No Arabic abstract
The spectrum of two-point functions in a holographic renormalization group flow from an ultraviolet (UV) to an infrared (IR) conformal fixed point is necessarily continuous. For a toy model, the spectral function does not only show the expected UV and IR behaviours, but other interesting features such as sharp peaks and oscillations in the UV. The spectral functions for the SU(3)xU(1) flow in AdS_4/CFT_3 and the SU(2)xU(1) flow in AdS_5/CFT_4 are calculated numerically. They exhibit a simple cross-over behaviour and reproduce the conformal dimensions of the dual operators in the UV and IR conformal phases.
Holographic renormalization group flows can be interpreted in terms of effective field theory. Based on such an interpretation, a formula for the running scaling dimensions of gauge-invariant operators along such flows is proposed. The formula is checked for some simple examples from the AdS/CFT correspondence, but can be applied also in non-AdS/non-CFT cases.
We study the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of effective mechanical actions associated with holographic renormalization group flows when the field theory is put on the sphere and mass terms are turned on. Although the system is supersymmetric and it is described by a superpotential, Hamiltons characteristic function is not readily given by the superpotential when the boundary of AdS is curved. We propose a method to construct the solution as a series expansion in scalar field degrees of freedom. The coefficients are functions of the warp factor to be determined by a differential equation one obtains when the ansatz is substituted into the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We also show how the solution can be derived from the BPS equations without having to solve differential equations. The characteristic function readily provides information on holographic counterterms which cancel divergences of the on-shell action near the boundary of AdS.
Renormalization schemes and cutoff schemes allow for the introduction of various distinct renormalization scales for distinct couplings. We consider the coupled renormalization group flow of several marginal couplings which depend on just as many renormalization scales. The usual $beta$ functions describing the flow with respect to a common global scale are assumed to be given. Within this framework one can always construct a metric and a potential in the space of couplings such that the $beta$ functions can be expressed as gradients of the potential. Moreover the potential itself can be derived explicitly from a prepotential which, in turn, determines the metric. Some examples of renormalization group flows are considered, and the metric and the potential are compared to expressions obtained elsewhere.
Extremal black branes upon compactification in the near horizon throat region are known to give rise to $AdS_2$ dilaton-gravity-matter theories. Away from the throat region, the background has nontrivial profile. We interpret this as holographic renormalization group flow in the 2-dim dilaton-gravity-matter theories arising from dimensional reduction of the higher dimensional theories here. The null energy conditions allow us to formulate a holographic c-function in terms of the 2-dim dilaton for which we argue a c-theorem subject to appropriate boundary conditions which amount to restrictions on the ultraviolet theories containing these extremal branes. At the infrared $AdS_2$ fixed point, the c-function becomes the extremal black brane entropy. We discuss the behaviour of this inherited c-function in various explicit examples, in particular compactified nonconformal branes, and compare it with other discussions of holographic c-functions. We also adapt the holographic renormalization group formulated in terms of radial Hamiltonian flow to 2-dim dilaton-gravity-scalar theories, which while not Wilsonian, gives qualitative insight into the flow equations and $beta$-functions.
We present results for in-medium spectral functions obtained within the Functional Renormalization Group framework. The analytic continuation from imaginary to real time is performed in a well-defined way on the level of the flow equations. Based on this recently developed method, results for the sigma and the pion spectral function for the quark-meson model are shown at finite temperature, finite quark-chemical potential and finite spatial momentum. It is shown how these spectral function become degenreate at high temperatures due to the restoration of chiral symmetry. In addition, results for vector- and axial-vector meson spectral functions are shown using a gauged linear sigma model with quarks. The degeneration of the $rho$ and the $a_1$ spectral function as well as the behavior of their pole masses is discussed.