The Two-exponential Liouville Theory and the Uniqueness of the Three-point Function

It is shown that in the two-exponential version of Liouville theory the coefficients of the three-point functions of vertex operators can be determined uniquely using the translational invariance of the path integral measure and the self-consistency of the two-point functions. The result agrees with that obtained using conformal bootstrap methods. Reflection symmetry and a previously conjectured relationship between the dimensional parameters of the theory and the overall scale are derived.Comment: Plain TeX File; 15 Page

Duality in Quantum Liouville Theory

The quantisation of the two-dimensional Liouville field theory is investigated using the path integral, on the sphere, in the large radius limit. The general form of the $N$-point functions of vertex operators is found and the three-point function is derived explicitly. In previous work it was inferred that the three-point function should possess a two-dimensional lattice of poles in the parameter space (as opposed to a one-dimensional lattice one would expect from the standard Liouville potential). Here we argue that the two-dimensionality of the lattice has its origin in the duality of the quantum mechanical Liouville states and we incorporate this duality into the path integral by using a two-exponential potential. Contrary to what one might expect, this does not violate conformal invariance; and has the great advantage of producing the two-dimensional lattice in a natural way.Comment: Plain TeX File; 36 page

Rethinking the test: functional and evolutionary implications

Abstrac

Renormalization group flows for gauge theories in axial gauges

Gauge theories in axial gauges are studied using Exact Renormalisation Group flows. We introduce a background field in the infrared regulator, but not in the gauge fixing, in contrast to the usual background field gauge. It is shown how heat-kernel methods can be used to obtain approximate solutions to the flow and the corresponding Ward identities. Expansion schemes are discussed, which are not applicable in covariant gauges. As an application, we derive the one-loop effective action for covariantly constant field strength, and the one-loop beta-function for arbitrary regulator

Universality and the Renormalisation Group

Several functional renormalisation group (RG) equations including Polchinski flows and Exact RG flows are compared from a conceptual point of view and in given truncations. Similarities and differences are highlighted with special emphasis on stability properties. The main observations are worked out at the example of O(N) symmetric scalar field theories where the flows, universal critical exponents and scaling potentials are compared within a derivative expansion. To leading order, it is established that Polchinski flows and ERG flows - despite their inequivalent derivative expansions - have identical universal content, if the ERG flow is amended by an adequate optimisation. The results are also evaluated in the light of stability and minimum sensitivity considerations. Extensions to higher order and further implications are emphasized.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures; paragraph after (19), figure 2, and references adde

Renormalization flow of Yang-Mills propagators

We study Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory by means of a nonperturbative vertex expansion of the quantum effective action. Using an exact renormalization group equation, we compute the fully dressed gluon and ghost propagators to lowest nontrivial order in the vertex expansion. In the mid-momentum regime, $p^2\sim\mathcal{O}(1)\text{GeV}^2$, we probe the propagator flow with various {\em ans\"atze} for the three- and four-point correlations. We analyze the potential of these truncation schemes to generate a nonperturbative scale. We find universal infrared behavior of the propagators, if the gluon dressing function has developed a mass-like structure at mid-momentum. The resulting power laws in the infrared support the Kugo-Ojima confinement scenario.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures. V2: Typos corrected and reference adde

Doubly Periodic Instanton Zero Modes

Fermionic zero modes associated with doubly periodic SU(2) instantons of unit charge are considered. In cases where the action density exhibits two `instanton cores' the zero mode peaks on one of four line-segments joining the two constituents. Which of the four possibilities is realised depends on the fermionic boundary conditions; doubly periodic, doubly anti-periodic or mixed.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Non-perturbative thermal flows and resummations

We construct a functional renormalisation group for thermal fluctuations. Thermal resummations are naturally built in, and the infrared problem of thermal fluctuations is well under control. The viability of the approach is exemplified for thermal scalar field theories. In gauge theories the present setting allows for the construction of a gauge-invariant thermal renormalisation group.Comment: 16 pages, eq (38) added to match published versio

Do Instantons Like a Colorful Background?

We investigate chiral symmetry breaking and color symmetry breaking in QCD. The effective potential of the corresponding scalar condensates is discussed in the presence of non-perturbative contributions from the semiclassical one-instanton sector. We concentrate on a color singlet scalar background which can describe chiral condensation, as well as a color octet scalar background which can generate mass for the gluons. Whereas a non-vanishing singlet chiral field is favored by the instantons, we have found no indication for a preference of color octet backgrounds.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

2PI effective action for gauge theories: Renormalization

We discuss the application of two-particle-irreducible (2PI) functional techniques to gauge theories, focusing on the issue of non-perturbative renormalization. In particular, we show how to renormalize the photon and fermion propagators of QED obtained from a systematic loop expansion of the 2PI effective action. At any finite order, this implies introducing new counterterms as compared to the usual ones in perturbation theory. We show that these new counterterms are consistent with the 2PI Ward identities and are systematically of higher order than the approximation order, which guarantees the convergence of the approximation scheme. Our analysis can be applied to any theory with linearly realized gauge symmetry. This is for instance the case of QCD quantized in the background field gauge.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures. Uses JHEP3.cl