The spectrum of two-point functions in a holographic renormalization group flow from an ultraviolet (UV) to an infrared (IR) conformal fixed point is necessarily continuous. For a toy model, the spectral function does not only show the expected UV and IR behaviours, but other interesting features such as sharp peaks and oscillations in the UV. The spectral functions for the SU(3)xU(1) flow in AdS_4/CFT_3 and the SU(2)xU(1) flow in AdS_5/CFT_4 are calculated numerically. They exhibit a simple cross-over behaviour and reproduce the conformal dimensions of the dual operators in the UV and IR conformal phases.
Notes on holographic renormalization as a tool for UV analysis and derivation of the two-point Ward identity encoding symmetry breaking. Goldstone theorem is reviewed, discussing in particular the modifications required by its extension to non-relativistic field theories. The Ward identity encoding both spontaneous and explicit breaking are derived by general principles. Holographic renormalization is presented in a quite operational fashion. The derivation of the Ward identity in holography is illustrated by an example.
The bulk locality in the constructive holographic renormalization group requires miraculous cancellations among various local renormalization group functions. The cancellation is not only from the properties of the spectrum but from more detailed aspects of operator product expansions in relation to conformal anomaly. It is remarkable that one-loop computation of the universal local renormalization group functions in the weakly coupled limit of the $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory fulfils the necessary condition for the cancellation in the strongly coupled limit in its $SL(2,\mathbf{Z})…
We review holographic renormalization for non-conformal branes using the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. We provide the tools required for the computation of the holographic dictionary, while we present some marginally new technical results regarding holographic renormalization for $Dp$-branes, $p<5$, for Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a dilaton. The computations are based on a recursive algorithm by Papadimitriou, that solves the radial Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the asymptotic boundary of the bulk. This paper is a short version of the Master thesis of the author written in 2014 at the Instit…
Holographic renormalization group flows can be interpreted in terms of effective field theory. Based on such an interpretation, a formula for the running scaling dimensions of gauge-invariant operators along such flows is proposed. The formula is checked for some simple examples from the AdS/CFT correspondence, but can be applied also in non-AdS/non-CFT cases.
We develop parallels between the holographic renormalization group in the bulk and the Wilsonian renormalization group in the dual field theory. Our philosophy differs from most previous work on the holographic RG; the most notable feature is the key role of multi-trace operators. We work out the forms of various single- and double-trace flows. The key question, `what cutoff on the field theory corresponds to a radial cutoff in the bulk?' is left unanswered, but by sharpening the analogy between the two sides we identify possible directions.
We construct a three-dimensional geometry interpolating two different AdS spaces. From the dual quantum field theory viewpoint, it corresponds to a nontrivial renormalization group flow from a UV to another IR conformal field theory. On this geometry, we discuss the change of the central charge in a momentum-space and real-space renormalization group flow. The result shows in both renormalization prescriptions that the central charge monotonically decreases along the renormalization group flow.
We look into the $AdS$ black holes from two-dimensional gravity perspective. In this work, we extend the previous results of holographic renormalization group flows to dimensions two. By introducing a superpotential, we derive the flow equations in two-dimensional dilaton gravity. We find a quantity which monotonically decreases along flows and give some comments on holographic $c$-theorem. As examples, we show that recently studied supersymmetric $AdS$ black hole solutions generically dimensionally reduce to two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and obtain the flow equations for black hole solutio…
We investigate the structure of holographic renormalization in the presence of sources for irrelevant operators. By working perturbatively in the sources we avoid issues related to the non-renormalizability of the dual field theory. We find new classes of divergences which appear to be non-local on the gravity side. However in all cases a systematic renormalization procedure exists involving either standard local counterterms or new counterterms which may be interpreted as multi-trace counterterms in the field theory. The multi-trace counterterms reflect a more intricate relation between sourc…
We study a mathematical relationship between holographic Wilsonian renormalization group and stochastic quantization framework. We extend the original proposal given in arXiv:1209.2242 to interacting theories. The original proposal suggests that fictitious time(or stochastic time) evolution of stochastic 2-point correlation function will be identical to the radial evolution of the double trace operator of certain classes of holographic models, which are free theories in AdS space. We study holographic gravity models with interactions in AdS space and establish a map between the holographic ren…
We extend the relation between stochstic quantization and Holographic Wilsonian Renormalization Group to the massive fermion case in Euclidean AdS space. The original suggestion about the explicit relation between the two theories is in arXiv:1209.2242. To give a fermion bulk action the Dirichlet boundary condition and the Neumann boundary condition, there are some additional terms to the bulk action. We have confirmed that the relation also hold for massive fermion case.
