We discuss the relation between functional renormalization group (FRG) and local renormalization group (LRG), focussing on the two dimensional case as an example. We show that away from criticality the Wess-Zumino action is described by a derivative expansion with coefficients naturally related to RG quantities. We then demonstrate that the Weyl consistency conditions derived in the LRG approach are equivalent to the RG equation for the $c$-function available in the FRG scheme. This allows us to give an explicit FRG representation of the Zamolodchikov-Osborn metric, which in principle can be used for computations.
We reanalyze the construction of the gravitational functional renormalization group equation tailored to the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formulation emphasizing its connection to the covariant formulation. The results obtained from projecting the renormalization group flow onto the Einstein-Hilbert action are reviewed in detail and we provide a novel example illustrating how the formalism may be connected to the Causal Dynamical Triangulations approach to quantum gravity.
Wetterich's equation provides a powerful tool for investigating the existence and universal properties of renormalization group fixed points exhibiting quantum scale invariance. Motivated by recent works on asymptotically safe scalar-tensor theories, we develop a novel approximation scheme which projects the functional renormalization group equation onto functions of the kinetic term. Applying this projection to scalars and gauge fields, our analysis identifies a new universality class with a very special spectrum of stability coefficients. The implications of our findings in the context of as…
Searching for new non-perturbatively renormalizable quantum gravity theories, functional renormalization group (RG) flows are studied on a theory space of action functionals depending on the metric and the torsion tensor, the latter parameterized by three irreducible component fields. A detailed comparison with Quantum Einstein-Cartan Gravity (QECG), Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG), and "tetrad-only" gravity, all based on different theory spaces, is performed. It is demonstrated that, over a generic theory space, the construction of a functional RG equation (FRGE) for the effective average acti…
We construct a new version of the effective average action together with its flow equation. The construction entails in particular the consistency of fluctuation field and background field equations of motion, even for finite renormalization group scales. Here we focus on the quantum gravity application, while the generalization of this idea to gauge theories is obvious. Our approach has immediate impact on the background field approximation, which is the most prominent approximation scheme within the asymptotic safety scenario. We outline the calculation of quantum gravity observables from fi…
At criticality, discrete quantum-gravity models are expected to give rise to continuum spacetime. Recent progress has established the functional renormalization group method in the context of such models as a practical tool to study their critical properties and to chart their phase diagrams. Here, we apply these techniques to the multi-matrix model with $ABAB$-interaction potentially relevant for Lorentzian quantum gravity in 3 dimensions. We characterize the fixed-point structure and phase diagram of this model, paving the way for functional RG studies of more general multi-matrix or tensor …
The gravitational asymptotic safety program envisions a high-energy completion of the gravitational interactions by an interacting renormalization group fixed point, the Reuter fixed point. The primary tool for investigating this scenario are functional renormalization group equations, foremost the Wetterich equation. This equation implements the idea of the Wilsonian renormalization group by integrating out quantum fluctuations shell-by-shell in momentum space and gives access to the theory's renormalization group flow beyond the realm of perturbation theory. This chapter gives a pedagogical …
The gauge dependence problem of the effective action for general gauge theories in the framework of a modified functional renormalization group approach proposed recently is studied. It is shown that the effective action remains gauge-dependent on-shell.
We prove that the functional renormalization group flow equation admits a perturbative solution and show explicitly the scheme transformation that relates it to the standard schemes of perturbation theory. We then define a universal scheme within the functional renormalization group.
We study the quantum gravitational system coupled to a charged scalar, Dirac fermions, and electromagnetic fields. We use the "exact" or "functional" renormalization group equation to derive the effective action $Γ_0$ by integrating the flow equation from the ultraviolet scale down to $k=0$. The resulting effective action consists of local terms and nonlocal terms with unique coefficients.
Motivated by the construction of the cMERA for interacting field theories, we derive a non-perturbative functional differential equation for wave functionals in scalar field theories from the exact renormalization group equation. We check the validity of the equation using the perturbation theory. We calculate the wave functional up to the first-order perturbation and verify that it satisfies the equation.
We study higher derivative extension of the functional renormalization group (FRG). We consider FRG equations for a scalar field that consist of terms with higher functional derivatives of the effective action and arbitrary cutoff functions. We show that the epsilon expansion around the Wilson-Fisher fixed point is indeed reproduced by the local potential approximation of the FRG equations.
