We consider the vacuum partition function of a 4d scalar QFT in a curved background as function of bare marginal and relevant couplings. A local UV cutoff $Λ(x)$ transforming under Weyl rescalings allows to construct Weyl invariant kinetic terms including Wilsonian cutoff functions. The local cutoff can be absorbed completely by a rescaling of the metric and the bare couplings. The vacuum partition function satisfies consistency conditions which follow from the Abelian nature of local redefinitions of the cutoff, and which differ from Weyl rescalings. These imply a gradient flow for beta functions describing the cutoff dependence of rescaled bare couplings. The consistency conditions allow to satisfy all but one Hamiltonian constraints required for a holographic description of the flow of bare couplings with the cutoff.
The cutoff scheme dependence in the several formulations of the Exact Renormalization Group (ERG) is investigated. It is shown that the cutoff scheme dependence of the Wilsonian effective action is regarded as a certain coordinate transformation on the theory space. From this observation the Wilsonian effective actions are found to suffer from strong dependence on the schemes even in the infra-red asymptotic region for massive theories. However there is no such scheme dependence in the one particle irreducible parts of them, which is called the effective average actions. We also derive the exp…
A local UV cutoff $Λ(x)$ transforming under Weyl rescalings allows to construct Weyl invariant kinetic terms for scalar fields including Wilsonian cutoff functions. First we consider scalar fields in curved space-time with local bare couplings of any canonical dimension, and anomalous dimensions which describe their dependence on the UV cutoff. The local component of the UV cutoff plays the role of an additional coupling, albeit with a trivial constant $β$ function. This approach allows to derive Weyl consistency conditions for the corresponding anomalous dimensions which assume the form of an…
We consider a functional relation between a given Wilsonian 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 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.
We generalize the $T\overline{T}$ deformation of CFT$_2$ to higher-dimensional large-$N$ CFTs, and show that in holographic theories, the resulting effective field theory matches semiclassical gravity in AdS with a finite radial cutoff. We also derive the deformation dual to arbitrary bulk matter theories. Generally, the deformations involve background fields as well as CFT operators. By keeping track of these background fields along the flow, we demonstrate how to match correlation functions on the two sides in some simple examples, as well as other observables.
In this article we study large central charge partition function and entanglement entropy of $T\bar{T}$ deformed two dimensional conformal field theory, following the approach to $T\bar{T}$ deformation as integrated infinitesimal double trace deformation used by Guica et al.. For sphere partition function and entanglement entropy of half great circle with antipodal points being the entangling surface, we obtain different results compared to previous works, with more reasonable CFT limits and qualitatively different behaviour as the deformation parameter $μ$ goes to infinity, which contradicts …
The problem of gravitational fluctuations confined inside a finite cutoff at radius $r=r_c$ outside the horizon in a general class of black hole geometries is considered. Consistent boundary conditions at both the cutoff surface and the horizon are found and the resulting modes analyzed. For general cutoff $r_c$ the dispersion relation is shown at long wavelengths to be that of a linearized Navier-Stokes fluid living on the cutoff surface. A cutoff-dependent line-integral formula for the diffusion constant $D(r_c)$ is derived. The dependence on $r_c$ is interpreted as renormalization group (RG…
In the functional renormalisation group approach to gauge theory, the Ward-Takahashi identity is modified due to the presence of an infrared cutoff term. It take the most accessible form for the Wilsonian effective action. In the present work we solve these identities, partially, for the Wilson effective action of QED. In particular, we compute the longitudinal part of the photon two point vertex function as a momentum- dependent function in the presence of the cutoff k. The resultant Wilsonian effective action carries form factors that originate from the modified Ward-Takahashi identity. We s…
Drawing on analogies with the commutative case, the Wilsonian picture of renormalization is developed for noncommutative scalar field theory. The dimensionful noncommutativity parameter, theta, induces several new features. Fixed-points are replaced by `floating-points' (actions which are scale independent only up to appearances of theta written in cutoff units). Furthermore, it is found that one must use correctly normalized operators, with respect to a new scalar product, to define the right notion of relevance and irrelevance. In this framework it is straightforward and intuitive to reprodu…
Inspired by holographic Wilsonian renormalization, we propose a novel perspective on the low-energy effective actions of confining gauge theories with gravity duals. By identifying the IR-boundary value of a certain bulk field as overlapping with the lightest mode of the field theory, we derive its on-shell effective action by integrating over the rest of the geometry. We illustrate the details of this formalism by computing chiral Lagrangian coefficients in a simple AdS/QCD toy model, finding agreement with previous results. At higher orders we obtain new results in that model, including a cl…
We show how the $T^2$ deformation of large $N$, holographic conformal field theories arise from coupling them to the quadratic mass term of ghost-free massive gravity. We then show that in a certain approximation, the equations arising from the variation of the background frame field are those of the Randall--Sundrum II scenario.