We investigate subregion holographic complexity in the context of renormalization group flow geometries. We use both the Poincaŕe slicing and the Janus ansatz as holographic duals to renormalization group flows in the boundary conformal field theory. In the former metric, subregion complexity is computed for a disc and a strip shaped entangling region. For the disc shaped region, consistent emergence of length scales for flow to the deep infra-red is established. For strip shaped regions, we find that complexity cannot locate holographic phase transitions in a sharp domain wall scenario. For s…
We have studied holographic Wilsonian renormalization group (HWRG) of free massless fermionic fields in AdS space and its stochastic quantization(SQ) by identifying the Euclidean action with its boundary on-shell action. The natural extension of the relation between stochastic 2-point correlation function and double trace coupling obtained from HWRG computation conjectured in arXiv:1209.2242 to fermionic fields is established. We have confirmed that the stochastic 2-point function precisely captures the radial flow of the double trace coupling via this relation.
Holographic renormalization is a systematic procedure for regulating divergences in observables in asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes. For dual boundary field theories which are supersymmetric it is natural to ask whether this defines a supersymmetric renormalization scheme. Recent results in localization have brought this question into sharp focus: rigid supersymmetry on a curved boundary requires specific geometric structures, and general arguments imply that BPS observables, such as the partition function, are invariant under certain deformations of these structures. One can then ask if …
A heavy quark moving through a strongly coupled deconfined plasma has a holographic dual description as a string moving in a black brane geometry. We apply the holographic Wilsonian renormalization method to derive a holographic effective string action dual to the heavy quark. The effective action only depends on the geometry between the black brane horizon and a cutoff localized in the radial direction, corresponding to the IR of the dual theory. We derive RG flow equations for the coefficients in the effective action and show that the force acting on the heavy quark is independent of the pos…
We study holographic renormalization for three dimensional new massive gravity (NMG). By studying the general fall off conditions for the metric allowed by the model at infinity, we show that at the critical point where the central charges of the dual CFT are zero it contains a leading logarithmic behavior. In the context of AdS/CFT correspondence it can be identified as a source for an irrelevant operator in the dual CFT. The presence of the logarithmic fall off may be interpreted as the fact that the dual CFT would be a LCFT.
We investigate the holographic renormalization of a charged black brane with or without a dilaton field, whose dual field theory describes a dense medium at finite temperature. In a dense medium, two different thermodynamic descriptions are possible due to an additional conserved charge. These two different thermodynamic ensembles are classified by the asymptotic boundary condition of the bulk gauge field. We show that in the holographic renormalization regularity of all bulk fields can reproduce consistent thermodynamic quantities and that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is nothing but the ren…
The Hamilton-Jacobi method in holography has produced important results both at a renormalization group (RG) fixed point and away from it. In this paper we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to compute the holographic trace anomaly for four- and six-dimensional boundary conformal field theories (CFTs), assuming higher-derivative gravity and interactions of scalar fields in the bulk. The scalar field contributions to the anomaly appear in CFTs with exactly marginal operators. Moving away from the fixed point, we show that the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism provides a deep connection between the holograp…
We study the holographic renormalization group (RG) flow in the presence of higher-order curvature corrections to the $(d+1)$-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert (EH) action for an arbitrary interacting scalar matter field by using the superpotential approach. We find the critical points of the RG flow near the local minima and maxima of the potential and show the existence of the bounce solutions. In contrast to the EH gravity, regarding the values of couplings of the bulk theory, superpotential may have both upper and lower bounds. Moreover, the behavior of the RG flow controls by singular curves. …
In this work, we present a holographic renormalization scheme for asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in which the dual renormalization scheme of the boundary field theory is dimensional regularization. This constitutes a new level of precision in the holographic dictionary and paves the way for the exact matching of scheme dependent quantities, such as holographic beta functions, with field theory computations. Furthermore, the renormalization procedure identifies a local source field which satisfies the equations of motion along renormalization group flows, resolving a long-standing puz…
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 doe…