We apply the functional renormalization group equation to a massive Fierz-Pauli action in curved space and find that, even though a massive term is a modification in the infrared sector, the mass term modifies the value of the non-gaussian fixed point in the UV sector.We obtained the beta function for the scale dependent mass parameter and found that the massive Fierz-Pauli case still seems to be an asymptotically safe theory.
We formulate a perturbation expansion for the effective action in a new approach to the functional renormalization group method based on the concept of composite fields for regulator functions being their most essential ingredients. We demonstrate explicitly the principal difference between the properties of effective actions in these two approaches existing already on the one-loop level in a simple gauge model.
The running of the non-minimal parameter (ξ) of the interaction of the real scalar field and scalar curvature is explored within the non-perturbative setting of the functional renormalization group (RG). We establish the RG flow in curved space-time in the scalar field sector, in particular derive an equation for the non-minimal parameter. The RG trajectory is numerically explored for different sets of initial data.
We apply the functional renormalization group approach to a $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge model with one chiral superfield coupled to a vector $U(1)$ superfield. We find that the nonrenormalization theorem still works at leading order in the supercovariant derivative expansion of the fields. We also find the beta functions and we study the behavior of its fixed points in the local potential approximation. Regulators are also discussed.
Working with scalar field theories, we discuss choices of regulator that, inserted in the functional renormalization group equation, reproduce the results of dimensional regularization at one and two loops. The resulting flow equations can be seen as nonperturbative extensions of the $\overline{\text{MS}}\,$ scheme. We support this claim by recovering all the multicritical models in two dimensions. We discuss a possible generalization to any dimension. Finally, we show that the method also preserves nonlinearly realized symmetries, which is a definite advantage with respect to other regulators…
We discuss a method to analytically continue functional renormalization group equations from imaginary Matsubara frequencies to the real frequency axis. In this formalism, we investigate the analytic structure of the flowing action and the propagator for a theory of scalar fields with $O(N)$ symmetry. We go on to show how it is possible to derive and solve flow equations for real-time properties such as particle decay widths. Our treatment is fully Lorentz-invariant and enables an improved, self-consistent derivative expansion in Minkowski space.
The existence of an U(2)xU(2)-symmetric fixed point in the chiral linear sigma model is confirmed using the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG). Its stability properties and the implications for the order of the chiral phase transition of two-flavor quantum chromodynamics (QCD) are discussed. Furthermore, several technical conclusions are drawn from the comparison with the results of resummed loop expansions.
We compute the low-energy limit of the $O(4)$-symmetric quark-meson model as an effective field theory for Quantum Chromodynamics within the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG) approach. In particular, we analyze the renormalization group flow of momentum-dependent pion self-interactions beyond the local potential approximation. The numerical results for these couplings obtained from the FRG are confronted with a recent tree-level study. Additionally, their effect on the wave-function renormalization and the curvature masses is investigated.
We study non-linear sigma models on target manifolds with constant (positive or negative) curvature using the functional renormalization group and the background field method. We pay particular attention to the splitting Ward identities associated to the invariance under reparametrization of the background field. Implementing these Ward identities imposes to use the curvature as a formal expansion parameter, which allows us to close the flow equation of the (scale-dependent) effective action consistently to first order in the curvature. We shed new light on previous work using the background f…
Interactions growing slower than a certain exponential of the square of a scalar field, are well behaved when evolved under the functional renormalization group linearised around the Gaussian fixed point. They satisfy properties usually taken for granted, and reproduce standard perturbative quantisation. However, ever more challenging effects appear the more interactions grow faster than this. We show explicitly that firstly the flow no longer splits uniquely into operators of definite scaling dimension; then (linearised) flows to the infrared can end prematurely in a singularity; and finally …
This paper is focused on the functional renormalization group applied to the $T_5^6$ tensor model on the Abelian group $U(1)$ with closure constraint. For the first time, we derive the flow equations for the couplings and mass parameters in a suitable truncation around the marginal interactions with respect to the perturbative power counting. For the second time, we study the behavior around the Gaussian fixed point, and show that the theory is nonasymptotically free. Finally, we discuss the UV completion of the theory. We show the existence of several nontrivial fixed points, study the behavi…
The Lifshitz critical behavior for a single component field theory is studied for the specific isotropic case in the framework of the Functional Renormalization Group. Lifshitz fixed point solutions of the flow equation, derived by using a Proper Time regulator, are searched at lowest and higher order in the derivative expansion. Solutions are found when the number of spatial dimensions d is contained within the interval 5.5 < d < 8.
