Renormalizable Field Theory Research Articles

Linking network- and neuron-level correlations by renormalized field theory

It is frequently hypothesized that cortical networks operate close to a critical point. Advantages of criticality include rich dynamics well suited for computation and critical slowing down, which may offer a mechanism for dynamic memory. However, mean-field approximations, while versatile and popular, inherently neglect the fluctuations responsible for such critical dynamics. Thus, a renormalized theory is necessary. We consider the Sompolinsky-Crisanti-Sommers model which displays a well studied chaotic as well as a magnetic transition. Based on the analog of a quantum effective action, we derive self-consistency equations for the first two renormalized Greens functions. Their self-consistent solution reveals a coupling between the population level activity and single neuron heterogeneity. The quantitative theory explains the population autocorrelation function, the single-unit autocorrelation function with its multiple temporal scales, and cross correlations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

In-in formalism for the entropy of quantum fields in curved spacetimes

We show how to compute the purity and entanglement entropy for quantum fields in a systematic perturbative expansion. To that end, we generalize the in-in formalism to non-unitary dynamics (i.e. accounting for the presence of an environment) and to the calculation of quantum information measures, which are not observables in the usual sense. This allows us to reduce the problem to one involving standard correlation functions, and to organize their computation in a diagrammatic expansion for which we construct the corresponding Feynman rules. As an illustration, we apply the formalism to a cosmological setting inspired by the effective field theory of inflation. We find that at late times, non-linear loop corrections share the same time behavior as the linear contribution, and only yield a slight redressing of the purity. In particular, when the environment is heavy compared to the Hubble scale, the phenomenon of recoherence previously encountered is robust to the class of non-linear extensions considered. Bridging the gap between perturbative quantum field theory and open quantum systems paves the way to a better understanding of renormalization and resummation in open effective field theories. It also enables a more systematic exploration of quantum information properties in field theoretic settings.

Loop diagrams in the kinetic theory of waves

Recent work has given a systematic way for studying the kinetics of classical weakly interacting waves beyond leading order, having analogies with renormalization in quantum field theory. An important context is weak wave turbulence, occurring for waves which are small in magnitude and weakly interacting, such as those on the surface of the ocean. Here we continue the work of perturbatively computing correlation functions and the kinetic equation in this far-from-equilibrium state. In particular, we obtain the next-to-leading-order kinetic equation for waves with a cubic interaction. Our main result is a simple graphical prescription for the terms in the kinetic equation, at any order in the nonlinearity.

High-Energy Behavior of Scattering Amplitudes in Theories with Purely Virtual Particles

We study a class of renormalizable quantum field theories with purely virtual particles that exhibits nonrenormalizable behavior in the high-energy limit of scattering cross sections, which grow as powers of the center-of-mass energy squared and seems to violate unitarity bounds. We point out that the problem should be viewed as a violation of perturbativity, instead of unitarity, and show that the resummation of self energies fixes the issue. As an explicit example, we consider a class of O(N) theories at the leading order in the large-N expansion and show that the different quantization prescription of purely virtual particles takes care of the nonrenormalizable behavior, making the resummed cross sections to decrease at high energies and the amplitudes to satisfy the unitarity bounds. We compare the results to the case of theories with ghosts, where the resummation cannot change the behavior of cross sections due to certain cancellations in the high-energy expansion of the self energies. These results are particularly relevant for quantum gravity.

Apparently superluminal superfluids

We consider the superfluid phase of a specific renormalizable relativistic quantum field theory. We prove that, within the regime of validity of perturbation theory and of the superfluid effective theory, there are consistent and regular vortex solutions where the superfluid’s velocity field as traditionally defined smoothly interpolates between zero and arbitrarily large superluminal values. We show that this solution is free of instabilities and of superluminal excitations. We show that, in contrast, a generic vortex solution for an ordinary fluid does develop an instability if the velocity field becomes superluminal. All this questions the characterization of a superfluid velocity field as the actual velocity of “something”.

An algebraic formula for two loop renormalization of scalar quantum field theory

We find a general formula for the two-loop renormalization counterterms of a scalar quantum field theory with interactions containing up to two derivatives, extending ’t Hooft’s one-loop result. The method can also be used for theories with higher derivative interactions, as long as the terms in the Lagrangian have at most one derivative acting on each field. We show that diagrams with factorizable topologies do not contribute to the renormalization group equations. The results in this paper will be combined with the geometric method in a subsequent paper to obtain the counterterms and renormalization group equations for the scalar sector of effective field theories (EFT) to two-loop order.

On the renormalization of non-polynomial field theories

A class of scalar models with non-polynomial interaction, which naturally admits an analytical resummation of the series of tadpole diagrams is studied in perturbation theory. In particular, we focus on a model containing only one renormalizable coupling that appear as a multiplicative coefficient of the squared field. A renormalization group analysis of the Green functions of the model shows that these are only approximated solutions of the flow equations, with errors proportional to powers of the coupling, therefore smaller in the region of weak coupling. The final output of the perturbative analysis is that the renormalized model is non-interacting with finite mass and vanishing vertices or, in an effective theory limited by an ultraviolet cut-off, the vertices are suppressed by powers of the inverse cut-off. The relation with some non-polynomial interactions derived long ago, as solutions of the linearized functional renormalization group flow equations, is also discussed.

