NL2678

Renormalization groups

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Renormalization groups

Systems undergoing phase transitions at a critical temperature Tc are conveniently described in terms of order parameters and critical exponents. Above Tc , for example, the specic heat is found experimentally to vary as where (T Tc )/Tc , and below Tc , it varies as ( ) . Thus and are called critical exponents for specic heat. Similar critical exponents are found for order parameters, isothermal susceptibility, response to an external eld, the correlation length , and the pair correlation function (r). These are denoted as , , , , and , respectively. Relations among these critical exponents can be derived from scaling assumptions such as the static scaling hypothesis, which asserts that the Gibbs potential G(T, H) for magnetic systems (as an example) is a generalized homogeneous function G(a , aH H) = G( , H) . (1)

With an arbitrary value of and selecting a , aH appropriately, relations among critical exponents are found through thermodynamic identities, for example, M ( , H) = dG( , H)/dH. Thus, Equation (1) leads to the following relations: 1 aH aH 2aH 1 2aH 1 1 = , = , = , = , = 2 . (2) a 1 aH a a a These can be recast as critical exponent equations: + ( + 1) = 2 , + 2 + = 2 , ( + 1) = (2 )( 1) , = ( 1) , = , = ,

reducing the number of independent critical exponents to just four (a , aH , , and ). The two exponents that describe spatial correlations ( and ) also involve a scaling relationship as was shown through dynamic scaling arguments by Leo Kadano and Michael Fisher, among others. In the two-dimensional (2-D) Ising model above Tc , for example, spin-spin correlations show short-range order, whereas below Tc the system exhibits long-range order. As T tends to Tc from either side, (r r ) becomes long ranged and decays slowly as |r r | 1, with the correlation length diverging. This is typical of most critical systems for which long-range uctuations accompany the onset of a second-order phase transition. However, in the 2-D XY model, the correlation function exhibits an algebraic fall-o as (r) r(T ) , demonstrating lack of longrange order in an unusual critical systemthe so-called KosterlitzThouless transition whose hallmark is the formation of vortex-antivortex pairs. Mermin and Wagner (1966) proved that any 2-D system with short-range interactions whose ordered phase has a

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Renormalization groups

Figure 1. A schematic illustration of the Kadano construction.

continuous symmetry does not support long-range order. This is because at least one branch of collective excitationscalled Goldstone bosonshas energy that tends to zero continuously as its wave vector (crystal momentum) vanishes. With the exception of such unusual systems, spatial scaling applies to criticality, which according to Kadano is to be understood as coarse graining. This means that the essential features of the system remain unchanged as the lattice length scale is increased by a factor such that 1 /a, where is the correlation length and a is the lattice spacing (see Figure 1). If N is the number of lattice sites and d the dimensionality of the system, then m = d N/ is the number of blocks obtained in the rst rescaling process. Simultaneously, the lattice variables (e.g., spins) and the interaction parameters are redened. The eective spins now represent each block and interaction parameters refer to the interacting blocks. Taking the Ising model as an example, the cell Hamiltonian is:
N N

Hcell = J
i,j

Si Sj h
i m ,

Si .

(3)

Then the block Hamiltonian becomes Hblock = J S S h

m

S ,

(4)

where the tilde quantities refer to blocks. Crucial assumptions are that thermodynamic potentials scale with block size as: Fblock (, h) = d Fcell ( , h), (5) where h = x h, = y , and that F is a homogeneous function. Hence the exponents x and y are calculated as y = a d and x = aH d. The Kadano construction applied to the pair correlation function, (e, ) = (Si S )(Sj S ) , (6)

