120519307
Introduction to real-space renormalization-group methods in critical and chaotic phenomena
Abstract The methods of the real-space renormalization group, and their application to critical and chaotic phenomena are reviewed. The article consists of two parts: the first part deals with phase transitions and critical phenomena; the second part, bifurcations and transitions to chaos. We begin with an introduction to the phenomenology of phase transitions and critical phenomena. Seminal concepts such as scaling and universality, and their characterization by critical exponents are discussed. The basic ideas of the renormalization group are then explained. A survey of real-space renormalization-group methods: decimation, Migdal-Kadanoff approximation, cumulant and cluster expansions, is given. The Hamiltonian formulation of classical statistical systems into quantum mechanical systems by the method of the transfer matrix is introduced. Quantum renormalization-group methods of truncation and projection, and their application to the transcribed quantum mechanical Ising model in a transverse field are illustrated. Finally, the quantum cumulant-expansion method as applied to the one-dimensional quantum mechanical XY model is discussed. The second part of the article is devoted to the subject of bifurcations and transitions to chaos. The three most commonly discussed kinds of bifurcations: the pitchfork, tangent and Hopf bifurcations, and the associated routes to chaos: period doubling, intermittency and quasiperiodicity are discussed. Period doubling based on the logistic map is explained in detail. Universality and its expression in terms of functional renormalization-group equations is discussed. The Liapunov characteristic exponent and its analogy to the order parameter are introduced. The effect of external noise and its universal scaling feature are shown. The simplest characterizations of the Henon strange attractor are intuitively illustrated. The purpose of this article is primarily pedagogical. The similarity between critical and chaotic phenomena is a recurrent theme that underlines the importance and usefulness of such concepts as scaling, renormalization and universality.
117912244
Galilean structure of the Poincaré group on the light-cone
SummaryIt is observed that the isomorphism between the Poincaré subgroup in the L.C. (light-cone) co-ordinates and the two-dimensional Galilean group can be trivially extended to higher dimensions. The case of five dimension is explicitly shown, and the generalization to any finite dimensionn (> 2) is immediate.RiassuntoSi osserva che l’isomorfismo fra il sottogruppo di Poincaré nelle coordinate del cono di luce (L.C.) ed il gruppo galileano bidimensionale può essere esteso in modo banale a dimensioni superiori. Si presenta esplicitamente il caso delle cinque dimensioni, e la generalizzazione a qualunque dimensione finitan (>2) è immediata.РеэюмеОтмечается, что иэоморфиэм между подгруппой Пуанкаре в координата светового конуса и двумерной группой Галилея может быть тривиально распространен на случай больщего числа иэмерений. Явным обраэом исследуется пятимерный случай. Обобшение на случай любого числа иэмеренийп (>2) получается непосредственно.
120428117
Crossover phenomena in the multifractal behavior of invariant circles
Abstract The singularity spectrum f(α) and the generalized dimension Dq of the critical invariant circle in an area-preserving twist map with a variable degree of inflection z is studied. The scaling behavior is found to depend on z, and there is a crossover from the simple fixed point to the standard fixed point when z varies from 2 to 3. Thus z plays a role quite similar to that of dimensionality in phase transition, with z = 2 and 3 corresponding to the lower and upper critical dimensions respectively.
122878082
Induced Topological Terms, Hidden Local Symmetry, and Anyon Superconductivity
We show how the topological Chern-Simons term in three dimensions and the θ-term, in four dimensions can be dynamically generated due to quantum fluctuations in Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models. These results give a vivid demonstration of hidden local symmetry at work. The fluctuation-induced Chern-Simons term provides a natural way to incorporate fractional statistics and thus a more direct connection with anyon superconductivity. Possible phenomenological implications of this approach in particle physics are also discussed.
