A class of exact infinitesimal renormalization group transformations is proposed and studied. These transformations are pure changes of variables (i.e., no integration or elimination of some degrees of freedom is required) such that a saddle point approximation is more accurate, becoming, in some cases asymptotically exact as the transformations are iterated. The formalism provides a simplified and unified approach to several known renormalization groups. It also suggests some new ways in which renormalization group methods might successfully be applied. In particular, an exact gauge covariant renormalization group transformation is constructed. Solutions for a scalar field theory are obtained both as an expansion in ε=4-d and as an expansion in a single coupling constant.
This paper is a self contained review of the Loop Variable approach to string theory. The Exact Renormalization Group is applied to a world sheet theory describing string propagation in a general background involving both massless and massive modes. This gives interacting equations of motion for the modes of the string. Loop variable techniques are used to obtain gauge invariant equations. Since this method is not tied to flat space time or any particular background metric, it is manifestly background independent. The technique can be applied to both open and closed strings. Thus gauge invaria…
An exact renormalization group equation is written down for the world sheet theory describing the bosonic open string in general backgrounds. Loop variable techniques are used to make the equation gauge invariant. This is worked out explicitly up to level 3. The equation is quadratic in the fields and can be viewed as a proposal for a string field theory equation. As in the earlier loop variable approach, the theory has one extra space dimension and mass is obtained by dimensional reduction. Being based on the sigma model RG, it is background independent. It is intriguing that in contrast to B…
We present a possible approach to the study of the renormalization group (RG) flow based entirely on the information theory. The average information loss under a single step of Wilsonian RG transformation is evaluated as a conditional entropy of the fast variables, which are integrated out, when the slow ones are held fixed. Its positivity results in the monotonic decrease of the informational entropy under renormalization. This, however, does not necessarily imply the irreversibility of the RG flow, because the entropy explicitly depends on the total number of degrees of freedom, which is red…
We present a simple approximation of the non-perturbative renormalization group designed for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation and show that it yields the correct phase diagram, including the strong-coupling phase with reasonable scaling exponent values in physical dimensions. We find indications of a possible qualitative change of behavior around $d=4$. We discuss how our approach can be systematically improved.
The loop variable approach is a proposal for a gauge invariant generalization of the sigma-model renormalization group method of obtaining equations of motion in string theory. The basic guiding principle is space-time gauge invariance rather than world-sheet properties. In essence it is a version of Wilson's exact renormalization group equation for the world sheet theory. It involves all the massive modes and is defined with a finite world-sheet cutoff, which allows one to go off the mass-shell. On shell the tree amplitudes of string theory are reproduced. The equations are gauge invariant of…
Models of gravity with variable G and Lambda have acquired greater relevance after the recent evidence in favour of the Einstein theory being nonperturbatively renormalizable in the Weinberg sense. The present paper applies the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formalism to such a class of gravitational models. Are modified action functional is then built which reduces to the Einstein-Hilbert action when G is constant, and leads to a power-law growth of the scale factor for pure gravity and for a massless Phi**4 theory in a Universe with Robertson-Walker symmetry, in agreement with the recently deve…
We determine the effect on the computational complexity of a conformal anomaly using the Complexity=Action prescription of the gauge/gravity correspondence. To allow the involvement of said anomaly, we extend previous studies to include arbitrary values for the anisotropic parameter and the magnetic field respectively on the Mateos-Trancanelli and the D'Hoker-Kraus holographic models. Our main result is that the rate of change of the computational complexity is independent of the conformal anomaly in both cases. In addition, this allows us to also show that, if so desired, the saturation of Ll…
Renormalization group in the internal space consists of the gradual change of the coupling constants. Functional evolution equations corresponding to the change of the mass or the coupling constant are presented in the framework of a scalar model. The evolution in the mass which yields the functional generalization of the Callan-Symanzik equation for the one-particle irreducible effective action is given in its renormalized, cutoff-independent form. The evolution of the coupling constant generates an evolution equation for the two-particle irreducible effective action.
