RG flows in d dimensions, the dilaton effective action, and the a-theorem

DOI10.1007/JHEP03(2013)034zbMATH Open1342.81526arXiv1209.3424OpenAlexW2023181385WikidataQ60303706 ScholiaQ60303706MaRDI QIDQ302882FDOQ302882

Authors: Henriette Elvang, Timothy M. Olson 

Publication date: 12 August 2016

Published in: Journal of High Energy Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Motivated by the recent dilaton-based proof of the 4d a-theorem, we study the dilaton effective action for RG flows in d dimensions. When d is even, the action consists of a Wess-Zumino (WZ) term, whose Weyl-variation encodes the trace-anomaly, plus all Weyl-invariants. For d odd, the action consists of Weyl-invariants only. We present explicit results for the flat-space limit of the dilaton effective action in d-dimensions up to and including 8-derivative terms. GJMS-operators from conformal geometry motivate a form of the action that unifies the Weyl-invariants and anomaly-terms into a compact general-d structure. A new feature in 8d is the presence of an 8-derivative Weyl-invariant that pollutes the O(p^8)-contribution from the WZ action to the dilaton scattering amplitudes; this may challenge a dilaton-based proof of an a-theorem in 8d. We use the example of a free massive scalar for two purposes: 1) it allows us to confirm the structure of the d-dimensional dilaton effective action explicitly; we carry out this check for d=3,4,5,...,10; and 2) in 8d we demonstrate how the flow (a_UV - a_IR) can be extracted systematically from the O(p^8)-amplitudes despite the contamination from the 8-derivative Weyl-invariant. This computation gives a value for the a-anomaly of the 8d free conformal scalar that is shown to match the value obtained from zeta-function regularization of the log-term in the free energy.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1209.3424

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zbMATH Keywords

renormalization groupfield theories in higher dimensionsanomalies in field and string theories

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

String and superstring theories; other extended objects (e.g., branes) in quantum field theory (81T30) Anomalies in quantum field theory (81T50)

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Cited In (27)

• The \(a\)-function for gauge theories
• Double-soft behavior of the dilaton of spontaneously broken conformal invariance
• The spectrum of IIB supergravity on \(\mathrm{AdS}_5\times S^5/\mathbb Z_3\) and a \(1/N^2\) test of AdS/CFT
• Anomalies, renormalization group flows, and the \(a\)-theorem in six-dimensional \((1, 0)\) theories
• The \(a\)-function in six dimensions
• Exploring soft constraints on effective actions
• Soft theorems from anomalous symmetries
• Constraints on RG flow for four dimensional quantum field theories
• \( \mathcal{N}=1 \) Euler anomaly flow from dilaton effective action
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• On flux quantization in \(M\)-theory and the effective action
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• The \(a\)-theorem and conformal symmetry breaking in holographic RG flows
• Higher derivative terms, toroidal compactification, and Weyl anomalies in six-dimensional \((2, 0)\) theories
• All the entropies on the light-cone
• Structures on the conformal manifold in six dimensional theories
• Renormalization group flows, the \(a \)-theorem and conformal bootstrap
• Gradient flows in three dimensions
• \(\mathcal N=1\) RG flows, product groups, and \(a\)-maximization
• Defect localized entropy: renormalization group and holography
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking, conformal anomaly and incompressible fluid turbulence
• Covariant and background independent functional RG flow for the effective average action
• The Dilaton Wess-Zumino action in six dimensions from Weyl gauging: local anomalies and trace relations
• Boomerang RG flows in M-theory with intermediate scaling
• Defect \(a\)-theorem and \(a\)-maximization
• Defects in scalar field theories, RG flows and dimensional disentangling

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• xAct

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