Upper-critical Dimension Research Articles

Renormalization group study of superfluid phase transition: Effect of compressibility.

Dynamic critical behavior in superfluid systems is considered in the presence of external stirring and advecting processes. The latter are generated by means of the Gaussian random velocity ensemble with white-noise character in time variable and self-similar spatial dependence. The main focus of this work is to analyze an effect of compressible modes on the critical behavior. The model is formulated through stochastic Langevin equations, which are then recast into the Janssen-De Dominicis response formalism. Employing the field-theoretic perturbative renormalization group method we analyze large-scale properties of the model. Explicit calculations are performed to the leading one-loop approximation in the double (ɛ,y) expansion scheme, where ɛ is a deviation from the upper critical dimension d_{c}=4 and y describes a scaling property of the velocity ensemble. Altogether five distinct universality classes are expected to be macroscopically observable. In contrast to the incompressible case, we find that compressibility leads to an enhancement and stabilization of nontrivial asymptotic regimes.

Jamming Below Upper Critical Dimension.

Extensive numerical simulations in the past decades proved that the critical exponents of the jamming of frictionless spherical particles are the same in two and three dimensions. This implies that the upper critical dimension is d_{u}=2 or lower. In this Letter, we study the jamming transition below the upper critical dimension. We investigate a quasi-one-dimensional system: disks confined in a narrow channel. We show that the system is isostatic at the jamming transition point as in the case of standard jamming transition of the bulk systems in two and three dimensions. Nevertheless, the scaling of the excess contact number shows the linear scaling. Furthermore, the gap distribution remains finite even at the jamming transition point. These results are qualitatively different from those of the bulk systems in two and three dimensions.

Flory-like statistics of fracture in the fiber bundle model as obtained via Kolmogorov dispersion for turbulence: A conjecture.

It has long been conjectured that (rapid) fracture propagation dynamics in materials and turbulent motion of fluids are two manifestations of the same physical process. The universality class of turbulence (Kolmogorov dispersion, in particular) is conjectured to be identifiable with the Flory statistics for linear polymers (self-avoiding walks on lattices). These help us to relate fracture statistics to those of linear polymers (Flory statistics). The statistics of fracture in the fiber bundle model (FBM) are now well studied and many exact results are now available for the equal-load-sharing (ELS) scheme. Yet, the correlation length exponent in this model was missing and we show here how the correspondence between fracture statistics and the Flory mapping of Kolmogorov statistics for turbulence helps us to make a conjecture about the value of the correlation length exponent for fracture in the ELS limit of FBM and, also, about the upper critical dimension. In addition, the fracture avalanche size exponent values at lower dimensions (as estimated from such mapping to Flory statistics) also compare well with the observations.

Restricted Solid-on-Solid Model with Various Deposition and Evaporation Probability on d = 4 + 1 dimensions

We control the deposition probability p (the evaporation probability 1 − p) in a restricted solid-on-solid model and monitor the surface width W(L, t) as a function of time t, where L is the system size in d = 4 + 1 dimensions. At p =1/2, the surface becomes flat, following the Edwards and Wilkinson universality class. At p = 0.88, W2(t) grows logarithmically at the beginning and becomes saturated at ln L, showing a scaling $${W^2}\left( {L,t} \right) \sim \ln \left[ {{L^{2\alpha }}f\left( {{t \over {{L^z}}}} \right)} \right]$$ with z ≈ 2.0. For the deposition-only model with p = 1, W2(L,t) shows a power law behavior W2(t) ∼ t2β with a rough interface. With varying p, a smooth-to-rough surface transition is found, implying that d = 4+1 is not the upper critical dimension of the Kardar Parisi Zhang equation.

Flat phase of polymerized membranes at two-loop order.

We investigate two complementary field-theoretical models describing the flat phase of polymerized-phantom-membranes by means of a two-loop, weak-coupling, perturbative approach performed near the upper critical dimension D_{uc}=4, extending the one-loop computation of Aronovitz and Lubensky [Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 2634 (1988)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.60.2634]. We derive the renormalization group equations within the modified minimal substraction scheme, then analyze the corrections coming from two-loop with a particular attention paid to the anomalous dimension and the asymptotic infrared properties of the renormalization group flow. We finally compare our results to those provided by nonperturbative techniques used to investigate these two models.

Correlations between avalanches in the depinning dynamics of elastic interfaces.

