature, within the pseudogap phase, the resistivity is instead quadratic in $T$, as would be expected from Fermi liquid theory. Developing an understanding of these normal phases of the cuprates is crucial to explain the unconventional superconductivity. We present a simple explanation for this behavior, in terms of umklapp scattering of electrons. This fits within the general picture emerging from functional renormalization group calculations that spurred the Yang-Rice-Zhang ansatz: umklapp scattering is at the heart of the behavior in the normal phase.

Comparison of band structure and superconductivity in FeSe0.5Te0.5 and FeS**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.11604303, 11604168, and 11574108).

The isovalent iron chalcogenides, FeSe0.5Te0.5 and FeS, share similar lattice structures but behave very differently in superconducting properties. We study the underlying mechanism theoretically. By first principle calculations and tight-binding fitting, we find the spectral weight of the orbital changes remarkably in these compounds. While there are both electron and hole pockets in FeSe0.5Te0.5 and FeS, a small hole pocket with a mainly character is absent in FeS. We find the spectral weights of orbital change remarkably, which contribute to electron and hole pockets in FeSe0.5Te0.5 but only to electron pockets in FeS. We then perform random-phase-approximation and unbiased singular-mode functional renormalization group calculations to investigate possible superconducting instabilities that may be triggered by electron-electron interactions on top of such bare band structures. For FeSe0.5Te0.5, we find a fully gapped -wave pairing that can be associated with spin fluctuations connecting electron and hole pockets. For FeS, however, a nodal dxy (or in an unfolded Broullin zone) is favorable and can be related to spin fluctuations connecting the electron pockets around the corner of the Brillouin zone. Apart from the difference in chacogenide elements, we propose the main source of the difference is from the orbital, which tunes the Fermi surface nesting vector and then influences the dominant pairing symmetry.

Competing electronic instabilities of extended Hubbard models on the honeycomb lattice: A functional renormalization group calculation with high-wave-vector resolution

We investigate the quantum many-body instabilities for electrons on the honeycomb lattice at half-filling with extended interactions, motivated by a description of graphene and related materials. We employ a recently developed fermionic functional Renormalization Group scheme which allows for highly resolved calculations of wavevector dependences in the low-energy effective interactions. We encounter the expected anti-ferromagnetic spin density wave for a dominant on-site repulsion between electrons, and charge order with different modulations for dominant pure $n$-th nearest neighbor repulsive interactions. Novel instabilities towards incommensurate charge density waves take place when non-local density interactions among several bond distances are included simultaneously. Moreover, for more realistic Coulomb potentials in graphene including enough non-local terms there is a suppression of charge order due to competition effects between the different charge ordering tendencies, and if the on-site term fails to dominate, the semi-metallic state is rendered stable. The possibility of a topological Mott insulator being the favored tendency for dominating second nearest neighbor interactions is not realized in our results with high momentum resolution.

Longitudinal fluctuations in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase

We analyze the interplay of longitudinal and transverse thermal fluctuations in a $\text{U}(1)$ symmetric two-dimensional ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ theory. Toward this end, we derive coupled renormalization-group equations for both types of fluctuations obtained from a linear (Cartesian) decomposition of the order-parameter field. Discarding the longitudinal fluctuations, the expected Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase characterized by a finite stiffness and an algebraic decay of order-parameter correlations is recovered. Renormalized by transverse fluctuations, the longitudinal mass scales to zero so that longitudinal fluctuations become increasingly important for small momenta. Within our expansion of the effective action, they generate a logarithmic decrease of the stiffness, in agreement with previous functional renormalization-group calculations. The logarithmic terms imply a deviation from the vanishing $\ensuremath{\beta}$ function for the stiffness in the nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model describing the phase fluctuations at three-loop order. To gain further insight, we also compute the flow of the parameters characterizing longitudinal and transverse fluctuations from a density-phase representation of the order-parameter field, with a cutoff on phase fluctuations. The power-law flow of the longitudinal mass and other quantities is thereby confirmed, but the stiffness remains finite in this approach. We conclude that the marginal flow of the stiffness obtained in the Cartesian representation is an artifact of the truncated expansion of momentum dependences.