Wilsonian Renormalization Group Flow Research Articles

On the running and the UV limit of Wilsonian renormalization group flows

In nonperturbative formulation of quantum field theory, the vacuum state is characterized by the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow of Feynman type field correlators. Such a flow is a parametric family of ultraviolet (UV) regularized field correlators, the parameter being the strength of the UV regularization, and the instances with different strength of UV regularizations are linked by the renormalization group equation. Important RG flows are those which reach out to any UV regularization strengths. In this paper it is shown that for these flows a natural, mathematically rigorous generally covariant definition can be given, and that they form a topological vector space which is Hausdorff, locally convex, complete, nuclear, semi-Montel, Schwartz. That is, they form a generalized function space having favorable properties, similar to multivariate distributions. The other theorem proved in the paper is that for Wilsonian RG flows reaching out to all UV regularization strengths, a simple factorization formula holds in case of bosonic fields over flat (affine) spacetime: the flow always originates from a regularization-independent distributional correlator, and its running satisfies an algebraic ansatz. The conjecture is that this factorization theorem should generically hold, which is worth future investigations.

Gradient flow and the Wilsonian renormalization group flow

Gradient flow and the Wilsonian renormalization group flow

Wilsonian renormalization group in the functional non-perturbative approach

We consider a functional relation between a given Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow, which has to be related to a specific coarse-graining procedure, and an infinite family of (UV cutoff) scale-dependent field redefinitions. Within this framework, one can define a family of Wilsonian proper-time (PT) exact RG equations associated to an arbitrary regulator function. New applications of these RG flow schemes to the Ising Universality class in three dimensions in the derivative expansion are shortly illustrated.

BRST in the exact renormalization group

AbstractWe show, explicitly within perturbation theory, that the quantum master equation and the Wilsonian renormalization group flow equation can be combined such that for the continuum effective action, quantum BRST invariance is not broken by the presence of an effective ultraviolet cutoff $\Lambda$, despite the fact that the structure demands quantum corrections that naïvely break the gauge invariance, such as a mass term for a non-Abelian gauge field. Exploiting the derivative expansion, BRST cohomological methods fix the solution up to choice of renormalization conditions, without inputting the form of the classical, or bare, interactions. Legendre transformation results in an equivalent description in terms of solving the modified Slavnov–Taylor identities and the flow of the Legendre effective action under an infrared cutoff $\Lambda$ (i.e. effective average action). The flow generates a canonical transformation that automatically solves the Slavnov–Taylor identities for the wavefunction renormalization constants. We confirm this structure in detail at tree level and one loop. Under flow of $\Lambda$, the standard results are obtained for the beta function, anomalous dimension, and physical amplitudes, up to the choice of the renormalization scheme.

Gradient flow and the Wilsonian renormalization group flow

The gradient flow is the evolution of fields and physical quantities along a dimensionful parameter~$t$, the flow time. We give a simple argument that relates this gradient flow and the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow. We then illustrate the Wilsonian RG flow on the basis of the gradient flow in two examples that possess an infrared fixed point, the 4D many-flavor gauge theory and the 3D $O(N)$ linear sigma model.

The Yang—Mills gradient flow and lattice effective action

Recently, the Yang-Mills gradient flow is found to be a useful concept not only in lattice simulations but also in continuous field theories. Since its smearing property is similar to the Wilsoninan "block spin transformation", there might be deeper connection between them. In this work, we define the "effective action" which generates configurations at a finite flow time and derive the exact differential equation to investigate the flow time dependence of the action. Then Yang-Mills gradient flow can be regarded as the flow of the effective action. We also propose the flow time dependent gradient, where the differential equation becomes similar to the renormalization group equation. We discuss a possibility to regard the time evolution of the effective action as the Wilsonian renormalization group flow.

Stochastic quantization of conformally coupled scalar in AdS

We explore the relation between stochastic quantization and holographic Wilsonian renormalization group flow further by studying conformally coupled scalar in $AdS_{d+1}$. We establish one to one mapping between the radial flow of its double trace deformation and stochastic 2-point correlation function. This map is shown to be identical, up to a suitable field re-definition of the bulk scalar, to the original proposal in arXiv:1209.2242.

Stochastic quantization and holographic Wilsonian renormalization group

We study relation between stochastic quantization and holographic Wilsonian renormalization group flow. Considering stochastic quantization of the boundary on-shell actions with the Dirichlet boundary condition for certain AdS bulk gravity theories, we find that the radial flows of double trace deformations in the boundary effective actions are completely captured by stochastic time evolution with identification of the AdS radial coordinate ‘r’ with the stochastic time ‘t’ as r = t. More precisely, we investigate Langevin dynamics and find an exact relation between radial flow of the double trace couplings and 2-point correlation functions in stochastic quantization. We also show that the radial evolution of double trace deformations in the boundary effective action and the stochastic time evolution of the Fokker-Planck action are the same. We demonstrate this relation with a couple of examples: (minimally coupled)massless scalar fields in AdS 2 and U(1) vector fields in AdS 4.