We clarify the notion of Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) invariance in supersymmetric gauge theories, which states that the low-energy physics can be kept fixed when one changes the ultraviolet cutoff, provided appropriate changes are made to the bare coupling constants in the Lagrangian. We first pose a puzzle on how a quantum modified constraint (such as Pf(Q^i Q^j) = Λ^{2(N+1)} in SP(N) theories with N+1 flavors) can be RG invariant, since the bare fields Q^i receive wave function renormalization when one changes the ultraviolet cutoff, while we naively regard the scale Λas RG invarian…
In all nontrivial cases renormalization, as it is usually formulated, is not a change of integration variables in the functional integral, plus parameter redefinitions, but a set of replacements, of actions and/or field variables and parameters. Because of this, we cannot write simple identities relating bare and renormalized generating functionals, or generating functionals before and after nonlinear changes of field variables. In this paper we investigate this issue and work out a general field-covariant approach to quantum field theory, which allows us to treat all perturbative changes of f…
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.
In the present article we analyze Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group flow equations in the order phase of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ and $O(N)$ invariant scalar models in the derivative expansion approximation scheme. We first address the behavior of the leading order approximation (LPA), discussing for which regulators the flow is smooth and gives a convex free energy and when it becomes singular. We improve the exact known solutions in the "internal" region of the potential and exploit this solution in order to implement a numerical algorithm that is much more stable that previous ones for $N>1$. Af…
Motivated by the renormalization group (RG) approach to $c=0$ matrix model of Breźin and Zinn-Justin, we develop a RG scheme for $c=1$ matrix model on a circle and analyze how the two coupling constants in double scaling limit with critical exponent flow with the change in length scale. The RG flow equations produce a non-trivial fixed point with the correct string susceptibility exponent and the expected logarithmic scaling violation of the $c=1$ theory. The change of world-sheet free energy with length scale indicates a sign change as we increase the temperature, indicating a phase transitio…
We formulate the Exact Renormalization Group on the string world sheet for closed string backgrounds. The same techniques that were used for open strings is used here. There are some subtleties. One is that holomorphic factorization of the closed string vertex operators does not hold in the presence of a cutoff on the Euclidean world sheet. This introduces extra terms in the Lagrangian at the cutoff scale and they turn out to be crucial for implementing gauge invariance. This naive generalization from open string to closed strings requires a {\em massive} graviton and the gauge symmetry is Abe…
We obtain the renormalization group(RG) functions for the massless scalar field theory where symmetry breaking occurs radiatively. After obtaining the effective potential for the radiative symmetry breaking scheme from that of the minimal subtraction(MS) scheme by finite transformations for the classical field and coupling constant, we calculate the corresponding change of the RG functions.
We introduce a simple instance of the renormalization group transformation in the Banach space of probability densities. By changing the scaling of the renormalized variables we obtain, as fixed points of the transformation, the Lévy strictly stable laws. We also investigate the behavior of the transformation around these fixed points and the domain of attraction for different values of the scaling parameter. The physical interest of a renormalization group approach to the generalized central limit theorem is discussed.
Similarity renormalization group procedure identifies the role of bound states in the low-energy rate of change of effective coupling constant in a model Hamiltonian with asymptotic freedom.
The flow of the action induced by changing $N$ is computed in large $N$ matrix models. It is shown that the change in the action is non-analytic. This non-analyticity appears at the origin of the space of matrices if the action is even.
In arXiv:1202.4298 gauge invariant interacting equations were writ- ten down for the spin 2 and spin 3 massive modes using the exact renor- malization group of a world sheet theory. This is generalized to all the higher levels in this paper. An interacting theory of an infinite tower of massive higher spins is obtained. They appear as a compactification of a massless theory in one higher dimension. The compactification and consequent mass is essential for writing the interaction terms. Just as for spin 2 and spin 3, the interactions are in terms of gauge invariant field strengths and the gauge…
The properties of strongly gravitating systems suggest that field theory overcounts the states of a system. Reducing the number of degrees of freedom, without abandoning the notion of effective field theory, may be achieved through a connection between the ultraviolet and infrared cutoffs. We provide an implementation of this idea within the Wilsonian approach to the renormalization group. We derive an exact flow equation that describes the evolution of the effective action. We discuss the implications for the existence of infrared fixed points and the running of couplings. We also give an alt…
The stability conditions of a renormalization group improved effective potential have been discussed in the case of scalar QED and QCD with a colorless scalar. We calculate the same potential in these models assuming the existence of non-perturbative fixed points associated to a conformal phase. In the case of scalar QED the barrier of instability found previously is barely displaced as we approach the fixed point, and in the case of QCD with a colorless scalar not only the barrier is changed but the local minimum of the potential is also changed.
