arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H. Saleur.
The conductance for tunneling through a point contact between two $ν=1/3$ quantum Hall edges is described by a universal scaling function, which has recently been measured experimentally. We compute this universal function exactly, by using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and a Boltzmann equation.
We consider the sine-Gordon model on a half-line, with an additional potential term of the form $-M\cos{β\over 2}(φ-φ_0)$ at the boundary. We compute the classical time delay for general values of $M$, $β$ and $φ_0$ using $τ$-function methods and show that in the classical limit, the method of images still works, despite the non-linearity of the problem. We also perform a semi-classical analysis, and find agreement with the exact quantum S-matrix conjectured by Ghoshal and Zamolodchikov.
We solve exactly the "boundary sine-Gordon" system of a massless scalar field ϕwith a \cos[βϕ/2] potential at a boundary. This model has appeared in several contexts, including tunneling between quantum-Hall edge states and in dissipative quantum mechanics. For β^2 < 8π, this system exhibits a boundary renormalization-group flow from Neumann to Dirichlet boundary conditions. By taking the massless limit of the sine-Gordon model with boundary potential, we find the exact S matrix for particles scattering off the boundary. Using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz, we calculate the boundary entropy along the entire flow. We show how these particles correspond to wave packets in the classical Klein-Gordon equation, thus giving a more precise explanation of scattering in a massless theory.
We conjecture the exact scaling theory for the adsorption of two-dimensional polymers by using boundary S matrices. We compute the boundary free energy (the ``g-function''), study the flow from adsorbed to desorbed phase, and derive the crossover exponent and all the geometrical exponents at the transition. More generally, we solve the special transition in the O(n) model, the polymer case corresponding to n=0. The n=2 limit appears identical to the ordinary Kondo problem.
We show how to derive exact boundary $S$ matrices for integrable quantum field theories in 1+1 dimensions using lattice regularization. We do this calculation explicitly for the sine-Gordon model with fixed boundary conditions using the Bethe ansatz for an XXZ-type spin chain in a boundary magnetic field. Our results agree with recent conjectures of Ghoshal and Zamolodchikov, and indicate that the only solutions to the Bethe equations which contribute to the scaling limit are the standard strings.
We investigate in details how the Virasoro algebra appears in the scaling limit of the simplest lattice models of XXZ or RSOS type. Our approach is straightforward but to our knowledge had never been tried so far. We simply formulate a conjecture for the lattice stress-energy tensor motivated by the exact derivation of lattice global Ward identities. We then check that the proper algebraic relations are obeyed in the scaling limit. The latter is under reasonable control thanks to the Bethe-ansatz solution. The results, which are mostly numerical for technical reasons, are remarkably precise. They are also corroborated by exact pieces of information from various sources, in particular Temperley-Lieb algebra representation theory. Most features of the Virasoro algebra (like central term, null vectors, metric properties...) can thus be observed using the lattice models. This seems of general interest for lattice field theory, and also more specifically for finding relations between conformal invariance and lattice integrability, since basis for the irreducible representations of the Virasoro algebra should now follow (at least in principle) from Bethe-ansatz computations.
We review the construction of exactly solvable lattice models whose continuum limits are $N=2$ supersymmetric models. Both critical and off-critical models are discussed. The approach we take is to first find lattice models with natural topological sectors, and then identify the continuum limits of these sectors with topologically twisted $N=2$ supersymmetric field theories. From this, we then describe how to recover the complete lattice versions of the $N=2$ supersymmetric field theories. We discuss a number of simple physical examples and we describe how to construct a broad class of models. We also give a brief review of the scattering matrices for the excitations of these models. (Contribution to the procedings of the Cargese meeting on ``String Theory, Conformal Models and Topological Field Theories'', May 12-21, 1993.)
These lecture notes provide an elementary introduction to the study of massless integrable quantum field theory in 1+1 dimensions using ``massless scattering''. Some previously unpublished results are also presented, including a non-perturbative study of Virasoro conserved quantities.