209934211
Anomalous dimensions of tensor operators in 4-epsilon dimensions
14771278
Nonadiabatic geometric phase for the cyclic evolution of a time-dependent Hamiltonian system
The geometric phases of the cyclic states of a generalized harmonic oscillator with nonadiabatic timeperiodic parameters are discussed in the framework of squeezed state. It is shown that the cyclic and quasicyclic squeezed states correspond to the periodic and quasiperiodic solutions of an effective Hamiltonian defined on an extended phase space, respectively. The geometric phase of the cyclic squeezed state is found to be a phase-space area swept out by a periodic orbit. Furthermore, a class of cyclic states is expressed as a superposition of an infinite number of squeezed states. Their geometric phases are found to be independent of \, and equal to 2(n11/2) times the classical nonadiabatic Hannay angle. @S1050-2947~98!03311-3# The Berry phase is one of the most important findings on the fundamental problem of quantum mechanics in recent years @1#. It reveals the gauge structure associated with a phase shift in adiabatic processes in quantum mechanics. This quantal phase is connected with a classical angle, namely, the Hannay angle, by a simple and elegant expression in the semiclassical limit @2#. The next important advance was the relaxation of the adiabatic approximation @3,4#. Aharanov and Anandan studied the phase associated with a cyclic evolution in quantum mechanics, which occurs when a state returns to its initial condition. They showed that the phase is a geometrical property of the curve in the projective Hilbert space which is naturally associated with the motion @3#. For the special case of an adiabatic evolution, this phase factor is a gauge-invariant generalization of the Berry phase. The significance of Aharanov and Anandan’s generalization lies in the following: ~i! the cyclic evolution of a physical system is of the most interest in physics both experimentally and theoretically; ~ii! the universal existence of the cyclic evolution is guaranteed for any quantum system. The second point can be easily recognized by considering the eigenvectors of the unitary evolution operator for a quantum system. An explicit example is a time-periodic Hamiltonian system where the Floquet theorem applies. The eigenfunctions of the Floquet operator, which are the socalled Bloch wave functions in condensed-matter physics, are obviously cyclic solutions and are of great interest in physics. However, unlike the adiabatic case, in the nonadiabatic case calculating the eigenvectors and extracting the nonadiabatic geometric phase from the quasienergy term for a time-dependent Hamiltonian is far from a trivial task, except in the special case of the spin particle in a magnetic field. Recent works of Ge and Child@5# made a further step in this direction. They found a special cyclic state of the Gaussian wave packet’s form for a generalized harmonic oscillator. The nonadiabatic geometric phase is explicitly calculated and found to be one-half of the classical nonadiabatic Hannay angle. In this paper, we would like to suggest an alternative approach—the squeezed-state approach to study the general cyclic evolutions of the generalized harmonic oscillator. In particular, we shall construct a class of quantum states based on the superposition of an infinite number of squeezed states. We find that the condition for them to be cyclic evolutions is nothing but the quantization rule without Maslov-Morse correction. The nonadiabatic geometric phases are obtained analytically, and found to be related to the classical Hannay angle by an explicit expression.
119500293
Notes on Black Hole Phase Transitions
In these notes we present a summary of existing ideas about phase transitions of black hole spacetimes in semiclassical gravity and offer some thoughts on three possible scenarios or mechanisms by which these transitions could take place. We begin with a review of the thermodynamics of a black hole system and emphasize that the phase transition is driven by the large entropy of the black hole horizon. Our first theme is illustrated by a quantum atomic black hole system, generalizing to finite-temperature a model originally offered by Bekenstein. In this equilibrium atomic model, the black hole phase transition is realized as the abrupt excitation of a high energy state, suggesting analogies with the study of two-level atoms. Our second theme argues that the black hole system shares similarities with the defect-mediated Kosterlitz–Thouless transition in condensed matter. These similarities suggest that the black hole phase transition may be more fully understood by focusing upon the dynamics of black holes and white holes, the spacetime analogy of vortex and antivortex topological defects. Finally, we compare the black hole phase transition to another transition driven by an (exponentially) increasing density of states, the Hagedorn transition first found in hadron physics in the context of dual models or the old string theory. In modern string theory the Hagedorn transition is linked by the Maldacena conjecture to the Hawking–Page black hole phase transition in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, as observed by Witten. Thus, the dynamics of the Hagedorn transition may yield insight into the dynamics of the black hole phase transition. We argue that characteristics of the Hagedorn transition are already contained within the dynamics of classical string systems. Our third theme points to carrying out a full nonperturbative and nonequilibrium analysis of the large N behavior of classical SU(N) gauge theories to understand its Hagadorn transition. By invoking the Maldacena conjecture we can then gain valuable insight into black hole phase transitions in AdS space.
