K. Sailer

Renormalization of periodic potentials

The renormalization of the periodic potential is investigated in the framework of the Euclidean one-component scalar field theory by means of the differential RG approach. Some known results about the sine-Gordon model are recovered in an extremely simple manner. There are two phases: an ordered one with asymptotical freedom and a disordered one where the model is nonrenormalizable and trivial. The order parameter of the periodicity, the winding number, indicates spontaneous symmetry breaking in the ordered phase where the fundamental group symmetry is broken and the solitons acquire dynamical stability. It is argued that the periodicity and the convexity are such strong constraints on the effective potential that it always becomes flat. This flattening is reproduced by integrating out the RG equation.

Functional Renormalization Group Approach to the Sine-Gordon Model

The renormalization group flow is presented for the two-dimensional sine-Gordon model within the framework of the functional renormalization group method by including the wave-function renormalization constant. The Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinski type phase structure is recovered as the interpolating scaling law between two competing IR attractive area of the global renormalization group flow.

Renormalization-Group Analysis of the Generalized Sine-Gordon Model and of the Coulomb Gas for D > 3 Dimensions

Renormalization-group (RG) flow equations have been derived for the generalized sine-Gordon model (GSGM) and the Coulomb gas (CG) in d >= 3 of dimensions by means of Wegners and Houghtons, and by way of the real-space RG approaches. The UV scaling laws determined by the leading-order terms of the flow equations are in qualitative agreement for all dimensions d >= 3, independent of the dimensionality, and in sharp contrast to the special case d = 2. For the 4-dimensional GSGM it is demonstrated explicitly (by numerical calculations), that the blocked potential tends to a constant effective potential in the infrared (IR) limit, satisfying the requirements of periodicity and convexity. The comparison of the RG flows for the three-dimensional GSGM, the CG, and the vortex-loop gas reveals a significant dependence on the renormalization schemes and the approximations used.

Infrared fixed point in quantum Einstein gravity

A bstractWe performed the renormalization group analysis of the quantum Einstein gravity in the deep infrared regime for different types of extensions of the model. It is shown that an attractive infrared point exists in the broken symmetric phase of the model. It is also shown that due to the Gaussian fixed point the IR critical exponent ν of the correlation length is 1/2. However, there exists a certain extension of the model which gives finite correlation length in the broken symmetric phase. It typically appears in case of models possessing a first order phase transitions as is demonstrated on the example of the scalar field theory with a Coleman-Weinberg potential.

Renormalization group in internal space

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.

Functional Callan–Symanzik equation for QED

An exact evolution equation, the functional generalization of the Callan-Symanzik method, is given for the effective action of QED where the electron mass is used to turn the quantum fluctuations on gradually. The usual renormalization group equations are recovered in the leading order but no Landau pole appears.

Renormalization of the periodic scalar field theory by Polchinski's renormalization group method

The renormalization group (RG) flow for the two-dimensional sine-Gordon model is determined by means of Polchinskis RG equation at next-to-leading order in the derivative expansion. In this paper, we have two different goals, (i) to consider the renormalization scheme-dependence of Polchinskis method by matching Polchinskis equation with the Wegner–Houghton equation and with the real space RG equations for the two-dimensional dilute Coulomb-gas, (ii) to go beyond the local potential approximation in the gradient expansion in order to clarify the supposed role of the field-dependent wave-function renormalization. The well-known Coleman fixed point of the sine-Gordon model is recovered after linearization, whereas the flow exhibits strong dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme when non-linear terms are kept. The RG flow is compared to those obtained in the Wegner–Houghton approach and in the dilute gas approximation for the two-dimensional Coulomb-gas.

Quantum censorship in two dimensions

Abstract It is pointed out that increasingly attractive interactions, represented by partially concave local potential in the Lagrangian, may lead to the degeneracy of the blocked, renormalized action at the gliding cutoff scale by tree-level renormalization. A quantum counterpart of this mechanism is presented in the two-dimensional sine-Gordon model. The presence of Quantum Censorship is conjectured which makes the loop contributions pile up during the renormalization and thereby realize an approximate semiclassical effect.

Comparison of renormalization group schemes for sine-Gordon-type models

The scheme dependence of the renormalization group (RG) flow has been investigated in the local potential approximation for two-dimensional periodic, sine-Gordon type field-theoretic models discussing the applicability of various functional RG methods in detail. It was shown that scheme-independent determination of such physical parameters is possible as the critical frequency (temperature) at which Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii type phase transition takes place in the sine-Gordon and the layered sine-Gordon models, and the critical ratio characterizing the Ising-type phase transition of the massive sine-Gordon model. For the latter case, the Maxwell construction represents a strong constraint on the RG flow, which results in a scheme-independent infrared value for the critical ratio. For the massive sine-Gordon model also the shrinking of the domain of the phase with spontaneously broken periodicity is shown to take place due to the quantum fluctuations.

Renormalizable parameters of the sine-Gordon model

The well-known phase structure of the two-dimensional sine-Gordon model is reconstructed by means of its renormalization group flow, the study of the sensitivity of the dynamics on microscopic parameters. Such an analysis resolves the apparent contradiction between the phase structure and the triviality of the effective potential in either phases, provides a case where usual classification of operators based on the linearization of the scaling relation around a fixed point is not available and shows that the Maxwell-cut generates an unusually strong universality at long distances. Possible analogies with four-dimensional Yang–Mills theories are mentioned, too.