No Arabic abstract
Disordered systems are interesting for many physical reasons. In this article, we study the renormalization group property of quenched disorder systems in the presence of a boundary. We construct examples of scalar field theories in various dimensions with both classical and quantum disorder localized at the boundary. We study these theories in $e$-expansion and discuss properties of fixed points of the renormalization group flow.
The worldline formalism has been widely used to compute physical quantities in quantum field theory. However, applications of this formalism to quantum fields in the presence of boundaries have been studied only recently. In this article we show how to compute in the worldline approach the heat kernel expansion for a scalar field with boundary conditions of Robin type. In order to describe how this mechanism works, we compute the contributions due to the boundary conditions to the coefficients A_1, A_{3/2} and A_2 of the heat kernel expansion of a scalar field on the positive real line.
We investigate a class of exactly solvable quantum quench protocols with a finite quench rate in systems of one dimensional non-relativistic fermions in external harmonic oscillator or inverted harmonic oscillator potentials, with time dependent masses and frequencies. These hamiltonians arise, respectively, in harmonic traps, and the $c=1$ Matrix Model description of two dimensional string theory with time dependent string coupling. We show how the dynamics is determined by a single function of time which satisfies a generalized Ermakov-Pinney equation. The quench protocols we consider asymptote to constant masses and frequencies at early times, and cross or approach a gapless potential. In a right side up harmonic oscillator potential we determine the scaling behavior of the one point function and the entanglement entropy of a subregion by obtaining analytic approximations to the exact answers. The results are consistent with Kibble-Zurek scaling for slow quenches and with perturbation calculations for fast quenches. For cis-critical quench protocols the entanglement entropy oscillates at late times around its initial value. For end-critical protocols the entanglement entropy monotonically goes to zero inversely with time, reflecting the spread of fermions over the entire line. For the inverted harmonic oscillator potential, the dual collective field description is a scalar field in a time dependent metric and dilaton background.
In this paper we consider different classical effects in a model for a scalar field incorporating Lorentz symmetry breaking due to the presence of a single background vector v^{mu} coupled to its derivative. We perform an investigation of the interaction energy between stationary steady sources concentrated along parallel branes with an arbitrary number of dimensions, and derive from this study some physical consequences. For the case of the scalar dipole we show the emergence of a nontrivial torque, which is distinctive sign of the Lorentz violation. We also investigate a similar model in the presence of a semi-transparent mirror. For a general relative orientation between the mirror and the v^{mu}, we are able to perform calculations perturbatively in v^{mu} up to second order. We also find results without recourse to approximations for two special cases, that of the mirror and v^{mu} being parallel or perpendicular to each other. For all these configurations, the propagator for the scalar field and the interaction force between the mirror and a point-like field source are computed. It is shown that the image method is valid in our model for the Dirichlets boundary condition, and we argue that this is a non-trivial result. We also show the emergence of a torque on the mirror depending on its orientation with respect to the Lorentz violating background. This is a new effect with no counterpart in theories with Lorentz symmetry in the presence of mirrors.
We compute the Green function of the massless scalar field theory in the infrared till the next-to-leading order, providing a fully covariant strong coupling expansion. Applying Callan-Symanzik equation we obtain the exact running coupling for this case by computing the beta function. This result is applied using a recently proved mapping theorem between a massless scalar field theory and Yang-Mills theory. This beta function gives a running coupling going to zero as $p^4$ in agreement with lattice results presented in Boucaud et al. [JHEP 0304 (2003) 005] and showing that the right definition of the running coupling for a Yang-Mills theory in the infrared is given in a MOM scheme. The emerging scenario is supporting a quantum field theory based on instantons.
The resonant tunneling phenomenon is well understood in quantum mechanics. We argue why a similar phenomenon must be present in quantum field theory. We then use the functional Schrodinger method to show how resonant tunneling through multiple barriers takes place in quantum field theory with a single scalar field. We also show how this phenomenon in scalar quantum field theory can lead to an exponential enhancement of the single-barrier tunneling rate. Our analysis is carried out in the thin-wall approximation.