Nucl ear Physics BI70 [FSI] (1980) 388- 408

Nor t h- Hol l and Publ i shi ng Compa ny

FI RST AND S ECOND ORDER PHASE TRANSI TI ONS
IN GAUGE THEORI ES AT FI NI TE TEMPERATURE
Paul GI NSPARG 1
CEN-Saclay, Bofte Postale No. 2, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Recei ved 31 Mar ch 1980
We consi der in general t he nat ur e of t he phase t r ansi t i on whi ch occurs in 4D gauge t heori es
coupl ed to scal ar and spi nor fi el ds at fi ni t e t emper at ur e. It is shown t hat t he cri t i cal behavi or can
be i sol at ed in an effect i ve 3D t heor y of t he zero f r equency mode whose l agr angi an may be
cal cul at ed explicitly in weak coupl i ng per t ur bat i on t heory. Thi s l agrangi an, in t urn, may be
i nvest i gat ed by means of s t andar d e-expansi on t echni ques. Theor i es with an asympt ot i cal l y free
g a u g e coupl i ng cons t ant possess no st abl e fixed poi nt in t he e- expansi on and ar e i nf er r ed to have
weakl y fi rst -order phase t ransi t i ons; t heori es not sat i sfyi ng this condi t i on may have s econd- or der
t ransi t i ons.
I. Introduction
Arguing in anal ogy with superconductivity, Kirzhnits and Li nde [!] suggested
that a spont aneousl y broken symmet r y in a relativistic field t heory coupled to a
finite temperature heat bat h would be restored above some critical t emperat ure
Tc __/3-1. Analyses by Wei nberg [2] and Dolan and Jackiw [3] then established this
effect on a quantitative basis. Consi deri ng a general renormalizable field t heory of
gauge fields gauge-invariantly coupled to scalar and spinor fields, Wei nberg [2] has
given a formula for the transition t emperat ure in terms of the gauge, scalar quartic,
and scalar-spinor Yukawa coupling constants. However, the question of whether
the phase transition is first order, proceeding with the scalar field expect at i on value
j umpi ng di scont i nuousl y to zero at ~ , or second order, the scalar field expectation
value vanishing cont i nuousl y at T c , is left open by the above aut hors since the
validity of their calculations does not extend to the i mmedi at e vicinity of To. For
temperatures too close to To, Weinberg [2] notes that the coefficients in his
expansion grow large, i nval i dat i ng his procedure, and Dolan and Jacki w [3] find a
spurious imaginary part in their effective potential, renderi ng it inapplicable. The
problem, as emphasized in ref. [2], is that st andard pert urbat i on t heory breaks
down due to the infrared divergences associated with vanishing masses (or, equiva-
lently, long wavelength fluctuations) as the phase transition is approached.
N. S. F. pr edoct or al fellow, ADW fellow. Per manent addr ess: Lab. of Nucl ear St udi es, Cornel l Uni v.
It haca, N. Y. 14853, USA.
388
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 3 8 9
P o w e r f u l m e t h o d s f o r d e a l i n g w i t h s u c h i n f r a r e d d i v e r g e n c e s i n 3 D t h e o r i e s h a v e
d e v e l o p e d f r o m t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f r e n o r r n a l i z a t i o n g r o u p m e t h o d s t o statistical
m e c h a n i c s , i n p a r t i c u l a r f r o m t h e e - e x p a n s i o n o f W i l s o n a n d F i s h e r [ 4 ] . I n t h i s
p a p e r , w e f o r m u l a t e a p r o c e d u r e w h e r e b y t h e s e m e t h o d s c a n b e b r o u g h t t o b e a r o n
t h e critical r e g i o n a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e f i n i t e t e m p e r a t u r e p h a s e t r a n s i t i o n i n t h e o r i e s
o f t h e g e n e r a l r 1 ~ s c o n s i d e r e d i n r e f . [2]. T h e a r g u m e n t h e r e c e n t e r s u p o n t h e f a c t
t h a t i n w e a k l y c o u p l e d f i e l d t h e o r i e s , i.e., t h o s e f o r w h i c h a p e r t u r b a t i v e e x p a n s i o n
is j u s t i f i e d , t h e t r a n s i t i o n t e m p e r a t u r e is p a r a m e t r i c a l l y l a r g e . S p e c i f i c a l l y , o n e h a s
fl:~gZ/p2, w h e r e g 2 d e n o t e s t h e l a r g e s t i n o r d e r o f m a g n i t u d e o f t h e s c a l a r
q u a r t i c , s q u a r e d g a u g e , a n d s q u a r e d Y u k a w a c o u p l i n g c o n s t a n t s ( a l l t a k e n << I)
and/ ~ is a typical zero t emper at ur e mass scale. For t emperat ures near the t ransi t i on
t emperat ure, then, fl itself can be used as an expansi on par amet er to effect i vel y
isolate the zero f r equency mode of the t heory (we recall t hat at finite t emper at ur e,
the energy modes become di scret e with spacing 2 ~ r / f l ) . Thi s we do by i nt egrat i ng
away all non- zer o f r equency modes, which, havi ng large effect i ve masses of or der
l i f t in t hei r propagat ors, are not pl agued by i nfrared probl ems. Thei r effect s are
simply mani fest ed as correct i ons, syst emat i cal l y cal cul abl e or der by or der in
per t ur bat i on t heory, to an effect i ve 3D t heory of the remai ni ng zero f r equency
mode. Once identified, this effect i ve 3D t heory, denot ed by ~cft, can t hen be
anal yzed in a st rai ght forward manner by e-expansi on met hods.
The results of this analysis can be summar i zed as follows: if ~etf has an
asympt ot i cal l y free gauge coupl i ng const ant in t he sense t hat its i nf r ar ed t raj ect o-
ries lead away f r om the origin [as is the case for non-abel i an gauge theories coupl ed
to sufficiently few scalar fields*], t hen t here are no stable fixed poi nt s in the
e-expansi on and the transition is argued to be first order. If, on t he ot her hand, the
t heory has no asympt ot i cal l y free gauge coupl i ng const ant [as is the case for
non- gauge theories, U( I ) gauge theories, and non- abel i an gauge t heori es with
suffi ci ent l y large scalar sectors], t hen there can and do exist t heori es with stable
fixed points, signifying the exi st ence of second- or der phase transitions. It shoul d be
not ed t hat within the small coupl i ng const ant regime of validity of this analysis,
any fi rst -order t ransi t i ons are predi ct ed to be onl y weakl y first order: t hat is,
neglecting possible met ast abi l i t y effects, the di scont i nui t y in the scal ar field expec-
t at i on val ue at the phase t ransi t i on is predi ct ed to be per t ur bat i vel y small com-
par ed to its zero t emper at ur e value, in accor dance with the general observat i ons of
ref. [2] (Except i ons, obt ai ned in compar at i vel y easier to t reat special cases, are
ment i oned below).
These results, i nci dent al l y, come as no surprise in the cont ext of our i nt ui t i on for
relativistic gauge t heori es dr awn f r om 3D super conduct or s, where the t ransi t i on is
also predi ct ed to be weakl y first or der [5]. Essentially [6], we fi nd t here t hat if the
condi t i ons are suitable for an infinitesimal expect at i on val ue of the scal ar field,
* Spinor fields, h a v i n g n o zero frequency m o d e , m a k e n o further explicit a p p e a r a n c e a n d contribute
onl y t o t he effect i ve i nt er act i ons a mong bos ons in ~eTf.