We study response of liquid to a scale transformation, which generates a change of the liquid density, and obtain a set of differential equations for correlation functions. The set of equations, which we call density renormalization group equations (DRGEs), is similar to the BBGKY hierarchy as it relates different multiple-point correlation functions. In particular, we derive DRGEs for one-particle irreducible vertex functions of liquid by performing Legendre transformations, which enables us to calculate properties of liquid at higher density in terms of correlation functions at lower density…
The coarse-graining operation in hydrodynamics is equivalent to a change of scale which can be formalized as a renormalization group transformation. In particular, its application to the probability distribution of a self-gravitating fluid yields an "exact renormalization group equation" of Fokker-Planck type. Since the time evolution of that distribution can also be described by a Fokker-Planck equation, we propose a connection between both equations, that is, a connection between scale and time evolution. We finally remark on the essentially non-perturbative nature of astrophysical problems,…
A convincing explanation for the nature of the dark energy and dark matter is still missing. In recent works a RG-improved swiss-cheese cosmology with an evolving cosmological constant dependent on the \sch radius has been proven to be a promising model to explain the observed cosmic acceleration. In this work we extend this model to consider the combined scaling of the Newton constant $G$ and the cosmological constant $Λ$ according to the IR-fixed point hypothesis. We shall show that our model easily generates the observed recent passage from deceleration to acceleration without need of extra…
We define the renormalization group flow for a renormalizable interacting quantum field in curved spacetime via its behavior under scaling of the spacetime metric, $\g \to λ^2 \g$. We consider explicitly the case of a scalar field, $ϕ$, with a self-interaction of the form $κϕ^4$, although our results should generalize straightforwardly to other renormalizable theories. We construct the interacting field--as well as its Wick powers and their time-ordered-products--as formal power series in the algebra generated by the Wick powers and time-ordered-products of the free field, and we determine the…
We incorporate running parameters and anomalous dimensions into the framework of the exact renormalization group. We modify the exact renormalization group differential equations for a real scalar field theory, using the anomalous dimensions of the squared mass and the scalar field. Following a previous paper in which an integral equation approach to the exact renormalization group was introduced, we reformulate the modified differential equations as integral equations that define the continuum limit directly in terms of a running squared mass and self-coupling constant. Universality of the co…
It is shown that the renormalization group (RG) equation in QED can only describe the finite size effects of the system. The RG equation is originated from the response of the renormalized coupling constant for the change of the system size $L$. The application of the RG equation to the continuum limit treatment of the lattice gauge theory, therefore, does not make sense, and the well-known unphysical result of the lattice gauge theory with Wilson's action cannot be remedied any more.
This paper aims at presenting the first steps towards a formulation of the Exact Renormalization Group Equation in the Hopf algebra setting of Connes and Kreimer. It mostly deals with some algebraic preliminaries allowing to formulate perturbative renormalization within the theory of differential equations. The relation between renormalization, formulated as a change of boundary condition for a differential equation, and an algebraic Birkhoff decomposition for rooted trees is explicited.
A renormalization group flow equation with a scale-dependent transformation of field variables gives a unified description of fundamental and composite degrees of freedom. In the context of the effective average action, we study the renormalization flow of scalar bound states which are formed out of fundamental fermions. We use the gauged Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model at weak gauge coupling as an example. Thereby, the notions of bound state or fundamental particle become scale dependent, being classified by the fixed-point structure of the flow of effective couplings.
Given a renormalization scheme of QCD, one can define a mass scale $Λ_{\rm QCD}$ in terms of the beta function. Under a change of the renormalization scheme, however, $Λ_{\rm QCD}$ changes by a multiplicative constant. We introduce a scheme independent $Λ_{\rm QCD}$ using a connection on the space of the coupling constant.
