skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Perturbative Critical Behavior from Spacetime Dependent Couplings

Journal Article · · ArXiv

We find novel perturbative fixed points by introducing mildly spacetime-dependent couplings into otherwise marginal terms. In four-dimensional QFT, these are physical analogues of the small-{epsilon} Wilson-Fisher fixed point. Rather than considering 4-{epsilon} dimensions, we stay in four dimensions but introduce couplings whose leading spacetime dependence is of the form {lambda}x{sup {kappa}}{mu}{sup {kappa}}, with a small parameter {kappa} playing a role analogous to {epsilon}. We show, in {phi}{sup 4} theory and in QED and QCD with massless flavors, that this leads to a critical theory under perturbative control over an exponentially wide window of spacetime positions x. The exact fixed point coupling {lambda}{sub *}(x) in our theory is identical to the running coupling of the translationally invariant theory, with the scale replaced by 1/x. Similar statements hold for three-dimensional {phi}{sup 6} theories and two-dimensional sigma models with curved target spaces. We also describe strongly coupled examples using conformal perturbation theory.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1047549
Report Number(s):
SLAC-PUB-15201; arXiv:1207.6663; TRN: US1203954
Journal Information:
ArXiv, Journal Name: ArXiv
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Operator mixing in the ε -expansion: Scheme and evanescent-operator independence
Journal Article · Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review. D. · OSTI ID:1047549

Light-Front Holographic QCD
Conference · Thu Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2012 · OSTI ID:1047549

Phi/sup 4/ equations of motion. II. The zero-, one-, and two-dimensional solutions
Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.); (United States) · OSTI ID:1047549