390 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
t hen the Meissner effect [Higgs Mechani sm] operat es to cut of f the long wavel engt h
fl uct uat i ons of the formerl y massless gauge field which had t ended to di sorder the
system. The system is thus r ender ed unst abl e with respect t o the acqui si t i on of an
infinitesimal or der par amet er and is dri ven to a fi rst -order transition. Thi s argu-
ment, at least when the fl uct uat i ons are still domi nat ed by gauge field loops*,
applies perhaps even more forceful l y to relativistic gauge theories where t here are
typically many gauge fields which have their long wavel engt h fl uct uat i ons cut off at
the phase transition as a result of picking up masses via the Higgs mechani sm.
Exami ni ng cert ai n special cases, ot her aut hors have f ound exampl es of fi rst -order
phase transitions in the theories we consi der here. One can, for exampl e, easily
pr oduce a fi rst -order transition when there exists a cubi c i nvari ant whi ch can be
added to the scalar i nt eract i on lagrangian [7] (provi ded, of course, t hat the cubi c
terms are taken large enough to insure t hat the phase transition occurs out si de of
the critical region where scalar field fl uct uat i ons become i mport ant ). However,
since this is not always possible and since, moreover, most aut hor s prefer to
eliminate this type of t erm by i mposi ng a discrete inversion (~--~ -~p) symmet ry,
we find it useful and i nt erest i ng to st udy the possibility of fl uct uat i on i nduced
fi rst -order transitions in the absence of such terms.
Anot her pert i nent special case occurs when the symmet r y breaki ng at zero
t emper at ur e is chosen in the Col eman- Wei nber g [8] mode, i.e., domi nat ed by
one- l oop gauge field radi at i ve correct i ons. With the zero t emper at ur e t heor y t aken
ei t her in the "massless' " f or m (O2V/Oep2[~o_o=O) [9] or with a small mass
(O 2V/O cp2lr_o~ga(cp~2) [10], exami nat i on of the finite t emper at ur e effective
pot ent i al suffices to establish t he existence of a fi rst -order phase t ransi t i on in which
the di scont i nui t y in the scalar field expect at i on val ue is t ypi cal l y of the same or der
as its zero t emper at ur e val ue (while refs. [9, 10] consi der explicitly onl y U( I ) gauge
theories, the results are easily ext ended to the general case). We r emar k t hat this
si t uat i on (scalar quart i c coupl i ng << squared gauge coupl i ng) is the anal ogue of the
t ype I super conduct or which similarly admi t s such a mean field analysis [5, 21].
The met hods present ed in this paper enabl e an ext ensi on of Wei nberg' s [2]
results for general renormal i zabl e field theories far enough into the critical region
to allow a charact eri zat i on of the phase transition in the fl uct uat i on domi nat ed
case anal ogous to the type II super conduct or . Whi l e the results obt ai ned here are
of a cert ai n theoretical interest in and of themselves, t hey also find possible
appl i cat i ons in assessing the cosmol ogi cal implications of gr and unified t heori es**.
In particular, successful appl i cat i ons of renormal i zat i on gr oup t echni ques to calcu-
lation of mass ratios [12] i ndi cat e t hat the values of coupl i ng const ant s may fall
within the range of appl i cabi l i t y of t he appr oxi mat i on scheme used here so t hat any
issues concerni ng, for example, cosmol ogi cal pr oduct i on of bar yon [13] or magnet i c
* I f not , t hen, as i n t he c a s e of l c c t r o d y n a mi c s c o u p l e d t o 2 m > 365. 9 c o mp l e x s c a l a r f i e l ds [5], a
s e c o n d - o r d e r p h a s e t r a n s i t i o n ma y oc c ur .
** F o r r e c e n t r evi ews , see ref. [1 !].
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 391
monopol e [14] number which require a detailed underst andi ng of the region close
to the phase transition coul d perhaps be more fully underst ood t hrough application
of the ideas presented here to a realistic t heory of specified gauge, scalar, and
fermionic content.
In sect. 2, we develop our formal i sm and met hod of extracting the effective 3D
t heory using the simplest available example of 4D q~'* scalar field theory. The
general case is treated in sect. 3, where we establish the form of the effective 3D
t heory associated with an arbi t rary 4D gauge t heory coupled to scalars and
fermions. In sect. 4, we anal yze the effective 3D theories by means of e-expansion
met hods and discuss examples of first and second order phase transitions. Sect. 5
presents some concl udi ng remarks.
2 . 4 s c a l a r f i e l d t h e o r y
To fix the notation, we start with the generat i ng funct i onal for a zero tempera-
ture scalar field t heory in euclidean space-time,
[ ~( 0 ~) ~ + ~(9~ ) + C. T. + f ddxJ ' ~] , (2.1)
Z ( J ' ) = f e x p - f d d x ( ' 2 I t t 2 ~ 2 / ~ 4
where q0, _~2, and 2~ are, respectively, the renormal i zed field, mass squared, and
quartic coupling const ant , and C.T. indicates renormal i zat i on count ert erms. We
will render the t heory finite using di mensi onal regularization.
At finite t emperat ure f l - I we exchange the causal boundar y condi t i ons at real
time t = _+ oo for boundar y condi t i ons periodic with period fl in eucl i dean time*.
This implies a finite t emperat ure generat i ng funct i onal of the form
f~ [ I ~ f , l { [ 2 ~ r n ) 2 i t 2 )
Z ( J ' ) = exp - ~ . =- ~ [ - - - f i - - + k 2 - p . ( k ) q ) _ . ( - k )
l E o
4 ! f 13 n, , ,,
+ C . T . + f J ' + ] , ( 2 . 2 )
* References to the original work o n t he s u b j e c t c a n be found in the standard r e f e r e n c e s o f [15]. A
heuristic de r i v a t i o n o f t he finite temperature formalism i s g i v e n , f or e x a mp l e , i n ref. [19]. N o t e that
the functional integral acquires a temperature-dependent normalization factor [15, 19] important in
c a l c u l a t i o n s o f the partition f u n c t i o n but wh i c h d o e s n o t e n t e r i n c a l c u l a t i o n s o f e x p e c t a t i o n v a l u e s
a n d Gr e e n functions. It will be safely ignored in t he r e ma i n d e r of this paper.
3 9 2
wher e
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
= 1
( 27r ) a - 1 f da-'k'
1 e ' . . . .
. - - =
~ , , = 2 ~ r n / # .
The c ount e r t e r ms in (2.2) ar e def i ned t o be pr eci sel y t hose of (2.1); t hey ar e
i nde pe nde nt of t e mpe r a t ur e a nd c ont i nue at a r bi t r a r y t e mpe r a t ur e t o r e move
ul t r avi ol et di ver gences f r om t he t heor y in all or der s of pe r t ur ba t i on t heor y*.
The obj ect i ve at this poi nt is t o i nt egr at e out t he n ~ 0 mode s t o l eave an
ef f ect i ve 3D t heor y of t he r e ma i ni ng n = 0 mo d e des cr i bed by s ome ef f ect i ve
l agr angi an t~cff. Wi t h this in mi nd, we rescal e t he fields opt(k) by a f a c t or l / ~ / f l in
or der t hat t he qua dr a t i c t er m c o n f o r m t o s t a nda r d c onve nt i on f or d - 1 di me n-
si onal t heori es, a n d wr i t e
- - - a ' k " - k ' - k " )
4! n, n' , n"= -ao , k' , k"
+ C . T . + fJ ].