We propose the holographic principle as a dynamical cutoff for any quantum theory of gravity with a geometric description at low energies, incorporating ideas of effective field theory. We illustrate the proposal by revisiting the problem of defining a measure for homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes coupled to a scalar field and conclude by discussing the implications to the inflationary model.
The holographic entanglement entropy is computed for an entangling surface that coincides with the horizon of a boundary de Sitter metric. This is achieved through an appropriate slicing of anti-de Sitter space and the implementation of a UV cutoff. The entropy is equal to the Wald entropy for an effective action that includes the higher-curvature terms associated with the conformal anomaly. The UV cutoff can be expressed in terms of the effective Planck mass and the number of degrees of freedom of the dual theory. The entanglement entropy takes the expected form of the de Sitter entropy, incl…
We examine the precise connection between the exact renormalisation group with local couplings and the renormalisation of correlation functions of composite operators in scale-invariant theories. A geometric description of theory space allows us to select convenient non-linear parametrisations that serve different purposes. First, we identify normal parameters in which the renormalisation group flows take their simplest form; normal correlators are defined by functional differentiation with respect to these parameters. The renormalised correlation functions are given by the continuum limit of …
Motivated by recent works on the role of the Holographic principle in cosmology, we relate a class of second order Ricci invariants to the IR cutoff characterizing the holographic Dark Energy density. The choice of second order invariants provides an invariant way to account the problem of causality for the correct cosmological cutoff, since the presence of event horizons is not an \emph{a priori} assumption. We find that these models work fairly well, by fitting the observational data, through a combined cosmological test with the use of SNeIa, BAO and CMB. This class of models is also able t…
Unrenormalizable theories contain infinitely many free parameters. Considering these theories in terms of the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG), we suggest a method for removing this large ambiguity. Our basic assumption is the existence of the maximal ultraviolet cutoff in a cutoff theory, and we require that the theory be so fine-tuned as to reach the maximal cutoff. The theory so obtained behaves as a local continuum theory to the shortest distance. In concrete examples of the scalar theory we find that at least in a certain approximation to the Wilsonian RG, this requirement enable us t…
Starting from a full renormalised trajectory for the effective average action (a.k.a. infrared cutoff Legendre effective action) $Γ_k$, we explicitly reconstruct corresponding bare actions, formulated in one of two ways. The first step is to construct the corresponding Wilsonian effective action $S^k$ through a tree-level expansion in terms of the vertices provided by $Γ_k$. It forms a perfect bare action giving the same renormalised trajectory. A bare action with some ultraviolet cutoff scale $Λ$ and infrared cutoff $k$ necessarily produces an effective average action $Γ^Λ_k$ that depends on …
We review and extend in several directions recent results on the asymptotic safety approach to quantum gravity. The central issue in this approach is the search of a Fixed Point having suitable properties, and the tool that is used is a type of Wilsonian renormalization group equation. We begin by discussing various cutoff schemes, i.e. ways of implementing the Wilsonian cutoff procedure. We compare the beta functions of the gravitational couplings obtained with different schemes, studying first the contribution of matter fields and then the so-called Einstein-Hilbert truncation, where only th…
We compute the scale-dependence of the Planck mass and of the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field using two very different renormalization group methods: a "holographic" procedure based on Einstein's equations in five dimensions with matter confined to a 3-brane, and a "functional" procedure in four dimensions based on a Wilsonian momentum cutoff. Both calculations lead to very similar results, suggesting that the coupled theory approaches a non-trivial fixed point in the ultraviolet.
We study the relations between two different approaches to the holographic Renormalization Group (RG) flow at the dual gravity level: One is the radial evolution of the classical equation of motion and the other is the flow equation given by the holographic Wilsonian RG coming from the cut off independence. Apparently, the two flows look different. We give general proofs that the two flows are actually equivalent. The role of the momentum continuity (MC) is essential. We show that MC together with cutoff independence gives the evolution equation of the boundary values. Equivalence of conductiv…
We propose the holographic description of the Lifshitz tail typical for one-particle spectral density of bounded disordered system in $D=1$ space. To this aim the "polymer representation" of the Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) 2D dilaton gravity at a finite cutoff is used and the corresponding partition function is considered as the weighted sum over paths of fixed length in an external magnetic field. We identify the regime of small loops, responsible for emergence of a Lifshitz tail in the Gaussian disorder, and relate the strength of disorder to the boundary value of the dilaton. The geometry corres…
We propose a Wilsonian action compatible with special geometry and higher dimension N=2 corrections, and show that the holomorphic contribution F to the low energy effective action is independent of the infrared cutoff. We further show that for asymptotically free SU(2) super Yang-Mills theories, the infrared cutoff can be tuned to cancel leading corrections to F. We also classify all local higher-dimensional contributions to the N=2 superspace effective action that produce corrections to the Kahler potential when reduced to N=1 superspace.
