Related papers: Sigma model renormalisation group flows, singulari…
We discuss from a geometric point of view the connection between the renormalization group flow for non--linear sigma models and the Ricci flow. This offers new perspectives in providing a geometrical landscape for 2D quantum field…
The Ricci flow has been of fundamental importance in mathematics, most famously though its use as a tool for proving the Poincar\'e Conjecture and Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture. It has a parallel life in physics, arising as the first…
The renormalization group equations of two-dimensional sigma models describe geometric deformations of their target space when the world-sheet length changes scale from the ultra-violet to the infra-red. These equations, which are also…
The RG-2 flow is the two-loop approximation for the world-sheet non-linear sigma model renormalization group flow. The first truncation of the flow is the well known Ricci flow, at two loops higher order curvature terms appear, changing…
We study the behavior of the second order Renormalization Group flow on locally homogeneous metrics on closed three-manifolds. In the cases $\mathbb R^3$ and $\text{SO}(3)\times \R$, the flow is qualitatively the same as the Ricci flow. In…
We review the main aspects of Ricci flows as they arise in physics and mathematics. In field theory they describe the renormalization group equations of the target space metric of two dimensional sigma models to lowest order in the…
I discuss certain applications of the Ricci flow in physics. I first review how it arises in the renormalization group (RG) flow of a nonlinear sigma model. I then review the concept of a Ricci soliton and recall how a soliton was used to…
We investigate the renormalization group (RG) flow of SU(3) lattice gauge theory in a two coupling space with couplings $\beta_{11}$ and $\beta_{12}$ corresponding to $1\times 1$ and $1\times 2$ loops respectively. Extensive numerical…
Renormalisation Group (RG) flows in theory space (the space of couplings) are generated by a vector field -- the $\beta$ function. Using a specific metric ansatz in theory space and certain methods employed largely in the context of General…
The renormalisation group (RG) flow on the space of couplings of a simple model with two couplings is examined. The model considered is that of a single component scalar field with $\phi^4$ self interaction coupled, via Yukawa coupling, to…
Motivated by the search for solvable string theories, we consider the problem of classifying the integrable bosonic 2d $\sigma$-models. We include non-conformal $\sigma$-models, which have historically been a good arena for discovering…
We consider a closed manifold M with a Riemannian metric g(t) evolving in direction -2S(t) where S(t) is a symmetric two-tensor on (M,g(t)). We prove that if S satisfies a certain tensor inequality, then one can construct a forwards and a…
We demonstrate the irreversibility of a wide class of world-sheet renormalization group (RG) flows to first order in $\alpha'$ in string theory. Our techniques draw on the mathematics of Ricci flows, adapted to asymptotically flat target…
The quantum field theory of two-dimensional sigma models with bulk and boundary couplings provides a natural framework to realize and unite different species of geometric flows that are of current interest in mathematics. In particular, the…
We study renormalization-group flows by deforming a class of conformal sigma-models. We consider overall scale factor perturbation of Einstein spaces as well as more general anisotropic deformations of three-spheres. At leading order in…
Several problems in physics, in particular the averaging problem in gravity, can be described in a formalism derived from the real-space Renormalization Group (RG) methods. It is shown that the RG flow is provided by the Ricci-Hamilton…
Using Wilsonian methods, we study the renormalization group flow of the Nonlinear Sigma Model in any dimension $d$, restricting our attention to terms with two derivatives. At one loop we always find a Ricci flow. When symmetries completely…
The two-dimensional renormalization group acting as the Ricci flow $\Lambda\frac{\partial}{\partial\Lambda} g_{\mu\nu} = R_{\mu\nu}$ produces a specific 1+3 dimensional space-time metric which describes an expanding universe that starts…
We discuss the averaging hypothesis tacitly assumed in standard cosmology. Our approach is implemented in a "3+1" formalism and invokes the coarse graining arguments, provided and supported by the real-space Renormalization Group (RG)…
The renormalization-group (RG) flow in the finite-temperature (2+1)-dimensional Georgi-Glashow model is explored. This is done in the limit when the squared electric coupling constant is much larger than the mass of the Higgs field. The…