( 2. 3)
Next , t o faci l i t at e i nt egr at i on over t he n # 0 modes , we i nt r oduc e t he f ol l owi ng
di a gr a mma t i c not a t i on: a n n = 0 mo d e is r epr es ent ed by a si ngl e l i ne a n d t he s um
over n ~ 0 modes is r epr es ent ed by a doubl e l i ne p r o p a g a t o r (fig. 1). Th e i nt er ac-
t i on ver t i ces r esul t i ng f r o m t he i nt er act i on t er m i n (2.3) ar e r epr es ent ed di a gr a m-
mat i cal l y as in fig. 2. We not e t hat ~04 field t heor y i n 3 di me ns i ons has a
di mens i onf ul c oupl i ng c ons t a nt ; t he a bove f or ma l i s m c onve ni e nt l y c hoos e s it t o be
gi ven i n uni t s of ft.
To c o mp u t e Ecff, we need c ons i de r gr a phs wi t h all ext er nal l i nes c o r r e s p o n d i n g
t o t he n = 0 mo d e a nd all i nt er nal lines c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o s ums over t he n ~: 0
pr opa ga t or s as in t he exampl es of figs. 3 - 5 . Thes e gr a phs c ont r i but e t o t he mas s
* That the zero temperature renormalization counterterms continue to remove the divergences in all
o r d e r s of the finite temperature theory is implicidy indicated in ref. [2] and explicitly demonstrated
in the case of dimensionally regularized theories in ll6].
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
393
( a ) ( b )
Fig. 1. Scalar propagators: (a) n ffi 0 mode, Co) sum of n ~ 0 modes.
X X X X
( o ) ( b ) ( c ) { d )
F i g . 2 . S c a l a r q u a r t i c i n t e r a c t i o n v e r t i c e s .

Fig. 3. Leading contribution to the mass squared term in 12el t.
V
O QQQ
Fig. 4. Some higher-order contributions to gaf.
8 Q
/x
Fig. 5. Two-loop contributions to tree approximation mass term in l~eff.
a n d wa v e - f u n c t i o n r e n o r ma l i z a t i o n s , a n d t o t he N- p o i n t f u n c t i o n s of t he ef f ect i ve
t h e o r y of t he n = 0 mo d e . Si nc e al l n ~ 0 p r o p a g a t o r s h a v e t he i n f r a r e d c u t o f f
2 ~ r / f l , f l set s t he s c a l e f or t he e s t i ma t i o n of t he s e gr a phs . We a r e t hus l e d t o a
c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of t he g r a p h s o f t he t h e o r y b y t he i r o r d e r i n )~ a n d ft.
A g r a p h wi t h V ver t i ces , N e x t e r n a l l egs, a n d s upe r f i c i a l d e g r e e of d i v e r g e n c e
I
D = - V- ~ N + 3 ( c a l c u l a t e d us i ng 3 as t he d i me n s i o n of al l mo me n t u m i nt e gr a -
t i ons ) ha s a s s o c i a t e d t o i t a f a c t o r
( X l / ~ ) v / ~ - " = x v / ~ : / ' - ~ . ( 2 . 4 a )
Le t V b, V, a n d V d be t he n u mb e r of ve r t i c e s of t he t ype s d e p i c t e d , r e s pe c t i ve l y, i n
fi gs. 2 b - d . Th e n V = V b + V + V d, N = 2V b + V, a n d t he f a c t o r ( 2. 4a) b e c o me s
( ~ / / 3 ) v B - n ~ ~ ( , / 2 O / 2 N - 2) + V, + 2 Vd). ( 2 . 4 b )
394 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
The leading graphs, with V = V d = 0 , result in an N-poi nt vertex in E~rt with
coupling proport i onal to XO/2XO/2XN-2)).
This result indicates that, except for the case N = 2 where the cont ri but i on goes
as 4 / f l 2 ~ 4 , the effect of the n ~ 0 modes is perturbatively small compared to the
leading order of the n = 0 theory. For N = 4, for example, their cont ri but i on of X3/2
is down by a fact or of 4 from the 4/ ]3 appearing in the tree approxi mat i on to Een"
Their cont ri but i on to higher N-point functions is even furt her suppressed relative to
the cont ri but i on of the n = 0 theory. It is clear, then, t hat our classification of
graphs in the region f l . ~ X I / 2 / t t allows one to c o n s t r u c t ~ f f for the 3D t heory
systematically in a power series in 4.
Let us now turn at t ent i on to the one cont ri but i on of the n =# 0 modes which is
not suppressed by a power of 4, the mass renormal i zat i on graph of fig. 3. Denot i ng
its value by - M 2 ( ~ , / 2 ) 1 fpqOo(P)CPo(-P), we see that
1X n ~ Of k l
M2( f l ' ~2) = 2 f l k2 + (2~rn//fl)2 _ g2
(2.5)
Performing the k integration in d - I dimensions by the usual rules [17],
1 7 r ' d - 1 ' / 2 F ( { - - d ) E - t t z
M2( f l ' " 2) = 2fl ( 2or ) d- '
n=O
Recalling the condition f 1 2 9 2 4, we next expand M2 ( f l , / / . 2 ) in powers o f f12p2:
_ A ~ " a - ' ) / 2 / 3 d l [ ( _ d _ ~ _ f l 2 t x 2
MZ(fl' /' t2) fl a-2 (2vr) a - - ' F k ~ - ~ ) , , - I ~ (2rrn) 3- d 1 - ) ( 2 ~ n ) 2
f 1 4 4 ]
- , ~ ( 2 ~ r ) d - 3 f ( 3 - d ) 2 ( 2~r ) 5_df ( 5- - d)
f l d _ 2 (2tr) a- I" -- d - 3 f1292
- 24fl2 ~ + ~ ' / - ln2~r I/2 + In
h l
"at- 4~2~4~(3) ~ " ' 7 . + 0 ( / ~ 4 ~ 6) + 0( 4 - d ) .
2%r q
(2.6)
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 395
[The last line follows f r om the rel at i ons ~' ( - 1) = - ~ , ~ ' ( 5 - d ) = l / ( 4 - d ) + y +
I
] d ) = - 2 V~ (1 + ( 4 - d ) ( - i ~ , - l n 2 + 1 ) + O( 4 - d ) 2 ) ] . It O( 4 - d ) , and F ( ~ - i
is easily verified t hat the pol e t er m in l / ( 4 - d) is precisely cancel l ed by t he usual
zero t emper at ur e mass count er t er m of (2.1).
The finite t erms in (2.5) appear as correct i ons to the mass squar ed in the tree
appr oxi mat i on to the effective 3D t heory:
~ f f = ~ + + . - . % ( k ) % ( - k ) + h / f l . v ~ +' ' " ( 2 . 7 )
4 !
It is now evi dent t hat t here occur s a transition bet ween br oken and unbr oken
symmet r y states at a t emper at ur e which to l eadi ng or der in ~, cor r esponds to
f12 = ~/ 24/ t 2 (in agr eement with refs. [2, 3]), self-consistently j ust i fyi ng use of
f l ~ ) ~ / 2 / # as a means of accessing t he critical region of t he t heory. It is per haps
helpful to poi nt out t hat our consi der at i on of the n = 0 mode al one is sufficient to
under st and the symmet r y behavi or of the original 4D t heor y since space-t i me
i ndependent source terms, used for exampl e in defi ni ng t he effective pot ent i al for
the 4D t heory, coupl e onl y to the n -- 0 mode anyway. We mor eover not e t hat the
n = 0 mode also embodi es in its ent i ret y the static critical behavi or of the original
t heory (2.2). This behavi or, in t urn, is none ot her t han the critical behavi or of ~4
field t heory in 3 di mensi ons al r eady well st udi ed via the e-expansion, and to which
we shall ret urn in sect. 4.