Extremal black branes upon compactification in the near horizon throat region are known to give rise to $AdS_2$ dilaton-gravity-matter theories. Away from the throat region, the background has nontrivial profile. We interpret this as holographic renormalization group flow in the 2-dim dilaton-gravity-matter theories arising from dimensional reduction of the higher dimensional theories here. The null energy conditions allow us to formulate a holographic c-function in terms of the 2-dim dilaton for which we argue a c-theorem subject to appropriate boundary conditions which amount to restrictions…
Recently proposed double trace deformations of large $N$ holographic CFTs in four dimensions define a one parameter family of quantum field theories, which are interpreted in the bulk dual as living on successive finite radius hypersurfaces. The transformation of variables that turns the equation defining the deformation of a four dimensional large $N$ CFT by such operators into the expression for the radial ADM Hamiltonian in the bulk is found. This prescription clarifies the role of various functions of background fields that appear in the flow equation defining the deformed holographic CFT,…
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 cons…
We study the fate of reparametrization invariance of Wilson loops, also known as 'zig-zag' symmetry, under the RG flow using some simple cases as guidance. We restrict our analysis to large-$N$, strongly coupled CFTs and use the holographic dual description of a Wilson loop as a fundamental string embedded in asymptotically AdS spaces, at zero and nonzero temperature. We then introduce a cutoff in the holographic radial direction and integrate out the the section of the string closer to the AdS boundary in the spirit of holographic Wilsonian renormalization. We make explicit the map between Wi…
An effective local quantum field theory with UV and IR cutoffs correlated in accordance with holographic entropy bounds is capable of rendering the cosmological constant (CC) stable against quantum corrections. By setting an IR cutoff to length scales relevant to cosmology, one easily obtains the currently observed rho_Lambda ~ 10^{-47} GeV^4, thus alleviating the CC problem. It is argued that scaling behavior of the CC in these scenarios implies an interaction of the CC with matter sector or a time-dependent gravitational constant, to accommodate the observational data.
There have been known "exact" beta functions for the gauge coupling in N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories, the so-called NSVZ beta functions. Shifman and Vainshtein (SV) further related these beta functions to the exact 1-loop running of the "Wilsonian" gauge coupling. All these results, however, remain somewhat mysterious. We attempt to clarify these issues by presenting new perspectives on the NSVZ beta function. Our interpretation of the results is somewhat different than the one given by SV, having nothing to do with the distinction between "Wilsonian" and "1PI" effective actions. Throughou…
We complete the reformulation of the holographic correspondence as a \emph{highly efficient RG flow} that can also determine the UV data in the field theory in the strong coupling and large $N$ limit. We introduce a special way to define operators at any given scale in terms of appropriate coarse-grained collective variables, without requiring the use of the elementary fields. The Wilsonian construction is generalised by promoting the cut-off to a functional of these collective variables. We impose three criteria to determine the coarse-graining. The first criterion is that the effective Ward …
We study holographic renormalization and RG flow in a strongly-coupled Lifshitz-type theory in 2+1 dimensions with dynamical exponent z=2. The bottom-up gravity dual we use is 3+1 dimensional Einstein gravity coupled to a massive vector field. This model contains a marginally relevant operator around the Lifshitz fixed point. We show how holographic renormalization works in the presence of this marginally relevant operator without the need to introduce explicitly cutoff-dependent counterterms. A simple closed-form expression is found for the renormalized on-shell action. We also discuss how as…
We further develop an algorithmic and diagrammatic computational framework for very general exact renormalization groups, where the embedded regularisation scheme, parametrised by a general cutoff function and infinitely many higher point vertices, is left unspecified. Calculations proceed iteratively,by integrating by parts with respect to the effective cutoff, thus introducing effective propagators, and differentials of vertices that can be expanded using the flow equations; many cancellations occur on using the fact that the effective propagator is the inverse of the classical Wilsonian two…
In supersymmetric theories, one can obtain striking results and insights by exploiting the fact that the superpotential and the gauge coupling function are holomorphic functions of the model parameters. The precise meaning of this holomorphy is subtle, and has been explained most clearly by Shifman and Vainshtein, who have stressed the role of the Wilsonian effective action. In this note, we elaborate on the Shifman-Vainshtein program, applying it to examples in grand unification, supersymmetric QCD and string theory. We stress that among the ``model parameters" are the cutoffs used to define …