Using the exact renormalization group (ERG) formalism, we study the gauge invariant composite operators in QED. Gauge invariant composite operators are introduced as infinitesimal changes of the gauge invariant Wilson action. We examine the dependence on the gauge fixing parameter of both the Wilson action and gauge invariant composite operators. After defining ``gauge fixing parameter independence,'' we show that any gauge independent composite operators can be made ``gauge fixing parameter independent'' by appropriate normalization. As an application, we give a concise but careful proof of t…
We examine whether renormalization effects can cause Newton's constant to change dramatically with energy, perhaps even reducing the scale of quantum gravity to the TeV region without the introduction of extra dimensions. We examine a model that realizes this possibility and describe experimental signatures from production of small black holes.
The renormalization group (RG) properties of quantum gravity are explored, using the vielbein and the spin connection as the fundamental field variables. The scale dependent effective action is required to be invariant both under space time diffeomorphisms and local frame rotations. The nonperturbative RG equation is solved explicitly on the truncated theory space defined by a three parameter family of Holst-type actions which involve a running Immirzi parameter. We find evidence for the existence of an asymptotically safe fundamental theory, probably inequivalent to metric quantum gravity con…
Within the framework of exact renormalization group flow equations, a scale-dependent transformation of the field variables provides for a continuous translation of UV to IR degrees of freedom. Using the gauged NJL model as an example, this translation results in a construction of partial bosonization at all scales. A fixed-point structure arises which makes it possible to distinguish between fundamental-particle and bound-state behavior of the scalar fields.
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, …
The density matrix renormalization group is applied to a relativistic complex scalar field at finite chemical potential. The two-point function and various bulk quantities are studied. It is seen that bulk quantities do not change with the chemical potential until it is larger than the minimum excitation energy. The technical limitations of the density matrix renormalization group for treating bosons in relativistic field theories are discussed. Applications to other relativistic models and to nontopological solitons are also suggested.
It has been conjectured in the literature that renormalizability of the $θ$-expanded noncommutative gauge theories improves when one takes into account full nonuniqueness of the Seiberg-Witten expansion, which relates noncommutative (`high-energy') with commutative (`low-energy') fields. In order to check this conjecture we analyze renormalizability of the noncommutative chiral electrodynamics: we quantize the action which contains all possible terms implied by the SW map. After renormalization we arrive at a different theory in which the relation between the coupling constants is changed. Thi…
A scalar theory can have many Gaussian (free) fixed points, corresponding to Lagrangians of the form $ϕ\,\Box^kϕ$. We use the non-perturbative RG to study examples of flows between such fixed points. We show that the anomalous dimension changes continuously in such a way that at the endpoints the fields have the correct dimensions of the respective free theories. These models exhibit various pathologies, but are nonetheless interesting as examples of theories that are asymptotically free both in the infrared and in the ultraviolet. Furthermore, they illustrate the fact that a diverging couplin…
The exact renormalization group is applied to the world sheet theory describing bosonic open string backgrounds to obtain the equations of motion for the fields of the open string. Using loop variable techniques the equations can be constructed to be gauge invariant. Furthermore they are valid off the (free) mass shell. This requires keeping a finite cutoff. Thus we have the interesting situation of a scale invariant world sheet theory with a finite world sheet cutoff. This is possible because there are an infinite number of operators whose coefficients can be tuned. This is in the same sense …
Recently a model, which is equivalent to the scalar form of Gursey model, is shown to be a nontrivial field theoretical model when it is gauged with a SU(N) field. In this paper we study another model that is equivalent to the vector form of the Gursey model. We get a trivial theory when it is coupled with a scalar field. This result changes drastically when it is coupled with an additional SU(N) field. We find a nontrivial field theoretical model under certain conditions.
Renormalization group limit cycles may be a commonplace for quantum Hamiltonians requiring renormalization, in contrast to experience to date with classical models of critical points, where fixed points are far more common. We discuss the simplest model Hamiltonian identified to date that exhibits a renormalization group limit cycle. The model is a discrete Hamiltonian with two coupling constants and a non-perturbative renormalization group that involves changes in only one of these couplings and is soluble analytically. The Hamiltonian is the discrete analog to a continuum Hamiltonian previou…
In this paper we work out the explicit form of the change of variables that reproduces an arbitrary change of gauge in a higher-order Lagrangian formalism.