We study the correlations between avalanches in the depinning dynamics of elastic interfaces driven on a random substrate. In the mean-field theory (the Brownian force model), it is known that the avalanches are uncorrelated. Here we obtain a simple field theory which describes the first deviations from this uncorrelated behavior in a ε=d_{c}-d expansion below the upper critical dimension d_{c} of the model. We apply it to calculate the correlations between (i) avalanche sizes (ii) avalanche dynamics in two successive avalanches, or more generally, in two avalanches separated by a uniform displacement W of the interface. For (i) we obtain the correlations of the total sizes, of the local sizes, and of the total sizes with given seeds (starting points). For (ii) we obtain the correlations of the velocities, of the durations, and of the avalanche shapes. In general we find that the avalanches are anticorrelated, the occurrence of a larger avalanche making more likely the occurrence of a smaller one, and vice versa. Examining the universality of our results leads us to conjecture several exact scaling relations for the critical exponents that characterize the different distributions of correlations. The avalanche size predictions are confronted to numerical simulations for a d=1 interface with short range elasticity. They are also compared to our recent related work on static avalanches (shocks). Finally we show that the naive extrapolation of our result into the thermally activated creep regime at finite temperature predicts strong positive correlations between the forward motion events, as recently observed in numerical simulations.

Tricritical directed percolation with long-range interaction in one and two dimensions.

Recently, the quantum contact process, in which branching and coagulation processes occur both coherently and incoherently, was theoretically and experimentally investigated in driven open quantum spin systems. In the semiclassical approach, the quantum coherence effect was regarded as a process in which two consecutive atoms are involved in the excitation of a neighboring atom from the inactive (ground) state to the active state (excited s-state). In this case, both second-order and first-order transitions occur. Therefore, a tricritical point exists at which the transition belongs to the tricritical directed percolation (TDP) class. On the other hand, when an atom is excited to the d-state, long-range interaction is induced. Here, to account for this long-range interaction, we extend the TDP model to one with long-range interaction in the form of ∼1/r^{d+σ} (denoted as LTDP), where r is the separation, d is the spatial dimension, and σ is a control parameter. In particular, we investigate the properties of the LTDP class below the upper critical dimension d_{c}=min(3,1.5σ). We numerically obtain a set of critical exponents in the LTDP class and determine the interval of σ for the LTDP class. Finally, we construct a diagram of universality classes in the space (d,σ).

The symbiotic contact process

We consider a contact process on $\mathbb{Z} ^{d}$ with two species that interact in a symbiotic manner. Each site can either be vacant or occupied by individuals of species $A$ and/or $B$. Multiple occupancy by the same species at a single site is prohibited. The name symbiotic comes from the fact that if only one species is present at a site then that particle dies with rate 1 but if both species are present then the death rate is reduced to $\mu \le 1$ for each particle at that site. We show the critical birth rate $\lambda _{c}(\mu )$ for weak survival is of order $\sqrt{\mu } $ as $\mu \to 0$. Mean-field calculations predict that when $\mu < 1/2$ there is a discontinuous transition as $\lambda $ is varied. In contrast, we show that, in any dimension, the phase transition is continuous. To be fair to the physicists that introduced the model, [27], the authors say that the symbiotic contact process is in the directed percolation universality class and hence has a continuous transition. However, a 2018 paper, [30], asserts that the transition is discontinuous above the upper critical dimension, which is 4 for oriented percolation.

Static Approach to Renormalization Group Analysis of Stochastic Models with Spatially Quenched Noise

A new ''static'' renormalization group approach to stochastic models of fluctuating surfaces with spatially quenched noise is proposed in which only time-independent quantities are involved. As examples, quenched versions of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang model and its Pavlik's modification, the Hwa-Kardar model of self-organized criticality, and Pastor-Satorras-Rothman model of landscape erosion are studied. It is shown that the upper critical dimension in the quenched models is shifted by two units upwards in comparison to their counterparts with white in-time noise. Possible scaling regimes associated with fixed points of the renormalization group equations are found and the critical exponents are derived to the leading order of the corresponding epsilon-expansions. Some exact values and relations for these exponents are obtained.

Real-space renormalization-group methods for hierarchical spin glasses

We focus on two real-space renormalization-group (RG) methods recently proposed for a hierarchical model of a spin glass: a sample-by-sample method, in which the RG transformation is performed separately on each disorder sample, and an ensemble RG (ERG) method (Angelini M C, Parisi G and Ricci-Tersenghi F 2013 Ensemble renormalization group for disordered systems Phys. Rev. B 87 134201) in which the transformation is based on an average over samples. Above the upper critical dimension, the sample-by-sample method yields the correct mean-field value for the critical exponent related to the divergence of the correlation length, while it does not predict the correct qualitative behavior of below the upper critical dimension. On the other hand, the ERG procedure has been claimed to predict the correct behavior of both above and below the upper critical dimension. Here, we straighten out the reasons for the discrepancy between the two methods above, by demonstrating that the ERG method predicts a marginally stable critical fixed point, thus implying a prediction for the critical exponent given by . This prediction disagrees, on a qualitative and quantitative level, both with the mean-field value of above the critical dimension, and with numerical estimates of below the upper critical dimension. Therefore, our results show that finding a real-space RG method for spin glasses which yields the correct prediction for universal quantities below the upper critical dimension is still an open problem, for which our analysis may provide some general guidance for future studies.