Diassociative family algebras and averaging family operators

Algebraic structures relative to a semigroup Ω (also called family algebraic structures) first appeared in the work of renormalization in quantum field theory. In this paper, we first consider Ω-diassociative algebras and diassociative family algebras as family analogues of diassociative algebras. We define the cohomologies of these algebras generalizing the cohomology of diassociative algebras introduced by Frabetti. We also introduce (relative) averaging family operators as the family analogue of averaging operators and show that they induce diassociative family algebras and Ω-diassociative algebras. Next, we define the cohomology of a (relative) averaging family operator as the cohomology of the induced Ω-diassociative algebra with coefficients in a suitable representation. Finally, as an application of our cohomology, we study formal one-parameter deformations of relative averaging family operators.

Renormalization of massive rank-1 field theory nonminimally coupled to quantum gravity

Renormalization of massive rank-1 field theory nonminimally coupled to quantum gravity

Running couplings and unitarity in a 4-derivative scalar field theory

We obtain the β-functions for the two dimensionless couplings of a 4d renormalizable scalar field theory with cubic and quartic 4-derivative interactions. Both couplings can be asymptotically free in the UV, and in some cases also in the IR. This theory illustrates the meaning of unitarity in the presence of a negative norm state. A perturbative calculation that accounts for the new minus signs shows that the optical theorem is identically satisfied. These minus signs also enter a discussion of tree-level scattering. For a certain setup involving colliding beams of particles we find even more intricate cancellations and quite normal behaviour at high energies. The β-functions for the Stuckelberg gauged version of the theory are also obtained.

Constructing the general partial wave and renormalization in effective field theory

We construct the general partial wave amplitude basis for the $N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}M$ scattering, which consists of Poincar\'e Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, in a Lorentz invariant form given in terms of the spinor-helicity variables. The inner product of the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients is defined, which converts on-shell phase space integration into an algebraic problem. We also develop the technique of partial wave expansions of arbitrary amplitudes, including those with infrared divergence. These are applied to the computation of anomalous dimension matrix for general effective operators, where unitarity cuts for the loop amplitudes, with an arbitrary number of external particles, are obtained via partial wave expansion.

Renormalization of nuclear chiral effective field theory with nonperturbative leading-order interactions

We extend the renormalizability study of the formulation of chiral effective field theory with a finite cutoff, applied to nucleon-nucleon scattering, by taking into account non-perturbative effects. We consider the nucleon-nucleon interaction up to next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. The leading-order interaction is treated non-perturbatively. In contrast to the previously considered case when the leading-order interaction was assumed to be perturbative, new features related to the renormalization of the effective field theory are revealed. In particular, more severe constraints on the leading-order potential are formulated, which can enforce the renormalizability and the correct power counting for the next-to-leading order amplitude. To illustrate our theoretical findings, several partial waves in the nucleon-nucleon scattering, $^3P_0$, $^3S_1-{^3D_1}$ and $^1S_0$ are analyzed numerically. The cutoff dependence and the convergence of the chiral expansion for those channels are discussed.

QFT without infinities and hierarchy problem

The standard way to do computations in Quantum Field Theory (QFT) often results in the requirement of dramatic cancellations between contributions induced by a “heavy” sector into the physical observables of the “light” (or low energy) sector – the phenomenon known as “technical hierarchy problem”. This procedure uses divergent multi-loop Feynman diagrams, their regularisation to handle the UV divergences, and then renormalisation to remove them. At the same time, the ultimate outcome of the renormalisation is the mapping of several finite parameters defining the renormalisable field theory into different observables (e.g. all kinds of particle cross-sections). In this paper, we first demonstrate how to relate the parameters of the theory to observables without running into intermediate UV divergences. Then we go one step further: we show how in theories with different mass scales, all physics of the “light” sector can be computed in a way that does not require dramatic cancellations induced by the physics of the “heavy” sector. The existence of such a technique suggests that the “hierarchy problem” in renormalisable theories is not really physical, but rather an artefact of the conventional procedure to compute correlation functions. If the QFT is defined by the “divergencies-free” method all fine-tunings in theories with well-separated energy scales may be avoided.

Random Walk on a Rough Surface: Renormalization Group Analysis of a Simple Model

The field-theoretic renormalization group is applied to a simple model of a random walk on a rough fluctuating surface. We consider the Fokker–Planck equation for a particle in a uniform gravitational field. The surface is modeled by the generalized Edwards–Wilkinson linear stochastic equation for the height field. The full stochastic model is reformulated as a multiplicatively renormalizable field theory, which allows for the application of the standard renormalization theory. The renormalization group equations have several fixed points that correspond to possible scaling regimes in the infrared range (long times and large distances); all the critical dimensions are found exactly. As an example, the spreading law for the particle’s cloud is derived. It has the form R2(t)≃t2/Δω with the exactly known critical dimension of frequency Δω and, in general, differs from the standard expression R2(t)≃t for an ordinary random walk.