We pause here bri efl y to illustrate how hi gher-order correct i ons to ~en are
cal cul at ed using as a specific exampl e the next l eadi ng correct i ons to the t ransi t i on
t emperat ure. O(~ 2) cor r ect i ons to fl~ arise f r om the non- domi nant t erms of the
graph in fig. 3, i.e., the until now negl ect ed finite ~x/t 2 t erms of eq. (2.6), and in
addi t i on terms of the f or m 2x2/fl 2 comi ng from the t wo-l oop graphs of fig. 5. The
crosses denot e the one- l oop mass and coupl i ng const ant renormal i zat i on count er -
t erms (C.T.) of (2.1), fixed by some r enor mal i zat i on prescri pt i on for the t heory. The
pol e t erms f r om the graphs in fig. 5 are easily cal cul at ed and f ound to leave
l / ( 3 . 2 6 r 2 ) ( ) ~ 2 / f 1 2 ) l / ( 4 - d ) , which acts as a count er t er m in ~eff, ul t i mat el y
cancel l i ng against a pol e t erm of the same absol ut e value from fig. 6. The finite
part s of these graphs, dependent upon the chosen renormal i zat i on prescri pt i on, will
imply a transition t emper at ur e of the form
24/~2 (1 + O ( A ) + O ( h l n h ) )
To2= l/tic2--- )~2
(3
Fig. 6. Two-loop mass renormalization calculated within ~eff'
396 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
3. Gauge theory coupled to scalars and fermions
We now proceed to r edo the analysis of sect. 2 in the general case of gauge fields
coupl ed to scalar and spi nor fields. To facilitate compari son, we adher e r oughl y*
to the convent i ons of ref. [2] and start with a t heory whose zero t emper at ur e
generat i ng funct i onal is defi ned by
Z ( J ) - - f e x p l - f d a x ( F 2 + ~ l ( ~ - igA:Oa)cP] 2 + ~ ( ~ ' + m - i g t ~ f ) ~ k
~ , A, ~ I.
+ ~/Fiq,,ep , + P(~0) } + C. T. + gauge-fixing t erms + source t e r ms ] .
(3.1)
a a a abc b c
A~ is a set of gauge fields, F ~ = O ~ , A ~ - O ~ A ~ , + g [ A~, A, , is their field strength
' fields. Oq tensor, cp i is a set of hermi t i an spin-zero fields, and ~k,~ is a set of spin ~ a
and t~,, are the hermi t i an mat ri ces represent i ng the gauge generat ors on the scalar
and fermi on multiplets, respectively, and the mass mat ri x m and Yukawa coupl i ng
mat ri x F i are gauge invariant. Finally, the scalar field pot ent i al P(q~) is a gauge-
i nvari ant quart i c pol ynomi al , even in q0.
Again, some sort of weak coupl i ng condi t i on is necessary to j ust i fy the use of
per t ur bat i on t heory. For definiteness, we assume the l agrangi an to be charact eri zed
by a small gauge coupl i ng const ant g << 1, with the Yukawa coupl i ngs Fi of or der g,
and the scalar quart i c coupl i ngs A i j k t - - 0 4 P ( ~ ) / ~ i ~ C P j O ~ k ~ % o f or der g2. Thi s
form of weak coupl i ng assumpt i on identifies a zero t emper at ur e expansi on in the
number of loops in Feynman di agrams with an expansi on in powers of g2.
(Actually, only mi nor changes in our discussion woul d be requi red to deal with the
mor e general case 1>>2~ >>g4, ar bi t r ar y F<< I.)
Feynman rules have been deri ved [19] for gauge theories at finite t emper at ur e by
quant i zi ng the t heor y in a physical gauge (so as not to excite any non-physi cal
states in the heat bat h) and t hen showing t hat the results obt ai ned f or the part i t i on
funct i on or for the Gr een funct i ons of gauge-i nvari ant obj ect s are gauge i ndepen-
dent. For our purposes, it is sufficient to not e t hat higher orders of per t ur bat i on
t heor y are syst emat i cal l y suppressed if one works in a renormal i zabl e gauge, so it is
precisely in these gauges that one is j ust i fi ed in ret ai ni ng onl y t erms up to a given
or der in the coupl i ng const ant . For simplicity, cal cul at i ons will be present ed here
using the Landau gauge (gauge propagat ors pr opor t i onal to St, ~ - k ~ k , / k 2) with
~' Here, however , t he met r i c is eucl i dean ( + + + +) . I n addi t i on, t he gauge ge ne r at or s are mor e
convent i onal l y nor mal i zed by ext r act i ng t he gauge c oupl i ng c o n s t a n t a n d wr i t i ng it expl i ci t l y
mul t i pl yi ng 0 ~ a nd t . Ot her wi se, t he not at i on c or r e s ponds to t hat of ref. [2] a n d is expl ai ned in ref.
liB].
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 397
t he reasonabl e assumpt i on t hat met hods such as those of ref. [9] can be used to
demonst r at e the gauge i ndependence of observabl e quantities.
The finite t emper at ur e versi on of the t heor y is obt ai ned f r om ( 3. 1) j us t as (2.2)
was obt ai ned f r om (2.1). In moment um space, we repl ace all integrals
[ l / ( 2 r ) a l / d d k with
1 1 1
d ' - ' k ,
and write the ener gy component s k as ~, = 2 ~ r n / ~ and (2n + l ) ~ r / f l f or bosons
(i ncl udi ng Fadeev- Popov ghosts) and fermions, respect i vel y [15, 19]. Fol l owi ng the
reasoni ng appl i ed pri or to (2.3), we next rescale the fields ~o, A, and ~ by a f act or
l / ~ f l so as to work with pr opagat or s normal i zed in accor dance with d - l
di mensi onal theories. Thi s rescaling leaves a set . of theories, i ndexed by the
f r equency mode n, i nt eract i ng via gauge coupl i ng g ~ ~/fl, Yukawa coupl i ng Fi/X/fl,
and scal ar quart i c coupl i ng ) ~ i j k l / f l " Again, the couplings become di mensi onful
with a scale set by ft.
The di agr ammat i cs f r om here parallels t hat of sect. 2. We i nt r oduce single and
doubl e line pr opagat or s to denot e, respectively, the n --- 0 and n v ~ 0 modes for the
gauge and ghost fields (figs. 7a, b), and doubl e di rect ed lines to denot e the sum
over the fermi on f r equency modes (fig. 7c). As poi nt ed out in sect. l, fermi ons,
possessing no zero f r equency mode (fermi ons do not Bose condense), can be
i nt egrat ed away ent i rel y and do not appear explicitly in the effect i ve 3D t heor y of
the critical region. The new i nt eract i on vertices, as shown in figs. 8, 9, are the
fami l i ar 4D vertices depi ct ed with all fermi on pr opagat or s drawn doubl e lined and
some choi ce of the boson pr opagat or s drawn doubl e lined.
>
( o ) ( b ) ( c )
Fig. 7. (a) Gauge boson propagators, (b) ghost propagators, (c) f er mi on propagator.
n T i
XA X Y
Fig. 8. Vertices with maxi mal number of n m 0 propagat ors used to const ruct l eadi ng cont ri but i ons to
398
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
X X X X X Y
Fig. 9. Vertices used to construct non-leading contributions to ~cff.