Connecting the holographic and Wilsonian renormalization groups

Inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence, we develop an explicit formal duality between the planar limit of a d-dimensional gauge theory and a classical field theory in a (d+1)-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. The key ingredient is the identification of fields in AdS with generalized Hubbard-Stratonovich transforms of single-trace couplings of the QFT. We show that the Wilsonian renormalization group flow of these transformed couplings matches the holographic (Hamilton-Jacobi) flow of bulk fields along the radial direction in AdS. This result allows one to outline an AdS/CFT dictionary that does not rely on string theory.

Integrating out geometry: holographic Wilsonian RG and the membrane paradigm

We formulate a holographic Wilsonian renormalization group flow for strongly coupled systems with a gravity dual, motivated by the need to extract efficiently low energy behavior of such systems. Starting with field theories defined on a cut-off surface in a bulk spacetime, we propose that integrating out high energy modes in the field theory should correspond to integrating out a part of the bulk geometry. We describe how to carry out this procedure in practice in the classical gravity approximation using examples of scalar and vector fields. By integrating out bulk degrees of freedom all the way to a black hole horizon, this formulation defines a refined version of the black hole membrane paradigm. Furthermore, it also provides a derivation of the semi-holographic description of low energy physics.

Effects of Nonmagnetic Impurities on Spin-Fluctuation Induced Superconductivity

We study the effects of nonmagnetic impurities on the phase diagram of a system of interacting electrons with a flat Fermi surface. The one-loop Wilsonian renormalization group flow of the angle dependent diffusion function D(theta;(1),theta;(2),theta;(3)) and interaction U(theta;(1),theta;(2),theta;(3)) determines the critical temperature and the nature of the low temperature state. As the imperfect nesting increases, the critical temperature decreases, and the low temperature phase changes from the spin-density wave (SDW) to the d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and finally, for bad nesting, to the charge-localized state. Both SDW and dSC phases are affected by disorder. The pair breaking depends on the imperfect nesting and is the most efficient when the critical temperature for superconductivity is maximal.

Realization of global symmetries in the Wilsonian renormalization group

We present a method to solve the master equation for the Wilsonian action in the antifield formalism. This is based on a representation theory for cutoff dependent global symmetries along the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow. For the chiral symmetry, the master equation for the free theory yields a continuum version of the Ginsparg-Wilson relation. We construct chiral invariant operators describing fermionic self-interactions. The use of canonically transformed variables is shown to simplify the underlying algebraic structure of the symmetry. We also give another non-trivial example, a realization of SU(2) vector symmetry. Our formalism may be used for a non-perturbative truncation of the Wilsonian action preserving global symmetries.

BRS Symmetry, the Quantum Master Equation and the Wilsonian Renormalization Group

Recently we made a proposal for realization of an effective BRS symmetry along the Wilsonian renormalization group flow. In this paper we show that the idea can be naturally extended for the most general gauge theories. Extensive use of the antifield formalism is made to reveal some remarkable structure of the effective BRS symmetry. The average action defined with a continuum analog of the block spin transformation obeys the quantum master equation (QME), provided that an UV action does so. We show that the RG flow described by the exact flow equations is generated by canonical transformations in the field-antifield space. Using the relation between the average action and the Legendre effective action, we establish the equivalence between the QME for the average action and the modified Ward-Takahashi identity for the Legendre action. The QME remains intact when the regularization is removed.

Exact BRS Symmetry Realized along the Renormalization Group Flow

Using the average action defined with a continuum analog of the block spin transformation, we show the presence of gauge symmetry along the Wilsonian renormalization group flow. As a reflection of the gauge symmetry, the average action satisfies the quantum master equation(QME). We show that the quantum part of the master equation is naturally understood once the measure contribution under the BRS transformation is taken into account. Furthermore an effective BRS transformation acting on macroscopic fields may be defined from the QME. The average action is explicitly evaluated in terms of the saddle point approximation up to one-loop order. It is confirmed that the action satisfies the QME and the flow equation.

Exact symmetries realized on the renormalization group flow

We show that symmetries are preserved exactly along the (Wilsonian) renormalization group flow, though the IR cutoff deforms concrete forms of the transformations. For a gauge theory the cutoff dependent Ward–Takahashi identity is written as the master equation in the antifield formalism: one may read off the renormalized BRS transformation from the master equation. The Maxwell theory is studied explicitly to see how it works. The renormalized BRS transformation becomes non-local but keeps off-shell nilpotency. Our formalism is applicable for a generic global symmetry. The master equation considered for the chiral symmetry provides us with the continuum analog of the Ginsparg–Wilson relation and the Lüscher's symmetry.