Non trivial critical exponents for finite temperature chiral transitions at fixed total fermion number

We analyze the finite temperature chiral restoration transition of the $(D=d+1)$-dimensional Gross-Neveu model for the case of a large number of flavors and fixed total fermion number. This leads to the study of the model with a nonzero imaginary chemical potential. In this formulation of the theory, we have obtained that, in the transition region, the model is described by a chiral conformal field theory where the concepts of dimensional reduction and universality do apply due to a transmutation of statistics which makes fermions act as if they were bosons, having zero energy. This result should be generic for theories with dynamical symmetry breaking, such as Quantum Chromodynamics.Comment: 14 pages Latex, no figures, final version to be published in Phys. Lett.

Dimensional reduction of the chiral-continous Gross-Neveu model

We study the finite-temperature phase transition of the generalized Gross-Neveu model with continous chiral symmetry in $2 < d \leq 4$ euclidean dimensions. The critical exponents are computed to the leading order in the $1/N$ expansion at both zero and finite temperatures. A dimensionally reduced theory is obtained after the introduction of thermal counterterms necessary to cancel thermal divergences that arise in the limit of high temperature. Although at zero temperature we have an infinitely and continously degenerate vacuum state, we show that at finite temperature this degeneracy is discrete and, depending on the values of the bare parameters, we may have either total or partial restoration of symmetry. Finally we determine the universality class of the reduced theory by a simple analysis of the infrared structure of thermodynamic quantities computed using the reduced action as starting point.Comment: Latex, 25 pages, 4 eps fig., uses epsf.sty and epsf.te

Nonperturbative bound on high multiplicity cross sections in phi^4_3 from lattice simulation

We have looked for evidence of large cross sections at large multiplicities in weakly coupled scalar field theory in three dimensions. We use spectral function sum rules to derive bounds on total cross sections where the sum can be expresed in terms of a quantity which can be measured by Monte Carlo simulation in Euclidean space. We find that high multiplicity cross sections remain small for energies and multiplicities for which large effects had been suggested.Comment: 23 pages, revtex, seven eps figures revised version: typos corrected, some rewriting of discusion, same resul

Further results for the two-loop Lcc vertex in the Landau gauge

In the previous paper hep-th/0604112 we calculated the first of the five planar two-loop diagrams for the Lcc vertex of the general non-Abelian Yang-Mills theory, the vertex which allows us in principle to obtain all other vertices via the Slavnov-Taylor identity. The integrand of this first diagram has a simple Lorentz structure. In this letter we present the result for the second diagram, whose integrand has a complicated Lorentz structure. The calculation is performed in the D-dimensional Euclidean position space. We initially perform one of the two integrations in the position space and then reduce the Lorentz structure to D-dimensional scalar single integrals. Some of the latter are then calculated by the uniqueness method, others by the Gegenbauer polynomial technique. The result is independent of the ultraviolet and the infrared scale. It is expressed in terms of the squares of spacetime intervals between points of the effective fields in the position space -- it includes simple powers of these intervals, as well as logarithms and polylogarithms thereof, with some of the latter appearing within the Davydychev integral J(1,1,1). Concerning the rest of diagrams, we present the result for the contributions correponding to third, fourth and fifth diagrams without giving the details of calculation. The full result for the Lcc correlator of the effective action at the planar two-loop level is written explicitly for maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure, minor changes; three references added, one new paragraph in Introduction added, Note Added is extended; to appear in JHE

QED and String Theory

We analyze the D9-D9bar system in type IIB string theory using Dp-brane probes. It is shown that the world-volume theory of the probe Dp-brane contains two-dimensional and four-dimensional QED in the cases with p=1 and p=3, respectively, and some applications of the realization of these well-studied quantum field theories are discussed. In particular, the two-dimensional QED (the Schwinger model) is known to be a solvable theory and we can apply the powerful field theoretical techniques, such as bosonization, to study the D-brane dynamics. The tachyon field created by the D9-D9bar strings appears as the fermion mass term in the Schwinger model and the tachyon condensation is analyzed by using the bosonized description. In the T-dualized picture, we obtain the potential between a D0-brane and a D8-D8bar pair using the Schwinger model and we observe that it consists of the energy carried by fundamental strings created by the Hanany-Witten effect and the vacuum energy due to a cylinder diagram. The D0-brane is treated quantum mechanically as a particle trapped in the potential, which turns out to be a system of a harmonic oscillator. As another application, we obtain a matrix theory description of QED using Taylor's T-duality prescription, which is actually applicable to a wide variety of field theories including the realistic QCD. We show that the lattice gauge theory is naturally obtained by regularizing the matrix size to be finite.Comment: 33 pages, Latex, 4 figures, a reference adde

