Flow equation for Halpern-Huang directions of scalar O(N) models

Sep, 2000
17 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 63 (2001) 065011
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Abstract:
A class of asymptotically free scalar theories with O(N) symmetry, defined via the eigenpotentials of the Gaussian fixed point (Halpern-Huang directions), are investigated using renormalization group flow equations. Explicit solutions for the form of the potential in the nonperturbative infrared domain are found in the large-N limit. In this limit, potentials without symmetry breaking essentially preserve their shape and undergo a mass renormalization which is governed only by the renormalization group distance parameter; as a consequence, these scalar theories do not have a problem of naturalness. Symmetry-breaking potentials are found to be ``fine-tuned'' in the large-N limit in the sense that the nontrivial minimum vanishes exactly in the limit of vanishing infrared cutoff: therefore, the O(N) symmetry is restored in the quantum theory and the potential becomes flat near the origin.
  • field theory: scalar
  • symmetry: O(N)
  • renormalization group: fixed point
  • expansion 1/N
  • potential
  • effective action
  • symmetry breaking