Three- and four-point functions in CPT -even Lorentz-violating scalar QED

The renormalization of quantum field theories usually assumes Lorentz and gauge symmetries, besides the general restrictions imposed by unitarity and causality. However, the set of renormalizable theories can be enlarged by relaxing some of these assumptions. In this work, we consider the particular case of a CPT-preserving but Lorentz-breaking extension of scalar QED. For this theory, we calculate the one-loop radiative corrections to the three- and four-point scalar-vector vertex functions, at the lowest order in the Lorentz violation parameters; and we explicitly verify that the resulting low-energy effective action is compatible with the usual gauge invariance requirements. With these results, we complete the one-loop renormalization of the model at the leading order in the Lorentz-violating parameters.

Homotopy Rota–Baxter operators and post-Lie algebras

Rota–Baxter operators and the more general \mathcal{O} -operators, together with their interconnected pre-Lie and post-Lie algebras, are important algebraic structures, with Rota–Baxter operators and pre-Lie algebras instrumental in the Connes–Kreimer approach to renormalization of quantum field theory. This paper introduces the notions of a homotopy Rota–Baxter operator and a homotopy \mathcal{O} -operator on a symmetric graded Lie algebra. Their characterization by Maurer–Cartan elements of suitable differential graded Lie algebras is provided. Through the action of a homotopy \mathcal{O} -operator on a symmetric graded Lie algebra, we arrive at the notion of an operator homotopy post-Lie algebra, together with its characterization in terms of Maurer–Cartan elements. A cohomology theory of post-Lie algebras is established, with an application to 2-term skeletal operator homotopy post-Lie algebras.

Scaling solutions for asymptotically free quantum gravity

We compute scaling solutions of functional flow equations for quantum grav- ity in a general truncation with up to four derivatives of the metric. They connect the asymptotically free ultraviolet fixed point, which is accessible to perturbation theory, to the non-perturbative infrared region. The existence of such scaling solutions is necessary for a renormalizable quantum field theory of gravity. If the proposed scaling solution is con- firmed beyond our approximations asymptotic freedom is a viable alternative to asymptotic safety for quantum gravity.

Perturbative running of the topological angles

We argue that in general renormalizable field theories the topological angles may develop an additive beta function starting no earlier than 2-loop order. The leading expression is uniquely determined by a single model-independent coefficient. The associated divergent diagrams are identified and a few methods for extracting the beta function in dimensional regularization are discussed. We show that the peculiar nature of the topological angles implies non-trivial constraints on the anomalous dimension of the CP-violating operators and discuss how a non-vanishing beta function affects the Weyl consistency conditions. Some phenomenological considerations are presented.

Approximate treatment of noncommutative curvature in quartic matrix model

We study a Hermitian matrix model with the standard quartic potential amended by a tr(RΦ2) term for fixed external matrix R. This is motivated by a curvature term in the truncated Heisenberg algebra formulation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model — a renormalizable noncommutative field theory. The extra term breaks the unitary symmetry of the action and leads, after perturbative calculation of the unitary integral, to an effective multitrace matrix model. Accompanying the analytical treatment of this multitrace approximation, we also study the model numerically by Monte Carlo simulations. The phase structure of the model is investigated, and a modified phase diagram is identified. We observe a shift of the transition line between the 1-cut and 2-cut phases of the theory that is consistent with the previous numerical simulations and also with the removal of the noncommutative phase in the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model.

Field-theoretic functional renormalization group formalism for non-Fermi liquids and its application to the antiferromagnetic quantum critical metal in two dimensions

To capture the universal low-energy physics of metals within effective field theories, one has to generalize the usual notion of scale invariance and renormalizable field theory due to the presence of intrinsic scales (Fermi momenta). In this paper, we develop a field-theoretic functional renormalization group formalism for full low-energy effective field theories of non-Fermi liquids that include all gapless modes around the Fermi surface. The formalism is applied to the non-Fermi liquid that arises at the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in two space dimensions. In the space of coupling functions, an interacting fixed point arises at a point with momentum-independent couplings and vanishing nesting angle. In theories deformed with non-zero nesting angles, coupling functions acquire universal momentum profiles controlled by the bare nesting angles at low energies before flowing to superconducting states in the low-energy limit. The superconducting instability is unavoidable because lukewarm electrons that are coherent enough to be susceptible to pairing end up being subject to a renormalized attractive interaction with its minimum strength set by the nesting angle irrespective of the bare four-fermion coupling. Despite the inevitable superconducting instability, theories with small bare nesting angles and bare four-fermion couplings that are repulsive or weakly attractive must pass through the region with slow RG flow due to the proximity to the non-Fermi liquid fixed point. The bottleneck region controls the scaling behaviours of the normal state and the quasi-universal pathway from the non-Fermi liquid to superconductivity. In the limit that the nesting angle is small, the non-Fermi liquid scaling dictates the physics over a large window of energy scale above the superconducting transition temperature.