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Renormalization groups

gives y = 1 , and since y = da and a = (2 )1 we nd that: = and d = 2. Using x = aH d with aH = /( + 1) results in (2 ) = . Thus static and dynamic scaling hypotheses reduce the number of independent critical exponents to just two. The renormalization group (RG) theory was developed to calculate the values of these exponents for particular models by carrying out the scaling procedure up to , and because as T Tc , scaling should continue ad innitum as T approaches Tc . Denoting the cell Hamiltonian by H0 and the Hamiltonian after the nth step of rescaling as Hn , the chain of scaling transformations R is R(H0 ) = H1 , R(H1 ) = H2 , . . . , R(Hn ) = Hn+1 , . . . , R(H ) = H , (7) where H denotes a xed point Hamiltonian characteristic of the critical state. Each step in the RG transformation chain reduces the number of degrees of freedom by d . In statistical mechanics we need to ensure that the partition function retains the same symmetry and ground-state, and hence we must re-scale the coupling constant at each step, for example, K = J/kT in the Ising model. We then develop a recursion relation to compute the partition function. An iterative solution of this recursion relation for the partition function yields roots or xed points which correspond to resultant critical behaviors in the model. The partition function is preserved in the RG procedure via the condition ZN (Hn ) = Zm (Hn+1 ) (8)

where m = N/d . It is conjectured that the values of critical exponents are characteristics not of individual Hamiltonians but their sets, with numerous models leading to the same xed point. The universality hypothesis states that any two physical systems with the same dimensionality, d, and the same number of order parameter components, n, belong to the same universality class, and each xed point corresponds to one universality class. Table 1 is a summary of the critical exponent values obtained from RG calculations for key theoretical models. RG ideas extend into many areas of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Based on the work of Kadano, Kenneth Wilson proposed an algorithmic approach to the scaling problem by formulating it in reciprocal space. Although less intuitive than the real-space RG of Kadano, it leads to exact results for the removal of divergencies in theories of elementary particles. For this work, Wilson was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physics. Jack A. Tuszynski See also Critical phenomena; Ising model; Order parameters; Phase transitions

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Model Classical (MFT) Spherical: d = 3 Spherical: > 0 Ising: d = 2 (exact) Ising: d = 3 Heisenberg: d = 3 S 4 -model: d > 4 S 4 -model: d = 4 S 4 -model: d < 4 S 4 -model: d = 3 XY -model: d = 3

0 (disc.)

1 2 1 2 1 2 1 8

/(2 ) 7 0 (log) 4 0.12 0.33 1.25 0.12 0.36 1.39 1 /2 /4 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 /6 /6 1 + /6 2 0.17 0.33 1.17 0.01 0.34 1.30

1 2 2/(2 )

3 1 5 0 1/(2 ) 1 + 4/(2 ) 0 1 1 15 4 0.64 4.8 0.04 0.71 4.8 0.04 1 3+ 0 2 1 3 0 2 1 + /12 3 + 0 2 0.58 4 0 0.66 4.8 0.04
= (4 d).

Table 1. Summary of Critical Exponents for Key Models. Note that

Further Reading Creswick, R.J., Farach, H.A. & Poole, C.P. 1992. Introduction to Renormalization Group Methods in Physics, New York: Wiley Kosterlitz, J.M. & Thouless, D.J. 1973. Ordering, metastability and phase transitions in two-dimensional systems. Journal of Physics C, 6: 11811203 Ma, S.-K. 1976. Modern Theory of Critical Phenomena, New York: Benjamin Mermin, N.D. & Wagner, H. 1966. Absence of ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism in one- or two-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg models. Physics Review Letters, 17: 11331136 Reichl, L.E. 1979. A Modern Course in Statistical Physics, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press Stanley, H.E. 1972. Introduction to Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, Oxford: Clarendon Press and New York: Oxford University Press Wilson, K.G. 1972. Feynman-graph expansion for critical exponents. Physics Review Letters, 28: 548551 Wilson, K.G. 1983. The renormalization group and critical phenomena. Reviews of Modern Physics, 55: 583600 Yeomans, J.M. 1992. Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions, Oxford: Clarendon Press and New York: Oxford University Press