"xx-\x f f f "
Since, as will be s hown shor t l y, t he i mpos e d we a k coupl i ng c ondi t i ons i mpl y
f l ~ g 2 / l t 2 ( wher e # is n o w a t ypi cal zer o t e mpe r a t ur e ma s s scal e r el evant t o t hat
sect or of t he t heor y whos e or de r - di s or de r t r ans i t i on is unde r cons i der at i on) , t aki ng
f l " tic onc e agai n al l ows t he use o f / 3 as a smal l p a r a me t e r whi ch hel ps i dent i f y t he
l eadi ng c ont r i but i ons to t~er f in t he cri t i cal regi on. Char act er i zi ng gr a phs a c c or di ng
t o t hei r or der i n / 3 a nd t he c oupl i ng cons t ant s , we fi nd, j u s t as in eq. (2.4), t hat a
gr aph wi t h N~ ext er nal scal ar l i nes a nd N 2 ext er nal gauge b o s o n lines has a s s oc i a t e d
to it a f a c t or / 3 ( N ' + N 2 ) / 2 - - 3 t i mes powe r s of g, I ] ' s a nd h i j k / s c o mi n g f r om t he
vert i ces. For a gi ven N~ + N 2, it is cl ear t hat t he l eadi ng gr aphs c ont a i n onl y t hos e
ver t i ces wi t h t he maxi mal n u mb e r of ext er nal lines (fig. 8). Mor e ove r , as N~ + N 2 is
i ncr eased, this l eadi ng c ont r i but i on is r e duc e d b y f act or s o f / 3 a n d g. Th e r esul t is
t hat , e xc e pt f or t he cas e N~ + N 2 -- 2, wher e t he c o n t r i b u t i o n goes as g 2 / / 3 2 ~ g O ,
t he ef f ect of t he n :~ 0 mode s is pe r t ur ba t i ve l y smal l c o mp a r e d t o t he l eadi ng or de r
of t he n -- 0 t heor y; Eeft f or t he 3 D t he or y c a n t hus be c o n s t r u c t e d in a p o we r seri es
in g whos e l owest non- t r i vi al o r d e r is cal cul abl e f r om t he gr aphs of figs. l 0 a n d I I.
De n o t i n g t he s um of t he gr aphs in fig. 10 b y 2 l
- M i j ( / 3 ) ~ fvepo( p ) C p o ( - p ) , we
pr oc e e d as in eqs. (2.5) a n d (2.6). The l eadi ng c o n t r i b u t i o n s to Mi~(/3) f r om figs.
10a, b a n d c are, r espect i vel y,
1X, j kk ~ 0 L l =X' J kk
2 fl k2 + ( 2r n/ f l ) 2 _ # 2 24/ 32 + O( ) ~) ,
( 3. 2a)
"~ fk ( ( ( 2n + 1 ) =/ / 3 ) 2 + ( p + k) 2 + m2 ) ( ( ( 2 n + 1)~.//3)2 + k 2 + m 2)
i
- 2 4 f l z Tr [ F,-/0Fj70] + O ( r 2 ) ,
-~2 fk 1 _ 3g 2 (0,~0,,)0."
( O " O " ) e ( d - l).~oZ k~ + ( 2 ~ r n / / 3 ) ~ - 12132
( 3. 2b)
( 3. 2c)
P . Ginsparg I Phas e transitions
C) 0
( a ) ( b ) ( c ) ( d )
Fig. 10. Leadi ng cont r i but i ons t o scal ar boson mass squar ed mat ri x in err.
3 9 9
_0_
_ _ 0
{ a ) ( b ) ( c )
Fig. I 1. Leadi ng cont r i but i ons to t he gauge bos on sel f-energy in ~. tt.
In the Landau gauge, fig. 10d has no I / f l 2 part ; i t s p 2 dependent pieces, al ong with
those of fig. 10b, act as wave- f unct i on renormal i zat i ons in hi gher orders of Eat.
The graphs of fig. I 1 cont r i but e to the gauge boson self-energy H~ ( p ) , where p
is the 3- moment um of the ext ernal legs. The result takes the form
g 2 I
I I ~ = - ~ { ~ trO#O b + l t r t a t b + ~f=<dfb<a} + O(g2),
I - l a y = ( p 2 ~ i j - - P i p j ) O ( g 2 ) . (3.3)
: - ' r t ~ We see t hat the/~ = 0 component of the gauge field gets a large mass ma b - 5
(the pl asmon effect) causi ng it to decoupl e f r om the critical behavi or. The space
component s of A~( p) , however, remai n massless* to all orders in per t ur bat i on
t heory, and compri se a 3D gauge field of ~efr [this is per haps more obvi ous in view
of the War d identities which, i ndependent of di mensi on, insure the above f or m f or
Fief f or each of the non-si ngul ar 3D theories bei ng summed t o pr oduce Eet f ].
The obj ect i ve of this section has now been at t ai ned. We have f ound t hat in or der
to under st and the critical behavi or of the gauge t heor y (3.1) at finite t emperat ure,
we need st udy onl y an en of t he same gauge t heor y in 3 di mensi ons coupl ed to its
* Thi s si t uat i on is i dent i cal t o t hat of qua nt um el ect r odynami cs at fi ni t e t emper at ur e wher e t he
el ect rost at i c forces in a virtual gas of char ged part i cl es become shor t r ange due t o Debye scr eeni ng
whi l e t he magnet i c forces r emai n l ong r ange (see ref. [ 10] f or a di scussi on).
400 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
scalar sector. The scalar sector, in turn, has the tree appr oxi mat i on mass term, f r om
eqs. ( 3. 2a- c),
2 + ~ l (h,~/** + Tr [ Fi'/0F, y0] + 6 g 2 (O ~ o a )o )} fp g ~ o (p )~ o (-,o ). (3.4)
-- ~tij 2 4 f l 2
The implications of this t ype of t erm have been discussed by Wei nber g [2]; it
t ypi cal l y has the effect of rest ori ng a br oken symmet r y above some paramet ri cal l y
large critical t emperat ure, 1~tic ~ t o / g , by changi ng sign from negat i ve to posi-
tive. The advant age of the formal i sm empl oyed here [besides the ease with which
we derive (3.4)] is t hat it allows, as illustrated in sect. 2, a syst emat i c comput at i on
of hi gher-order correct i ons to the transition t emper at ur e and ot her i nt erest i ng
propert i es of the critical t heory.
4 . e - e x p a n s i o n a n a l y s i s
We wish to under st and the behavi or of 3D theories of the form
i | 2 1
~ e f f ~-~ F 2 + ~ V ig AaOacp +~mcPiq~Y+~-v--'fl -q~'qjqkq~l?'' (4.1)
as some of the ei genval ues of myy, the t emper at ur e- dependent mass mat ri x of (3.4),
vanish. To st udy t he critical behavi or it suffices to consi der an effective renormal i z-
able subset of the t heory, in which t he onl y fields which appear are those whose
masses are small or zero. We will t herefore exami ne here theories of the t ype (4.1)
for which the mass eigenvalues are all degenerat e, m 2 = m2- - . 0 for all i. The fl
dependence of the coupl i ng const ant s, no l onger essential t o the discussion, will
hencef or t h be absor bed i nt o t he A's and g 2 .
We deal with the i nfrared di vergences which appear as the masses vanish by
using the renormal i zat i on gr oup [4] to relate a gi ven t heory t o an equi val ent t heor y
with larger masses. A scal e-i nvari ant t heory, charact eri st i c of a second- or der phase
t ransi t i on at the critical point, will cor r espond to a t raj ect ory in coupl i ng const ant
space l eadi ng to a poi nt fixed under the renormal i zat i on group. To fi nd non-t ri vi al
fixed poi nt s within the f r amewor k of per t ur bat i on t heory, we must work in 4-e
di mensi ons* and l ook f or fixed poi nt s of or der e, assumed pert urbat i vel y small.