3166848
Quantum Statistical Field Theory in Gravitation and Cosmology
We describe how the concepts of quantum open systems and the methods of closedtime-path (CTP) effective action and influence functional (IF) can be usefully applied to the analysis of statistical mechanical problems involving quantum fields in gravitation and cosmology. In the first lecture we discuss in general terms the relevance of open system concepts in the description of a variety of physical processes, and outline the basics of the CTP and IF formalisms. In the second lecture we illustrate the IF method with a model of two interacting quantum fields, deriving the influence action via a perturbative expansion involving the closed-time-path Green functions. We show how noise of quantum fields can be defined and derive a general fluctuationdissipation relation for quantum fields. In the third lecture we discuss the problem of backreaction in semiclassical gravity with the example of a scalar field in a Bianchi Type-I universe. We show that the CTP effective action not only yields a real and causal equation of motion with a dissipative term depicting the effect of particle creation, as was found earlier, it also contains a noise term measuring the fluctuations in particle number and governing the metric fluctuations. The particle creation-backreaction problem can be understood as a manifestation of a fluctuation-dissipation relation for quantum fields in dynamic spacetimes, generalizing Sciama’s observation for black hole Hawking radiation. A more complete description of semiclassical gravity is given by way of an Einstein-Langevin equation, the conventional theory based on the expectation value of the energy momentum tensor being its mean field approximation. We also mention related problems of interest, including the dissipative nature of effective field theory and the theory of fluctuations, instability and phase transition as applied to the problem of transition from general relativity to quantum gravity. ∗Email: hu@umdhep.umd.edu
123205869
Effect of finite-temperature quantum fields on the early universe☆
Abstract The finite-temperature effect of a quantized conformally invariant scalar field in a closed Robertson-Walker universe is studied. The general solution is characterized by one parameter ξ = Ta which measures the radiation content of the universe. In the high-temperature limit it reduces to the Fischetti-Hurtle-Hu solution where the universe expands linearly in cosmic time near the singularity. In the low-temperature limit, it reduces to a Starobinsky-de Sitter type solution where the singularity is avoided in an exponential expansion. Several characteristic functional dependences of ξ(t) are used to illustrate possible entropy generating processes. The finite-temperature formalism thus provides a unifying framework for the description of the interplay of vacuum and radiation energy and their combined effect on the state of the early universe.
119019834
Statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology
ABSTRACT Statistical mechanical concepts and processes such as decoherence, correlation, and dissipation can prove to be of basic importance to understanding some fundamental issues of quantum cosmology and theoretical physics such as the choice of initial states, quantum to classical transition and the emergence of time. Here we summarize our effort in 1) constructing a unified theoretical framework using techniques in interacting quantum field theory such as influence functional and coarse-grained effective action to discuss the interplay of noise, fluctuation, dissipation and decoherence; and 2) illustrating how these concepts when applied to quantum cosmology can alter the conventional views on some basic issues. Two questions we address are 1) the validity of minisuperspace truncation, which is usually assumed without proof in most discussions, and 2) the relevance of specific initial conditions, which is the prevailing view of the past decade. We also mention how some current ideas in chaotic dynamics, dissipative collective dynamics and complexity can alter our view of the quantum nature of the universe.
120931585
Noise kernel and the stress energy bitensor of quantum fields in hot flat space and the Schwarzschild black hole under the Gaussian approximation
Continuing our investigation of the regularization of the noise kernel in curved spacetimes [N. G. Phillips and B. L. Hu, Phys. Rev. D {\bf 63}, 104001 (2001)] we adopt the modified point separation scheme for the class of optical spacetimes using the Gaussian approximation for the Green functions a la Bekenstein-Parker-Page. In the first example we derive the regularized noise kernel for a thermal field in flat space. It is useful for black hole nucleation considerations. In the second example of an optical Schwarzschild spacetime we obtain a finite expression for the noise kernel at the horizon and recover the hot flat space result at infinity. Knowledge of the noise kernel is essential for studying issues related to black hole horizon fluctuations and Hawking radiation backreaction. We show that the Gaussian approximated Green function which works surprisingly well for the stress tensor at the Schwarzschild horizon produces significant error in the noise kernel there. We identify the failure as occurring at the fourth covariant derivative order.