We investigate the massive Schwinger model in $d=1+1$ dimensions using bosonization and the nonperturbative functional renormalization group. In agreement with previous studies we find that the phase transition, driven by a change of the ratio $m/e$ between the mass and the charge of the fermions, belongs to the two-dimensional Ising universality class. The temperature and vacuum angle dependence of various physical quantities (chiral density, electric field, entropy density) are also determined and agree with results obtained from density matrix renormalization group studies. Screening of fra…
The gauge dependence problem of alternative flow equation for the functional renormalization group is studied. It is shown that the effective two-particle irreducible effective action depends on gauges at any value of IR parameter $k$. The situation with gauge dependence is similar to the standard formulation based on the effective one-particle irreducible effective action.
The non-perturbative functional renormalization group equation depends on the choice of a regulator function, whose main properties are a "coarse-graining scale" $k$ and an overall dimensionless amplitude $a$. In this paper we shall discuss the limit $a\to0$ with $k$ fixed. This limit is closely related to the pseudo-regulator that reproduces the beta functions of the $\overline{\text{MS}}\,$ scheme, that we studied in a previous paper. It is not suitable for precision calculations but it appears to be useful to eliminate the spurious breaking of symmetries by the regulator, both for nonlinear…
Deriving accurate energy density functional is one of the central problems in condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, and quantum chemistry. We propose a novel method to deduce the energy density functional by combining the idea of the functional renormalization group and the Kohn-Sham scheme in density functional theory. The key idea is to solve the renormalization group flow for the effective action decomposed into the mean-field part and the correlation part. Also, we propose a simple practical method to quantify the uncertainty associated with the truncation of the correlation part. By …
Techniques based on $n$-particle irreducible effective actions can be used to study systems where perturbation theory does not apply. The main advantage, relative to other non-perturbative continuum methods, is that the hierarchy of integral equations that must be solved truncates at the level of the action, and no additional approximations are needed. The main problem with the method is renormalization, which until now could only be done at the lowest ($n$=2) level. In this paper we show how to obtain renormalized results from an $n$-particle irreducible effective action at any order. We cons…
Functional Renormalization Group Flows and Gauge Consistency in QED
Niigata Polytechnic College（新潟工业短期大学）；Faculty of Education, Niigata University（新潟大学教育学部）；Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg（海德堡大学理论物理研究所）
In this paper we propose a method to study the Functional Renormalization Group at finite chemical potential. The method consists of mapping the FRG equations within the Fermi surface into a differential equation defined on a rectangle with zero boundary conditions. To solve this equation we use an expansion of the potential in a harmonic basis. With this method we determined the phase diagram of a simple Yukawa-type model; as expected, the bosonic fluctuations decrease the strength of the transition.
The $SU(2)_A \times U(2)_V$-symmetric chiral linear sigma model in the presence of the axial anomaly is studied in the local-potential approximation of the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG). The renormalization group (RG) flow is investigated in a truncation which reproduces recent results for the $U(2)_A \times U(2)_V$-symmetric model in the limit of vanishing axial anomaly strength. We search for the conjectured O(4) fixed point in the presence of the $U(1)_A$ anomaly and analyze its stability properties.
We present a method to calculate short-time non-equilibrium universal exponents within the functional renormalization-group scheme. As an example, we consider the classical critical dynamics of the relaxational model A after a quench of the temperature of the system and calculate the initial slip exponent which characterizes the non-equilibrium universal short-time behaviour of both the order parameter and correlation functions. The value of this exponent is found to be consistent with the result of a perturbative dimensional expansion and of Monte Carlo simulations in three spatial dimensions…
We show an application of the functional-renormalization-group aided density functional theory to the homogeneous electron gas with arbitrary spin polarization, which gives the energy density functional in the local spin density approximation. The correlation energy per particle is calculated at arbitrary Wigner-Seitz radius $ r_{\rm s} $ and spin polarization $ ζ$. In the high-density region, our result shows good agreement with Monte Carlo (MC) data. The agreement with MC data is better in the case of small spin polarization, while the discrepancy increases as the spin polarization increases…