Symmetry Nonrestoration in a Gross-Neveu Model with Random Chemical Potential

We study the symmetry behavior of the Gross-Neveu model in three and two dimensions with random chemical potential. This is equivalent to a four-fermion model with charge conjugation symmetry as well as Z_2 chiral symmetry. At high temperature the Z_2 chiral symmetry is always restored. In three dimensions the initially broken charge conjugation symmetry is not restored at high temperature, irrespective of the value of the disorder strength. In two dimensions and at zero temperature the charge conjugation symmetry undergoes a quantum phase transition from a symmetric state (for weak disorder) to a broken state (for strong disorder) as the disorder strength is varied. For any given value of disorder strength, the high-temperature behavior of the charge conjugation symmetry is the same as its zero-temperature behavior. Therefore, in two dimensions and for strong disorder strength the charge conjugation symmetry is not restored at high temperature.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Scaling critical behavior of superconductors at zero magnetic field

We consider the scaling behavior in the critical domain of superconductors at zero external magnetic field. The first part of the paper is concerned with the Ginzburg-Landau model in the zero magnetic field Meissner phase. We discuss the scaling behavior of the superfluid density and we give an alternative proof of Josephson's relation for a charged superfluid. This proof is obtained as a consequence of an exact renormalization group equation for the photon mass. We obtain Josephson's relation directly in the form $\rho_{s}\sim t^{\nu}$, that is, we do not need to assume that the hyperscaling relation holds. Next, we give an interpretation of a recent experiment performed in thin films of $YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-\delta}$. We argue that the measured mean field like behavior of the penetration depth exponent $\nu'$ is possibly associated with a non-trivial critical behavior and we predict the exponents $\nu=1$ and $\alpha=-1$ for the correlation lenght and specific heat, respectively. In the second part of the paper we discuss the scaling behavior in the continuum dual Ginzburg-Landau model. After reviewing lattice duality in the Ginzburg-Landau model, we discuss the continuum dual version by considering a family of scalings characterized by a parameter $\zeta$ introduced such that $m_{h,0}^2\sim t^{\zeta}$, where $m_{h,0}$ is the bare mass of the magnetic induction field. We discuss the difficulties in identifying the renormalized magnetic induction mass with the photon mass. We show that the only way to have a critical regime with $\nu'=\nu\approx 2/3$ is having $\zeta\approx 4/3$, that is, with $m_{h,0}$ having the scaling behavior of the renormalized photon mass.Comment: RevTex, 15 pages, no figures; the subsection III-C has been removed due to a mistak

Expanding non homogeneous configurations of the λϕ4\lambda \phi^4 model

A time dependent variational approach is considered to derive the equations of movement for the $\lambda \phi^4$ model. The temporal evolution of the model is performed numerically in the frame of the Gaussian approximation in a lattice of 1+1 dimensions given non homogeneous initial conditions (like bubbles) for the classical and quantum parts of the field which expands. A schematic model for the initial conditions is presented considering the model at finite fermionic density. The non zero fermionic density may lead either to the restoration of the symmetry or to an even more asymmetric phase. Both kinds of situations are considered as initial conditions and the eventual differences in early time dynamics are discussed. In the early time evolution there is strong energy exchange between the classical and quantum parts of the field as the initial configuration expands. The contribution of the quantum fluctuations is discussed especially in the strong coupling constant limit. The continuum limit is analyzed.Comment: 23 pages (latex) plus thirteen figures in eps file

Asymptotic safety of simple Yukawa systems

We study the triviality and hierarchy problem of a Z_2-invariant Yukawa system with massless fermions and a real scalar field, serving as a toy model for the standard-model Higgs sector. Using the functional RG, we look for UV stable fixed points which could render the system asymptotically safe. Whether a balancing of fermionic and bosonic contributions in the RG flow induces such a fixed point depends on the algebraic structure and the degrees of freedom of the system. Within the region of parameter space which can be controlled by a nonperturbative next-to-leading order derivative expansion of the effective action, we find no non-Gaussian fixed point in the case of one or more fermion flavors. The fermion-boson balancing can still be demonstrated within a model system with a small fractional flavor number in the symmetry-broken regime. The UV behavior of this small-N_f system is controlled by a conformal Higgs expectation value. The system has only two physical parameters, implying that the Higgs mass can be predicted. It also naturally explains the heavy mass of the top quark, since there are no RG trajectories connecting the UV fixed point with light top masses.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, v2: references added, typos corrected, minor numerical correction