The physics of interest, of course, occurs for e - - l but nonet hel ess l owest -order
results in e general l y agree well enough with exper i ment t hat they may be regarded
as a faithful descri pt i on of second- or der transitions.
* To avoi d a ny possi bl e conf us i on, we s houl d not e t ha t t hi s c ont i nua t i on i n t he n u mb e r of
di me ns i ons pl ays a concept ual l y di f f er ent role t h a n t ha t of t he di me ns i ona l r egul ar i zat i on i n sect . 2.
Ther e, wor ki ng i n t he ne i ghbor hood of 4 di me ns i ons was us e d i n or de r t o def i ne t he or i gi nal 4 D
t heor y; i n t he pr e s e nt cont exL a n nssume.~lly wel l - under s t ood 4 D t heor y is us e d as t he basi s for a n
e xpa ns i on in t owar ds a 3D t he or y of i nt erest .
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 401
I t h a s b e e n p o i n t e d o u t [20] t h a t t h e o r i e s wh i c h p o s s e s s n o s t a b l e f i x e d p o i n t s
wi t h i n t h e e - e x p a n s i o n c a n b e r e l i a b l y i d e n t i f i e d , o n a n a d h o c b a s i s , wi t h e x p e r i -
me n t a l s y s t e ms wh i c h u n d e r g o f i r s t - o r d e r p h a s e t r a n s i t i o n s . I n g e n e r a l , h o we v e r ,
t hi s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n i s p e r h a p s n o t e n t i r e l y we l l - g r o u n d e d [21], s o we s ha l l a s s u me
t h a t we n e e d t o s u p p l e m e n t t he me r e a b s e n c e o f s t a b l e f i x e d p o i n t s i n t he
e - e x p a n s i o n wi t h s o m e d e m o n s t r a t i o n t h a t t h e r e is a f i r s t - o r d e r t r a n s i t i o n . F o r -
t u n a t e l y , i n al l c a s e s t o b e c o n s i d e r e d h e r e , t r a j e c t o r i e s a r e f o u n d t o l e a d t o t he
r e g i me o f c l a s s i c a l i n s t a b i l i t y , wh e r e , a s we s h a l l c o n f i r m, t he d e m o n s t r a t i o n i s
r e l a t i v e l y s i mp l e [21, 22].
F o r a t h e o r y i n 4 - e d i me n s i o n s , t he r e n o r ma l i z a t i o n g r o u p f l o ws i n c o u p l i n g
c o n s t a n t s p a c e a r e g e n e r a t e d b y t he d i f f e r e n t i a l e q u a t i o n s
d---t- = f i x ( g 2, X, e) = eh - Bx ( g 2 , X ) ,
( 4 . 2 a )
d g 2 = B g ( g 2, X , e ) = e g 2 - f i g ( g 2 , X ) ( 4 . 2 b )
d t
wh e r e Bx ( g 2, X) a n d B g ( g 2, ~ ) a r e t h e B- f u n c t i o n s c a l c u l a t e d f o r 4 d i me n s i o n s * ( t h e
p a r a m e t e r t is d e f i n e d t o i n c r e a s e a s t r a j e c t o r i e s t e n d t o wa r d s t h e i n f r a r e d r a t h e r
t h a n t h e u l t r a v i o l e t , h e n c e t he e x t r a mi n u s s i gn) . We a r e t h u s a b l e t o m a k e u s e o f
t h e B - f u n c t i o n s a l r e a d y we l l t a b u l a t e d [24] f r o m i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o f a s y m p t o t i c
f r e e d o m f o r t hi s c l a s s o f t h e o r i e s . A f i x e d p o i n t is a p o i n t ( g , 2 , ~ , ) i n c o u p l i n g
c o n s t a n t s p a c e s u c h t h a t
0 = f l g ( g * 2 , X * , e ) = f l x ( g * 2 , X * , e ) . ( 4 . 3 )
As a s i mp l e e x a mp l e , l et u s r e t u r n t o t he t h e o r y c o n s i d e r e d i n s e c t . 2 i n t he
g e n e r a l i z e d f o r m
I 2 I 2 2_i_ ~ ' / p 2 ~ 2 ' . ~ - . ~ )
( 4 . 4 )
wi t h ~ n o w a n N - c o m p o n e n t v e c t o r . T h e B - f u n c t i o n f o r t hi s mo d e l
f l ( X , e ) = eX 1 N +____88 X2 + O(XB) '
8~r 2 6
( 4 . 5 )
h a s a s t a b l e f i x e d p o i n t a t
6
X* - - ( 8 7r 2 ) ~ e . ( 4 . 6 a )
. Eq. (4.2) is true to all orders in g2, h, and e if a minimal subtraction type prescription is used to
define the renormalization counterterms of the theory [23]. It is true to one-loop order regardless of
the renormalization prescription.
402
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
All 4D field theories for whi ch (4.4) serves to model the behavi or near a phase
transition are thus predi ct ed to have second- or der transitions. The critical exponent
v, for example, is given by [25]
_1 2 N+ 2 - - 2
= - - - - 7- ~o e + t ) t e ) . (4. 6b)
v N - 1 - o
Thi s result applies to a large class of theories, with arbi t rary f er mi on sector, whose
global O( N) symmet r y is spont aneousl y br oken at zero t emperat ure. Similar results
can be easily obt ai ned for scalars in higher t ensor represent at i ons and with
di fferent global symmet r y groups.
Proceedi ng now to the case of gauge theories, analysis of eq. (4.2) enabl es an
i mmedi at e i mpor t ant concl usi on. To one- l oop order,
f l g ( g 2 , X , e ) = e g 2 + b ~g 4,
8"n'"
b o = [ ~ C 2 ( G ) - ~ C 2 ( S ) ] , (4.7)
where the const ant s C2(G ) and C2(S ) are def i ned in t erms of the group st ruct ure
const ant s and scalar r epr esent at i on matrices by f a c a f b c a _ C2(G)Sab, Tr Oa 0b=
C2(S)8 ab [24]. If the gauge coupl i ng const ant is asympt ot i cal l y free, i.e., b o > 0,
t hen the onl y possible solutions to (4.3) have g. 2 = 0. Fur t her mor e, fig(g2, A, e) > 0
for 0 < g 2 < < l , so i nfrared t raj ect ori es will always flow away f r om the g 2 = 0
hyperpl ane, as shown in fig. 12. Thus any possible fixed poi nt s are unst abl e at least
with respect to the g2 di rect i on and the possibility of stable fixed poi nt s when
b 0 > 0 is ruled out. This we i nt erpret as an i ndi cat i on of a fi rst -order t ransi t i on in
such theories; we will shortly provi de a sounder j ust i fi cat i on of this st at ement .
For b 0 <0 , on the ot her hand, there may exist solutions to eq. (4.3), with
g . 2 = _ 8 , r 2 / b o , cor r espondi ng to stable fixed points. In a non-abel i an gauge
theory, this condi t i on requires a scalar sect or large enough that the C2(S ) t erm in
(4.7) domi nat e the pure gauge term. As a typical example, we exami ne an O( N)
gauge t heory coupl ed to m scalar fields in the vect or represent at i on. For this model,
' ' = ~ ( 2 2 ( N- 2) - m) , b o = ~ ~ ( N- 2) - g i m (4.8)
g2
Fig. 12. Behavior of infrared trajectories in the vicinity of a fixed poi nt in the g 2 . 0 hyperplane when
b0>O.