Superconformal change of variables formulas for N=1 Neveu-Schwarz vertex operator superalgebras are presented for general invertible superconformal changes of variables. Using the underlying worldsheet supergeometry of propagating superstrings, geometric proofs of the change of variables formulas are given for the case of convergent superconformal changes of variables. More general formal algebraic proofs of the change of variables formulas in the case of formal superconformal changes of variables are then given. Finally, isomorphic families of N=1 NS-VOSAs are derived from the superconformal …
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…
A system of electrons in the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice with Coulomb interactions is described by a renormalizable quantum field theory similar but not equal to QED_3. Renormalization group techniques are used to investigate the infrared behaviour of the system that flows to a fixed point with non-Fermi liquid characteristics. There are anomalous dimensions in the fermionic observables, no quasiparticle pole, and anomalous screening of the Coulomb interaction. These results are robust as the Fermi level is not changed by the interaction. The system resembles in the infrared the one-dime…
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…
We derive an exact functional renormalization group equation for the projectable version of Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. The flow equation encodes the gravitational degrees of freedom in terms of the lapse function, shift vector and spatial metric and is manifestly invariant under background foliation-preserving diffeomorphisms. Its relation to similar flow equations for gravity in the metric formalism is discussed in detail, and we argue that the space of action functionals, invariant under the full diffeomorphism group, forms a subspace of the latter invariant under renormalization group transfo…
Quantum field theories require a cutoff to regulate divergences that result from local interactions, and yet physical results can not depend on the value of this cutoff. The renormalization group employs a transformation that changes the cutoff to isolate hamiltonians that produce cutoff-independent eigenvalues. The similarity renormalization group is based on similarity transformations that regulate off-diagonal matrix elements, forcing the hamiltonian towards a band-diagonal form as the cutoff is lowered. This avoids pathologies that plagued tradition transformations acting on hamiltonians, …
We construct the general partial wave amplitude basis for the $N\to M$ scattering, which consists of Poincaré Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, with Lorentz invariant forms given in terms of 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 fo…
We study the renormalization group flow in weak power counting (WPC) renormalizable theories. The latter are theories which, after being formulated in terms of certain variables, display only a finite number of independent divergent amplitudes order by order in the loop expansion. Using as a toolbox the well-known SU(2) non linear sigma model, we prove that for such theories a renormalization group equation holds that does not violate the WPC condition: that is, the sliding of the scale $μ$ for physical amplitudes can be reabsorbed by a suitable set of finite counterterms arising at the loop o…
We continue the study of the renormalization group and decoupling of massive fields in curved space, started in the previous article and analyse the higher derivative sector of the vacuum metric-dependent action of the Standard Model. The QCD sector at low-energies is described in terms of the composite effective fields. For fermions and scalars the massless limit shows perfect correspondence with the conformal anomaly, but similar limit in a massive vector case requires an extra compensating scalar. In all three cases the decoupling goes smoothly and monotonic. A particularly interesting case…
We explore entanglement loss along renormalization group trajectories as a basic quantum information property underlying their irreversibility. This analysis is carried out for the quantum Ising chain as a transverse magnetic field is changed. We consider the ground-state entanglement between a large block of spins and the rest of the chain. Entanglement loss is seen to follow from a rigid reordering, satisfying the majorization relation, of the eigenvalues of the reduced density matrix for the spin block. More generally, our results indicate that it may be possible to prove the irreversibilit…
Functional conjugation methods are used to analyze the global structure of various renormalization group trajectories, and to gain insight into the interplay between continuous and discrete rescaling. With minimal assumptions, the methods produce continuous flows from step-scaling σ functions, and lead to exact functional relations for the local flow β functions, whose solutions may have novel, exotic features, including multiple branches. As a result, fixed points of σ are sometimes not true fixed points under continuous changes in scale, and zeroes of β do not necessarily signal fixed points…
