Log-Sobolev inequality for the sine-Gordon model in the subcritical regime

Abstract

We prove a logarithmic Sobolev inequality for the massive two-dimensional sine-Gordon model throughout the subcritical range $0<β<8π$. For fixed mass, volume and arbitrary real coupling, the constant has a positive lower bound independent of the lattice spacing. When the dimensionless coupling is small, the lower bound is also uniform in volume and approaches the Gaussian constant as the coupling tends to zero. This extends the known range $β<6π$ and gives a rate of entropy decay for the reversible Langevin dynamics that remains positive as the cutoff is removed. The proof follows the Polchinski flow to a positive physical scale, where the Hamiltonian is a bounded perturbation of a uniformly convex one. For interactions invariant under constant field shifts, spatial differences bound their curvature by the gradient energy. For the oscillating part, we compare Gaussian integration with an average in which the original cosine phase fluctuates independently of the remaining variables. We estimate the comparison error at an intermediate scale, then differentiate the remaining Gaussian density. This preserves both phase damping and spatial decay without assuming bounds on second derivatives of the incoming local terms. The resulting strict gain between scales closes the estimates for every fixed $β<8π$.