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions 403
a n d b 0 < 0 is obt a i ne d f or m > 2 2 ( N- 2). To pr ovi de a n easi l y a na l ys a bl e s cal ar
quar t i c pot ent i al , we i mpos e a n a ddi t i ona l O( m) s y mme t r y a mo n g t he m N- ve c t or s
a n d wr i t e
I 2 1 " a a 2
E~f , - - ~F +i [ ( a ~, - t g A~, O ) ~ . ] +m2 ( ~. . c p . )
I
+ ~ x , ( %. %)(w~,-,~a) + " x 2( %. ~o~,)(%.,~) ( 4. 9)
( a a nd fl ar e s u mme d f r eel y f r o m 1 t o m) . The e qua t i ons
d t - e)~l - - -
! ( ( Nm + 8)~k2 + 12~.2
16~r 2
+ 4 ( N+ m + l)X,)k 2 - 3 ( N- l ) g 2 h , + ] g 4 } .
d)~2 1
d t = c A2 - - ( 2 ( N
16~r 2
+ m + 4)2~22 + 12)~1)~ 2
- 3 ( N- 1)g2)~2 +3 g 4 ( N - 2)} ( 4. 10)
ar e f o u n d t o have a st abl e f i xed poi nt * in t he posi t i ve def i ni t e r egi on of t he s cal ar
quar t i c pot ent i al f or m>~ 4 0 N (fig. 13). I n t he l ar ge m limit, we f i nd expl i ci t l y
6 0
X ? = 8 ~ ' 2 e ( -
7~ _- 8~r2 e + 3 2 - 10N
m 2 -t-
967r2e
g , 2 = (4.1 l a)
m- 22( N- 2) '
, 2 ( 4 2 4 8 N _ o ( ) ) ,
e I + + ( 4 . l i b )
~, m m-~ "
We t hus pr edi ct s e c ond- or de r t r ans i t i ons f or all 4 D t heor i es whos e cr i t i cal be ha vi or
at a t r ansi t i on poi nt is mo d e l e d by (4.9). ( A si mi l ar si t uat i on ensues in t he case of
an S U( N) gauge g r o u p c oupl e d t o suf f i ci ent l y ma n y ve c t or r epr es ent at i ons . ) Fo r
compl et enes s , we not e t hat in t he speci al case O( N = 2) ( scal ar QED) , t her e exi st s
a n o t h e r fi xed poi nt , st abl e onl y in t he s ubs pace 2, 2 = 0, f or n -~ 2m > 365. 9 [5]. Thi s
* I wish to thank S. Hikami for allowing comparison with his unpublished rsults for this model. Eq.
(4.10) differs from the corresponding results quoted by Cheng, Eichten, and Li [24].
404 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
~2
2-' ~-" =
x ~- x l / 2
Fig. 13. Flow diagram in the g2=g*2 plane in coupling constant space for the model (4.9) with
m ~> 4ON. In the shaded region, the scalar quartic form of (4.9) is unbounded below. The fully attractive
fixed point is the one at upper left.
f i xed p o i n t is g i v e n b y
g*2 ~ _ _ _ _ _
192, r2e
8~r2e [ 1 4 3 6 + A ]
x = . - - g - g L ~ - g '
A = ( n 2 - 3 6 0 n - 2160) ' / 2 ,
( 4. 12a )
a n d ha s
l 2 F ~ ' ( n + 2 ) 2 1 6 + n + 2 A / .
( 4 . 1 2 b )
,, 2 ( n + 8) t n n J
Th e r e ma r k s f o l l o wi n g eqs. ( 4. 6b) a n d (4.1 l b ) a p p l y as wel l , of c our s e , t o t hi s f i xed
poi nt .
We s h o u l d n o w l i ke t o s ay mo r e a b o u t t he cas es wh i c h a d mi t n o s t a b l e f i xe d
p o i n t s * . It wi l l be c o n v e n i e n t i n t he f o l l o wi n g t o s hi f t t o a d e s c r i p t i o n of t he
c o u p l i n g c o n s t a n t s as f u n c t i o n s of a d i me n s i o n f u l s cal e p a r a me t e r ~ [i.e.,
~(3/ OK))~(K), et c. , r e p l a c e s 3 Mt ) / Ot i n (4.2)]. We s u p p o s e t h a t t he ~, , j kt (~)' S h a v e
b e e n d e f i n e d at s o me s cal e M t o be g e n e r i c a l l y of o r d e r g2. Le t
X(K) = mi n ~i ) , l ( ~) ni nJ n*n t ( 4. 13)
I nl 2- 1
* The discussion which follows is similar to that which has appeared in a purely 4-dimensional
context [26, 271 .
P. Gimparg / Phase transitions 405
be the mi ni mum val ue of the quart i c form X~jkt(x)q~:pjePkept on the uni t sphere, and
let n~o(X) be the uni t vect or al ong which this mi ni mum is at t ai ned. Then t he tree
appr oxi mat i on to the effect i ve pot ent i al of the t heor y (4.1),
, 2 X , j ~ t ( ' ~ )
u ( c p , ) = u(o) +~m ~,~,
4 ! ~gi~j~k~l' (4.14)
has, for m 2 large and negative, a mi ni mum at %= (~0)n~(K), where ( ~ 5 2 =
- 6mZ/ ~, ( x) . In or der to avoi d large l og( ( ~o) / x) fact ors in hi gher-order radi at i ve
correct i ons which coul d i nval i dat e the tree appr oxi mat i on (4.14), we may self-
consi st ent l y choose a r enor mal i zat i on poi nt ~ = (~05.
Let us now assume t hat the original choi ce of coupl i ng const ant s at the scale M
defi nes a second smal l er scale K o for which
~(K0) = 0 . (4.15)
This occurs if and onl y if the i nf r ar ed renormal i zat i on gr oup trajectories lead to the
edge of the classical stability region beyond whi ch the scal ar quart i c pot ent i al no
l onger has a lower bound. Then when I m21<<.g*x~, the tree appr oxi mat i on breaks
down since X((~ >) ~g 4 ( ( q ~) ) and t he one-l oop t erms are compar abl e to the lowest
or der pot ent i al (4.14). To deal with this case, it is most conveni ent to choose a
renormal i zat i on poi nt x = r0. The mi ni mum of the pot ent i al will remai n close to
the line % = ~n~(x0) but the magni t ude (~0) must be det er mi ned by i ncl udi ng the
one- l oop terms, i.e., by mi ni mi zi ng
U(rPnio(Ko)) = U(O) + ~ + ~4- ~ a ( e ) - 1 (4.16)
with respect to ~. A(e), finite in the limit e--*0, is a positive linear combi nat i on of
l _ i e) is chosen (g2(KO))(4-O/2 and ( ~( Xo) / 4- / 2; a ( r ) =-- (1 - e)(l - i e)(l - ] e)(l
so t hat 04U/0~41~_~o = 0, t her eby ret ai ni ng the defi ni t i on of the coupl i ng const ant s
?~j kt (x)--~U/ Org, Orgj~pkOeplJ~_,, to one- l oop order. It is easy to show t hat the
pot ent i al (4.16) takes its non-t ri vi al mi ni mum at a val ue (~0) of ~v whi ch is of or der
x 0, j ust i fyi ng the use of one- l oop per t ur bat i on t heory, and which is a monot oni cal l y
decreasi ng f unct i on of m 2. At m 2 = O, for example, we find ( ~ ) =[ ( 1
- r ) / a ( e ) ] l / ' Ko . As m 2 increases f r om zero, the expect at i on val ue cont i nues to
slowly decrease until m 2 is large enough to cause the value of the pot ent i al at (q~)
to move above U(0) and the t rue mi ni mum of the pot ent i al switches to ( ~ ) - 0.