We study some generic aspects of the winding angle distribution around a point in two dimensions for Brownian and self avoiding walks (SAW) using corner transfer matrix and conformal field theory.
We show that integrable vertex and RSOS models with trigonometric Boltzmann weights and appropriate inhomogeneities provide a convenient lattice regularization for massive field theories and for the recently studied massless field theories that interpolate between two non trivial conformal field theories. Massive and massless S matrices are computed from the lattice Bethe ansatz.
The massless flow between successive minimal models of conformal field theory is related to a flow within the sine-Gordon model when the coefficient of the cosine potential is imaginary. This flow is studied, partly numerically, from three different points of view. First we work out the expansion close to the Kosterlitz-Thouless point, and obtain roaming behavior, with the central charge going up and down in between the UV and IR values of $c=1$. Next we analytically continue the Casimir energy of the massive flow (i.e. with real cosine term). Finally we consider the lattice regularization provided by the O(n) model in which massive and massless flows correspond to high- and low-temperature phases. A detailed discussion of the case $n=0$ is then given using the underlying N=2 supersymmetry, which is spontaneously broken in the low-temperature phase. The ``index'' $\tr F(-1)^F$ follows from the Painleve III differential equation, and is shown to have simple poles in this phase. These poles are interpreted as occuring from level crossing (one-dimensional phase transitions for polymers). As an application, new exact results for the connectivity constants of polymer graphs on cylinders are obtained.
We study the spectrum, the massless S-matrices and the ground-state energy of the flows between successive minimal models of conformal field theory, and within the sine-Gordon model with imaginary coefficient of the cosine term (related to the minimal models by ``truncation''). For the minimal models, we find exact S-matrices which describe the scattering of massless kinks, and show using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz that the resulting non-perturbative c-function (defined by the Casimir energy on a cylinder) flows appropriately between the two theories, as conjectured earlier. For the non-unitary sine-Gordon model, we find unusual behavior. For the range of couplings we can study analytically, the natural S-matrix deduced from the minimal one by ``undoing'' the quantum-group truncation does not reproduce the proper c-function with the TBA. It does, however, describe the correct properties of the model in a magnetic field.
Generalizing the mapping between the Potts model with nearest neighbor interaction and six vertex model, we build a family of "fused Potts models" related to the spin $k/2$ ${\rm U}_{q}{\rm su}(2)$ invariant vertex model and quantum spin chain. These Potts model have still variables taking values $1,\ldots,Q$ ($\sqrt{Q}=q+q^{-1}$) but they have a set of complicated multi spin interactions. The general technique to compute these interactions, the resulting lattice geometry, symmetries, and the detailed examples of $k=2,3$ are given. For $Q>4$ spontaneous magnetizations are computed on the integrable first order phase transition line, generalizing Baxter's results for $k=1$. For $Q\leq 4$, we discuss the full phase diagram of the spin one ($k=2$) anisotropic and ${\rm U}_{q}{\rm su}(2)$ invariant quantum spin chain (it reduces in the limit $Q=4$ ($q=1$) to the much studied phase diagram of the isotropic spin one quantum chain). Several critical lines and massless phases are exhibited. The appropriate generalization of the Valence Bond State method of Affleck et al. is worked out.
We discuss in this paper various aspects of the off-critical $O(n)$ model in two dimensions. We find the ground-state energy conjectured by Zamolodchikov for the unitary minimal models, and extend the result to some non-unitary minimal cases. We apply our results to the discussion of scaling functions for polymers on a cylinder. We show, using the underlying N=2 supersymmetry, that the scaling function for one non-contractible polymer loop around the cylinder is simply related to the solution of the Painleve III differential equation. We also find the ground-state energy for a single polymer on the cylinder. We check these results by numerically simulating the polymer system. We also analyze numerically the flow to the dense polymer phase. We find there surprising results, with a $c_{\hbox{eff}}$ function that is not monotonous and seems to have a roaming behavior, getting very close to the values 81/70 and 7/10 between its UV and IR values of 1.