We reexamine the two-dimensional linear O(2) model ($varphi^4$ theory) in the framework of the nonperturbative renormalization-group. From the flow equations obtained in the derivative expansion to second order and with optimization of the infrared r
egulator, we find a transition between a high-temperature (disordered) phase and a low-temperature phase displaying a line of fixed points and algebraic order. We obtain a picture in agreement with the standard theory of the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition and reproduce the universal features of the transition. In particular, we find the anomalous dimension $eta(Tkt)simeq 0.24$ and the stiffness jump $rho_s(Tkt^-)simeq 0.64$ at the transition temperature $Tkt$, in very good agreement with the exact results $eta(Tkt)=1/4$ and $rho_s(Tkt^-)=2/pi$, as well as an essential singularity of the correlation length in the high-temperature phase as $Tto Tkt$.
We compute the transition temperature $T_c$ and the Ginzburg temperature $T_{rm G}$ above $T_c$ near a quantum critical point at the boundary of an ordered phase with a broken discrete symmetry in a two-dimensional metallic electron system. Our calcu
lation is based on a renormalization group analysis of the Hertz action with a scalar order parameter. We provide analytic expressions for $T_c$ and $T_{rm G}$ as a function of the non-thermal control parameter for the quantum phase transition, including logarithmic corrections. The Ginzburg regime between $T_c$ and $T_{rm G}$ occupies a sizable part of the phase diagram.
We present a renormalization group treatment of quantum tricriticality in metals. Applying a set of flow equations derived within the functional renormalization group framework we evaluate the correlation length in the quantum critical region of the
phase diagram, extending into finite temperatures above the quantum critical or tricritical point. We calculate the finite temperature phase boundaries and analyze the crossover behavior when the system is tuned between quantum criticality and quantum tricriticality.
We derive renormalization group equations which allow us to treat order parameter fluctuations near quantum phase transitions in cases where an expansion in powers of the order parameter is not possible. As a prototypical application, we analyze the
nematic transition driven by a d-wave Pomeranchuk instability in a two-dimensional electron system. We find that order parameter fluctuations suppress the first order character of the nematic transition obtained at low temperatures in mean-field theory, so that a continuous transition leading to quantum criticality can emerge.
We revisit the two-dimensional quantum Ising model by computing renormalization group flows close to its quantum critical point. The low but finite temperature regime in the vicinity of the quantum critical point is squashed between two distinct non-
Gaussian fixed points: the classical fixed point dominated by thermal fluctuations and the quantum critical fixed point dominated by zero-point quantum fluctuations. Truncating an exact flow equation for the effective action we derive a set of renormalization group equations and analyze how the interplay of quantum and thermal fluctuations, both non-Gaussian in nature, influences the shape of the phase boundary and the region in the phase diagram where critical fluctuations occur. The solution of the flow equations makes this interplay transparent: we detect finite temperature crossovers by computing critical exponents and we confirm that the power law describing the finite temperature phase boundary as a function of control parameter is given by the correlation length exponent at zero temperature as predicted in an epsilon-expansion with epsilon=1 by Sachdev, Phys. Rev. B 55, 142 (1997).
We extend the Hertz-Millis theory of quantum phase transitions in itinerant electron systems to phases with broken discrete symmetry. Using a set of coupled flow equations derived within the functional renormalization group framework, we compute the
second order phase transition line T_c(delta), with delta a non-thermal control parameter, near a quantum critical point. We analyze the interplay and relative importance of quantum and classical fluctuations at different energy scales, and we compare the Ginzburg temperature T_G to the transition temperature T_c, the latter being associated with a non-Gaussian fixed-point.
