arXiv subjects

Gonzalo De Polsi

Publications and source records attributed to Gonzalo De Polsi.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Conformal Invariance of the large-$N$ limit of the $O(N)$ universality class

Conformal symmetry is expected to be realized in many equilibrium statistical mechanical systems at criticality. Although this is certainly true in two-dimensional systems, the three-dimensional case is subtler, and only a few proofs exist, only so in very specific cases. In this work, we give two proofs for the large $N$ limit of the $O(N)$ universality class within the non-perturbative renormalization group framework: one functional, and one vertex-by-vertex in Fourier space. While doing so, we unveil how the theory is structured in order for conformal symmetry to be realized. As a consequence, we shed light on what to expect, on rather general grounds, for a theory to be conformally invariant.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Convergence of the conformal Ward identity in the derivative expansion approximation

Conformal invariance is expected to be an emergent property of many systems in their critical regime. However, approximation schemes generically spoil this property. This is in particular the case of the derivative expansion, a widely used approximation scheme in the framework of the functional renormalization group. In this article, we consider Ward identities associated with conformal invariance in the 3-d Ising universality class with truncations at order 4 (next-to-next-to-leading order) in the derivative expansion, with $Z_2$ invariant composite operators. Our results confirm that the regulating functions which yield a small breaking of conformal invariance also present a small sensitivity of the universal critical exponents with the choice of this regulating function. We also show that, in the vicinity of regulator-parameter values for which the conformal constraints are best satisfied, the breaking of conformal invariance reduces as the order of the derivative expansion is increased, providing a new indication of the convergence of this approximation scheme.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Anisotropic scale invariance and the uniaxial Lifshitz point from the nonperturbative renormalization group

We employ the derivative expansion of the nonperturbative renormalization group to address the phenomenon of anisotropic scale invariance and the associated functional fixed points, also known as Lifshitz points, in systems characterized by a scalar order parameter. We demonstrate the existence of the Lifshitz fixed point featuring a non-classical value of the anisotropy exponent $θ<1/2$ and provide estimates for values of a set of critical exponents in the physically most relevant case of the three-dimensional uniaxial Lifshitz point $(d,m)=(3,1)$, $m$ denoting the anisotropy index. We compare our predictions with existing estimates from perturbative expansions around dimensionality $d=4+\frac{1}{2}$ as well as those from the $1/N$ expansion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Conformal invariance constraints in the $O(N)$ models: a first study within the nonperturbative renormalization group

The behavior of many critical phenomena at large distances is expected to be invariant under the full conformal group, rather than only isometries and scale transformations. When studying critical phenomena, approximations are often required, and the framework of the nonperturbative, or functional renormalization group is no exception. The derivative expansion is one of the most popular approximation schemes within this framework, due to its great performance on multiple systems, as evidenced in the last decades. Nevertheless, it has the downside of breaking conformal symmetry at a finite order. This breaking is not observed at the leading order of the expansion, denoted LPA approximation, and only appears once one considers, at least, the next-to-leading order of the derivative expansion ($\mathcal{O}(\partial^2)$) when including composite operators. In this work, we study the constraints arising from conformal symmetry for the $O(N)$ models using the derivative expansion at order $\mathcal{O}(\partial^2)$. We explore various values of $N$ and minimize the breaking of conformal symmetry to fix the non-physical parameters of the approximation procedure. We compare our prediction for the critical exponents with those coming from a more usual procedure, known as the principle of minimal sensitivity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Conformal invariance and composite operators: A strategy for improving the derivative expansion of the nonperturbative renormalization group

It is expected that conformal symmetry is an emergent property of many systems at their critical point. This imposes strong constraints on the critical behavior of a given system. Taking them into account in theoretical approaches can lead to a better understanding of the critical physics or improve approximation schemes. However, within the framework of the non-perturbative or functional renormalization group and, in particular, of one of its most used approximation schemes, the Derivative Expansion (DE), non-trivial constraints only apply from third order (usually denoted $\mathcal{O}(\partial^4)$), at least in the usual formulation of the DE that includes correlation functions involving only the order parameter. In this work, we implement conformal constraints on a generalized DE including composite operators and show that new constraints already appear at second order of the DE (or $\mathcal{O}(\partial^2)$). We show how these constraints can be used to fix nonphysical regulator parameters.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