Hyperscaling Violation in Ising Spin Glasses

In addition to the standard scaling rules relating critical exponents at second order transitions, hyperscaling rules involve the dimension of the model. It is well known that in canonical Ising models hyperscaling rules are modified above the upper critical dimension. It was shown by M. Schwartz in 1991 that hyperscaling can also break down in Ising systems with quenched random interactions; Random Field Ising models, which are in this class, have been intensively studied. Here, numerical Ising Spin Glass data relating the scaling of the normalized Binder cumulant to that of the reduced correlation length are presented for dimensions 3, 4, 5, and 7. Hyperscaling is clearly violated in dimensions 3 and 4, as well as above the upper critical dimension . Estimates are obtained for the “violation of hyperscaling exponent” values in the various models.

Can a Large Packing be Assembled from Smaller Ones?

We consider zero temperature packings of soft spheres that undergo a jamming to unjamming transition as a function of packing fraction. We compare differences in the structure, as measured from the contact statistics, of a finite subsystem of a large packing to a whole packing with periodic boundaries of an equivalent size and pressure. We find that the fluctuations of the ensemble of whole packings are smaller than those of the ensemble of subsystems. Convergence of these two quantities appears to occur at very large systems, which are usually not attainable in numerical simulations. Finding differences between packings in two dimensions and three dimensions, we also consider four dimensions and mean-field models, and find that they show similar system size dependence. Mean-field critical exponents appear to be consistent with the 3D and 4D packings, suggesting they are above the upper critical dimension. We also find that the convergence as a function of system size to the thermodynamic limit is characterized by two different length scales. We argue that this is the result of the system being above the upper critical dimension.

Random Walk Diffusion Model with a Restricted Solid-on-Solid Condition in Higher Dimensions

We study a random walk diffusion model under the restricted solid-on-solid (RSOS) condition in d = 3 + 1 and d = 4 + 1 dimensions. A dropped particle is allowed to take a random walk until satisfying the RSOS condition. The surface width W increases as tβ in early time with β = 0.081 ± 0.006 and becomes saturated at Lα with α = 0.29 ± 0.03 in d = 3 + 1. In d = 4 + 1, W (t) grows as 2b ln t at the beginning and becomes saturated at 2a ln L. The dynamic exponent z ≈ 3.79 is obtained from the relation $$z = {a \over b}$$ . This value is slightly less than, but consistent with, the value obtained from the related Langevin equation. Our results imply that the upper critical dimension of the model is d =4+1.

Renormalization of multicritical scalar models in curved space

We consider the leading order perturbative renormalization of the multicritical phi ^{2n} models and some generalizations in curved space. We pay particular attention to the nonminimal interaction with the scalar curvature frac{1}{2}xi phi ^2 R and discuss the emergence of the conformal value of the coupling xi as the renormalization group fixed point of its beta function at and below the upper critical dimension as a function of n. We also examine our results in relation with Kawai and Ninomiya’s formulation of two dimensional gravity.

Critical Two-Point Function for Long-Range Models with Power-Law Couplings: The Marginal Case for $${d\ge d_{\rm c}}$$

Consider the long-range models on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ of random walk, self-avoiding walk, percolation and the Ising model, whose translation-invariant 1-step distribution/coupling coefficient decays as $|x|^{-d-\alpha}$ for some $\alpha>0$. In the previous work (Ann. Probab., 43, 639--681, 2015), we have shown in a unified fashion for all $\alpha\ne2$ that, assuming a bound on the "derivative" of the $n$-step distribution (the compound-zeta distribution satisfies this assumed bound), the critical two-point function $G_{p_c}(x)$ decays as $|x|^{\alpha\wedge2-d}$ above the upper-critical dimension $d_c\equiv(\alpha\wedge2)m$, where $m=2$ for self-avoiding walk and the Ising model and $m=3$ for percolation. In this paper, we show in a much simpler way, without assuming a bound on the derivative of the $n$-step distribution, that $G_{p_c}(x)$ for the marginal case $\alpha=2$ decays as $|x|^{2-d}/\log|x|$ whenever $d\ge d_c$ (with a large spread-out parameter $L$). This solves the conjecture in the previous work, extended all the way down to $d=d_c$, and confirms a part of predictions in physics (Brezin, Parisi, Ricci-Tersenghi, J. Stat. Phys., 157, 855--868, 2014). The proof is based on the lace expansion and new convolution bounds on power functions with log corrections.