The asymptotic behavior of new massive gravity (NMG) is analyzed for all values of the mass parameter satisfying the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. The traditional Fefferman-Graham expansion fails to capture the dynamics of NMG, and new terms in the asymptotic expansion are needed to include the massive graviton modes. New boundary conditions are discovered for a range of values $-1<2m^2l^2<1$ at which non-Einstein modes decay more slowly than the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions. The holographically renormalized stress tensor is computed for these modes, and the relevant counterterms are ide…
We obtain holographically renormalized boundary stress tensors with the emphasis on a special point in the parameter space of three dimensional new massive gravity, using the so-called Fefferman-Graham coordinates with relevant counter terms. Through the linearized equations of motion with a standard prescription, we also obtain correlators among these stress tensors. We argue that the self-consistency of holographic renormalization determines counter terms up to unphysical ambiguities. Using these renormalized stress tensors in Fefferman-Graham coordinates, we obtain the central charges of du…
Euclidean field theories admit more general deformations than usually discussed in quantum field theories because of mixing between rotational symmetry and internal symmetry (a.k.a topological twist). Such deformations may be relevant, and if the subsequent renormalization group flow leads to a non-trivial fixed point, it generically gives rise to a scale invariant Euclidean field theory without conformal invariance. Motivated by an ansatz studied in cosmological models some time ago, we develop a holographic dual description of such renormalization group flows in the context of AdS/CFT. We ar…
Holographic model of massive scalar field with its self-interaction $λϕ^n$ in AdS space is able to give a logarithmic scale dependence to marginal multi trace deformation couplings on its dual conformal field theory, where $λ$ is the self-interaction coupling of the scalar field, $ϕ$ and $n$ is an integral number. In arXiv:1501.06664, the authors realize this feature by looking at bulk scalar solutions near AdS boundary imposing a specific boundary condition between the coefficients of non-normalizable and normalizable modes of the scalar field excitations. We study the same holographic model …
We revisit the unparticle interactions and propagators from the AdS-CFT point of view, and we show how the contact terms and their renormalization group flow appear in the context of the holographic renormalization. We study both vector unparticles and unfermions, uncovering the relevant boundary conditions and renormalization group flows.
We study the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of effective mechanical actions associated with holographic renormalization group flows when the field theory is put on the sphere and mass terms are turned on. Although the system is supersymmetric and it is described by a superpotential, Hamilton's characteristic function is not readily given by the superpotential when the boundary of AdS is curved. We propose a method to construct the solution as a series expansion in scalar field degrees of freedom. The coefficients are functions of the warp factor to be determined by a differential equation one obt…
In AdS/CFT corresponding, the UV divergence of generating functional on the field theory can be removed as the IR divergence in the gravity. This geometric process is well known as holographic renormalization. The standard method of holographic renormalization is based on the Fefferman-Graham expansion, which is strict and universal but technically cumbersome. To improve the technique, different methods have been proposed. Here we develop an alternative approach to holographic renormalization based on the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of gravity. Compared to previous approaches, its distinguishi…
We develop a formalism with two different UV cutoff scales, one for space and one for time, appropriate for the richer structure of non-Lorentz invariant quantum field theories. In this formalism there are two different beta-functions for each coupling constant, arising from independent variations of the energy or momentum cutoffs. For holographic non-relativistic theories with rotational invariance, we develop the technique to calculate such beta-functions using a generalization of the superpotential formalism developed in [JHEP ${\bf 1208}$, 164 (2012)]. We then proceed and compute the beta-…
We study holographic renormalization of 3D minimal massive gravity using the Chern-Simons-like formulation of the model. We explicitly present Gibbons- Hawking term as well as all counterterms needed to make the action finite in terms of dreibein and spin-connection. This can be used to find correlation functions of stress tensor of holographic dual field theory.
We consider the real-time holography on Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) and more generally on Lifshitz spacetimes for spinorial fields. The equation of motion for fermions on general Lifshitz space is derived. Analytically solvable cases are identified. On AdS space we derived time-ordered, time-reversed, advanced and retarded propagators with the correct i ε-insertions. Using the Keldysh-Schwinger contour we also calculated a propagator on thermal AdS. For massless fermions on the Lifshitz spacetime with z=2 we calculated the Euclidean 2-point function and explored the structure of divergences of the on…