We discuss the relation between the Gell-Mann-Low beta function and the ``flowing couplings'' of the Wilsonian action $S_Ł[ϕ]$ of the exact renormalization group (RG) at the scale $Ł$. This relation involves the ultraviolet region of $Ł$ so that the condition of renormalizability is equivalent to the Callan-Symanzik equation. As an illustration, by using the exact RG formulation, we compute the beta function in Yang-Mills theory to one loop (and to two loops for the scalar case). We also study the infrared (IR) renormalons. This formulation is particularly suited for this study since: $i$) $Ł$…
We consider the entanglement entropies in dS$_d$ sliced (A)dS$_{d+1}$ in the presence of a hard radial cutoff for $2\le d\le 6$. By considering a one parameter family of analytical solutions, parametrized by their turning point in the bulk $r^\star$, we are able to compute the entanglement entropy for generic intervals on the cutoff slice. It has been proposed that the field theory dual of this scenario is a strongly coupled CFT, deformed by a certain irrelevant deformation -- the so-called $T\bar T$ deformation. Surprisingly, we find that we may write the entanglement entropies formally in th…
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…
We show that the Quantum Master Equation and the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) 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 $Λ$, despite the fact that the structure demands quantum corrections that naively 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, interacti…
We study baryons as Skyrmions in holographic QCD with D4/D8/D8-bar multi-D brane system in type IIA superstring theory, and also in the non-linear sigma model with hidden local symmetry (HLS). Comparing these two models, we find that the extra-dimension and its nontrivial curvature can largely change the role of (axial) vector mesons for baryons in four-dimensional space-time. In the HLS approach, the rho-meson field as a massive Yang-Mills field has a singular configuration in Skyrmion, which gives a strong repulsion for the baryon as a stabilizer. When a_1 meson is added in this approach, th…
We apply the membrane paradigm and the holographic Wilsonian approach to the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-Maxwell theory. The transport coefficients for a quark-gluon plasma living on the cutoff surface are derived in a spacetime of charged black brane. Because of the mixing of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling and the Maxwell fields, the vector modes/shear modes of the metric and Maxwell fluctuations turn out to be very difficult to decouple. We firstly evaluate the AC conductivity at a finite cutoff surface by solving the equation of motion numerically, then manage to derive the radial flow of DC conductiv…
We investigate how the holographic correspondence can be reformulated as a generalisation of Wilsonian RG flow in a strongly interacting large $N$ quantum field theory. We firstly define a \textit{highly efficient RG flow} as one in which the Ward identities related to local conservation of energy, momentum and charges preserve the same form at each scale -- to achieve this it is necessary to redefine the background metric and external sources at each scale as functionals of the effective single trace operators. These redefinitions also absorb the contributions of the multi-trace operators to …
We aim at the construction of dark energy models without exotic matter but with a phantom-like equation of state (an effective phantom phase). The first model we consider is decaying vacuum cosmology where the fluctuations of the vacuum are taken into account. In this case, the phantom cosmology (with an effective, observational $ω$ being less than -1) emerges even for the case of a real dark energy with a physical equation of state parameter $ω$ larger than -1. The second proposal is a generalized holographic model, which is produced by the presence of an infrared cutoff. It also leads to an …
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…
Scaling Solutions of Matter Form Factors in Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity
INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡塔尼亚天文台）；INFN, Sezione di Catania（意大利国家核物理研究所卡塔尼亚分部）；Institut für Theoretische Physik, Heidelberg University（海德堡大学理论物理研究所）；Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University（拉德堡德大学数学、天体物理学和粒子物理研究所）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania（卡塔尼亚大学物理与天文学系）
It is suggested that the Minkowski vacuum of quantum field theories of a large number of fields N would be gravitationally unstable due to strong vacuum energy fluctuations unless an N dependent sub-Planckian ultraviolet momentum cutoff is introduced. We estimate this implied cutoff using an effective quantum theory of massless fields that couple to semi-classical gravity and find it (assuming that the cosmological constant vanishes) to be bounded by $M_Planck/N^1/4$. Our bound can be made consistent with entropy bounds and holography, but does not seem to be equivalent to either, and it relax…
The constraint on the total energy in a given spatial region is given from holography by the mass of a black hole which just fits in that region, which leads to an UV/IR relation: the maximal energy density in that region is proportional to $M_p^2/L^2$, where $M_p$ is the Planck mass and $L$ is the spatial scale of that region under consideration. Assuming the maximal black hole in the universe is formed through gravitational collapse of perturbations in the universe, then the "Jeans" scale of the perturbations gives a causal connection scale $R_{\rm CC}$. For gravitational perturbations, $R^{…