Morphology of renormalization-group flow for the de Almeida-Thouless-Gardner universality class.

A replica-symmetry-breaking phase transition is predicted in a host of disordered media. The criticality of the transition has, however, long been questioned below its upper critical dimension, six, due to the absence of a critical fixed point in the renormalization-group flows at one-loop order. A recent two-loop analysis revealed a possible strong-coupling fixed point, but given the uncontrolled nature of perturbative analysis in the strong-coupling regime, debate persists. Here we examine the nature of the transition as a function of spatial dimension and show that the strong-coupling fixed point can go through a Hopf bifurcation, resulting in a critical limit cycle and a concomitant discrete scale invariance. We further investigate a different renormalization scheme and argue that the basin of attraction of the strong-coupling fixed point (or limit cycle) may stay finite for all dimensions.

From Spin Glasses to Negative-Weight Percolation.

Spin glasses are prototypical random systems modelling magnetic alloys. One important way to investigate spin glass models is to study domain walls. For two dimensions, this can be algorithmically understood as the calculation of a shortest path, which allows for negative distances or weights. This led to the creation of the negative weight percolation (NWP) model, which is presented here along with all necessary basics from spin glasses, graph theory and corresponding algorithms. The algorithmic approach involves a mapping to the classical matching problem for graphs. In addition, a summary of results is given, which were obtained during the past decade. This includes the study of percolation transitions in dimension from up to and beyond the upper critical dimension , also for random graphs. It is shown that NWP is in a different universality class than standard percolation. Furthermore, the question of whether NWP exhibits properties of Stochastic–Loewner Evolution is addressed and recent results for directed NWP are presented.

Symbiotic contact process: Phase transitions, hysteresis cycles, and bistability

We performed Monte Carlo simulations of the symbiotic contact process on different spatial dimensions ($d$). On the complete and random graphs (infinite dimension), we observe hysteresis cycles and bistable regions, what is consistent with the discontinuous absorbing-state phase transition predicted by mean-field theory. By contrast, on a regular square lattice, we find no signs of bistability or hysteretic behavior. This result suggests that the transition in two dimensions is rather continuous. Based on our numerical observations, we conjecture that the nature of the transition changes at the upper critical dimension ($d_c$), from continuous ($d<d_c$) to discontinuous ($d>d_c$).

Crossover between diffusion-limited and reaction-limited regimes in the coagulation–diffusion process

The change from the diffusion-limited to the reaction-limited cooperative behaviour in reaction–diffusion systems is analysed by comparing the universal long-time behaviour of the coagulation–diffusion process on a chain and on the Bethe lattice. On a chain, this model is exactly solvable through the empty-interval method. This method can be extended to the Bethe lattice, in the ben-Avraham–Glasser approximation. On the Bethe lattice, the analysis of the Laplace-transformed time-dependent particle-density is analogous to the study of the stationary state, if a stochastic reset to a configuration of uncorrelated particles is added. In this stationary state logarithmic corrections to scaling are found, as expected for systems at the upper critical dimension. Analogous results hold true for the time-integrated particle-density. The crossover scaling functions and the associated effective exponents between the chain and the Bethe lattice are derived.

Quantum criticality with infinite anisotropy in topological phase transitions between Dirac and Weyl semimetals

We study quantum phase transitions (QPTs) associated with splitting nodal Fermi points, motivated by topological phase transitions between Dirac and Weyl semi-metals. A Dirac point in Dirac semi-metals may be split into two Weyl points by breaking a lattice symmetry or time reversal symmetry, and the Lifshitz transition is commonly used to describe the phase transitions. Here, we show that the Lifshitz description is fundamentally incorrect in QPTs with splitting nodal Fermi points. We argue that correlations between fermions, order parameter, and the long range Coulomb interaction { must} be incorporated from the beginning. One of the most striking correlation effects we find is {\it infinite anisotropy} of physical quantities, which cannot appear in a Lifshitz transition. By using the standard renormalization group (RG) method, two types of infinitely anisotropic quantum criticalities are found in three spatial dimensions varying with the number of the Dirac points ($N_f$). For $N_f = 1$, the ratio of the fermion velocity to the velocity of order parameter excitations becomes universal ($\sqrt{2}-1$) along the Dirac point splitting direction . For $N_f >1$, we find that fermions are parametrically faster than order parameter excitations in all directions. Our RG analysis is fully controlled by the fact that order parameter and fermion fluctuations are at the upper critical dimension, and thus our stable fixed points demonstrate the presence of weakly coupled quantum criticalities with infinite anisotropy.