The regulator dependence in the functional renormalization group: a quantitative explanation

The search of controlled approximations to study strongly coupled systems remains a very general open problem. Wilson's renormalization group has shown to be an ideal framework to implement approximations going beyond perturbation theory. In particular, the most employed approximation scheme in this context, the derivative expansion, was recently shown to converge and yield accurate and very precise results. However, this convergence strongly depends on the shape of the employed regulator. In this letter we clarify the reason for this dependence and justify, simultaneously, the most largely employed procedure to fix this dependence, the principle of minimal sensitivity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Precision calculation of universal amplitude ratios in $O(N)$ universality classes: Derivative Expansion results at order $\mathcal{O}(\partial^4)$

In the last few years the derivative expansion of the Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group has proven to be a very efficient tool for the precise computation of critical quantities. In particular, recent progress in the understanding of its convergence properties allowed for an estimate of the error bars as well as the precise computation of many critical quantities. In this work we extend previous studies to the computation of several universal amplitude ratios for the critical regime of $O(N)$ models using the derivative expansion of the Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group at order $\mathcal{O}(\partial^4)$ for three dimensional systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Conformal invariance in the nonperturbative renormalization group: a rationale for choosing the regulator

Field-theoretical calculations performed in an approximation scheme often present a spurious dependence of physical quantities on some unphysical parameters associated with the details of the calculation setup (such as, the renormalization scheme or, in perturbation theory, the resummation procedure). In the present article, we propose to reduce this dependence by invoking conformal invariance. Using as a benchmark the three-dimensional Ising model, we show that, within the derivative expansion at order 4, performed in the nonperturbative renormalization group formalism, the identity associated with this symmetry is not exactly satisfied. The calculations which best satisfy this identity are shown to yield critical exponents which coincide to a high accuracy with those obtained by the conformal bootstrap.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Precision calculation of critical exponents in the $O(N)$ universality classes with the nonperturbative renormalization group

We compute the critical exponents $ν$, $η$ and $ω$ of $O(N)$ models for various values of $N$ by implementing the derivative expansion of the nonperturbative renormalization group up to next-to-next-to-leading order [usually denoted $\mathcal{O}(\partial^4)$]. We analyze the behavior of this approximation scheme at successive orders and observe an apparent convergence with a small parameter -- typically between $1/9$ and $1/4$ -- compatible with previous studies in the Ising case. This allows us to give well-grounded error bars. We obtain a determination of critical exponents with a precision which is similar or better than those obtained by most field theoretical techniques. We also reach a better precision than Monte-Carlo simulations in some physically relevant situations. In the $O(2)$ case, where there is a longstanding controversy between Monte-Carlo estimates and experiments for the specific heat exponent $α$, our results are compatible with those of Monte-Carlo but clearly exclude experimental values.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Conformal invariance and vector operators in the $O(N)$ model

It is widely expected that, for a large class of models, scale invariance implies conformal invariance. A sufficient condition for this to happen is that there exists no integrated vector operator, invariant under all internal symmetries of the model, with scaling dimension $-1$. In this article, we compute the scaling dimensions of vector operators with lowest dimensions in the $O(N)$ model. We use three different approximation schemes: $ε$ expansion, large $N$ limit and third order of the Derivative Expansion of Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group equations. We find that the scaling dimensions of all considered integrated vector operators are always much larger than $-1$. This strongly supports the existence of conformal invariance in this model. For the Ising model, an argument based on correlation functions inequalities was derived, which yields a lower bound for the scaling dimension of the vector perturbations. We generalize this proof to the case of the $O(N)$ model with $N\in \left\lbrace 2,3,4 \right\rbrace$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Exact critical exponents for vector operators in the 3d Ising model and conformal invariance

It is widely expected that the realization of scale invariance in the critical regime implies conformal invariance for a large class of systems. This is known to be true if there exist no integrated operator which transforms like a vector under rotations and which has scaling dimension $-1$. In this article we give exact expressions for the critical exponents of some of these vector operators. In particular, we show that one operator has scaling dimension exactly 3 in any space dimension. This operator turns out be the leading operator at least in $d=2$ and $d=4$. Moreover, we prove that the operator previously considered in Monte-Carlo simulations has also scaling dimension exactly $3$ in any dimension.

hep-th↗