Thi s is the familiar pi ct ure of a fi rst -order t ransi t i on; the di scont i nui t y in the or der
par amet er is predi ct ed to be
I 1 ' / '
(4.17)
406
P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
g2
- x
g2
( o ) ( b}
Fig. 14. Possible behaviors of infrared trajectories in the absence of fixed points
We wi l l s h o r t l y r e - e x p r e s s t hi s e s t i ma t e i n t e r ms o f m o r e p h y s i c a l p a r a me t e r s .
H o w o f t e n is i t t h a t r e n o r ma l i z a t i o n g r o u p t r a j e c t o r i e s wi t h t he a s s u m e d p r o p e r -
t i es wi l l e xi s t ? Si n c e t h e c o n d i t i o n ( 4. 15) s p e c i f i e s a p - 1 d i me n s i o n a l s u b m a n i f o l d
o f a p - d i me n s i o n a l p a r a m e t e r s p a c e , a n d s i n c e s c a l a r q u a r t i c c o u p l i n g s i n t r i n s i c a l l y
t e n d t o wa r d s n e g a t i v e v a l u e s i n t h e i n f r a r e d , t h e r e wi l l a l wa y s b e a t l e a s t s o me
n o n - t r i v i a l s e t o f t r a j e c t o r i e s f o r wh i c h ( 4. 15) is f ul f i l l e d. T h e r e mi g h t e xi s t a s wel l ,
h o we v e r , r e g i o n s i n c o u p l i n g c o n s t a n t s p a c e c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o " r u n a w a y " t r a j e c t o -
r i es. By t hi s we r e f e r t o t r a j e c t o r i e s wh i c h l e a d o u t s i d e t h e p e r t u r b a t i v e r e g i me
wi t h o u t a p p r o a c h i n g e i t h e r a f i x e d p o i n t o r t he e d g e o f t h e c l a s s i c a l s t a b i l i t y r e g i o n ,
a n d t h u s a b o u t wh i c h we c o u l d m a k e n o d e f i n i t i v e s t a t e me n t . T h e g e n e r a l f o r m o f
t h e f l - f u n c t i o n s , f l x ( ) ~, g 2 , e ) = e)k - ( 1 / 8 ~r 2 ) ( A) k 2 - B ~ g 2 + C g 4) ( i n ma t r i x n o t a -
t i on) , a l l o ws t hi s p o s s i b i l i t y t o b e i n v e s t i g a t e d i n t e r ms o f t he v a r i a b l e s R i j k t
~ i j k l / g 2, f o r wh i c h we h a v e
1 O__RR= _ ~ ( A R 2 _ ( B _ b o ) g + C ) ( 4 . 1 8 )
g2 d t 8~r 2
Wi t h t h e g a u g e c o u p l i n g a s y mp t o t i c a l l y f r e e , a n a t t r a c t i v e f i x e d p o i n t i n t he s p a c e
of R ' s c o r r e s p o n d s t o r u n a w a y t r a j e c t o r i e s t e n d i n g a s y mp t o t i c a l l y t o i n f i n i t y a t a
f i x e d a n g l e i n c o u p l i n g c o n s t a n t s p a c e (fi g. 14a).
T h e o n l y o b v i o u s me a n s o f a s s e s s i n g t hi s p o s s i b i l i t y is t o a n a l y z e t h e e x p l i c i t
f l - f u n c t i o n s f o r a n y g i v e n mo d e l . F o l l o wi n g C h e n g , Ei c h t e n , a n d Li [ 24] *, t h e
a u t h o r h a s c o n s i d e r e d S U ( N ) a n d O ( N ) g a u g e t h e o r i e s ( al l wi t h g a u g e c o u p l i n g
m a i n t a i n e d a s y mp t o t i c a l l y f r e e ) c o u p l e d t o o n e v e c t o r , t wo v e c t o r , m v e c t o r ,
a d j o i n t , s e c o n d r a n k t e n s o r , a n d a d j o i n t p l u s o n e v e c t o r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a n d f o u n d
* The search performed is similar in principle to that performed with respect to ultraviolet trajectories
in [24]. A crucial difference, however, is that fermions can not be added here in order to adjust b 0 to
arbitrarily small values, b o is fixed uniquely, given the choice of gauge group and scalar representa-
tions, by eq. (4.7).
407 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
t hem to behave qual i t at i vel y as in fig. 14b, with all trajectories l eadi ng to the edge
of the stability region, r at her t han as in fig. 14a. These theories can thus all be
predi ct ed to have fi rst -order phase transitions.
It remai ns to est i mat e the size of t he scale K 0 relative to t he scale M. For generi c
values of order g2 for the )~ijkt(M)'s, we expect f ~( M) / g 2 ( M) ~ I. The rel at i on
( I / g2) x( O/ OK) ~( K) / gE( x) ~l following from (4.18) thus implies x0~e- C/ 82M,
with c some const ant . Since t he scale M in this pr obl em is nat ural l y given by the
zero t emper at ur e expect at i on val ue ( ~ ) r - 0 , we predict, from (4.17), t hat the
di scont i nui t y in the expect at i on val ue of the or der par amet er at the fi rst -order
t ransi t i on is exponent i al l y small compar ed to its zero t emper at ur e value,
- c / s 2/ -
( ~ 0 ~ r - r ~ e \ 9 ~; r - o .
(4.19)
If, on the ot her hand, t here were some special rel at i ons among the )~uk~(M)'s so
t hat X((cp ~r - 0) << g2 (placing t he zero t emper at ur e t heory in the Col eman- Wei nber g
regime [8, 27]), t hen the est i mat e above woul d not be applicable.
5 . Co n c l u d i n g r e ma r k s
We have present ed exampl es of bot h first- and second- or der phase transitions in
a general class of r enor mal i zabl e field theories at finite t emperat ure. Gi ven the
evi dent pains whi ch must be t aken to obt ai n a second- or der t ransi t i on in the
presence of gauge fields, we ma y concl ude t hat the i nt ui t i on out l i ned in sect. I does
pr ovi de a reliable rule of t humb for predi ct i ng the or der of these transitions; i.e.,
one- l oop gauge field effect s act to dri ve a fi rst -order transition. However, in the
per t ur bat i ve regime where our analysis is j ust i fi ed, the t ransi t i on is t ypi cal l y so
weakl y first or der t hat it may be i ndi st i ngui shabl e from a second- or der t ransi t i on
for most phenomenol ogi cal purposes.
Fr om a pract i cal st andpoi nt , assumi ng some spont aneousl y br oken gauge t heor y
to be an accurat e descri pt i on of nat ure, a t ransi t i on of the t ype investigated here
mi ght have pl ayed an i mpor t ant role in the evol ut i on of the earl y universe. If
phenomenol ogi cal ar gument s requi re a large degree of supercool i ng, t hen one of
the possibilities ment i oned in sect. l needs to be i nvoked to provi de a mor e
st rongl y fi rst -order transition.
It is a pleasure to t hank M. Peskin for numer ous i nformat i ve discussions and
val uabl e suggestions wi t hout whi ch this work woul d not have been possible. I have
also had profi t abl e conver sat i ons with E. Br6zin, T. Garel , and Y. Gol ds chmi dt
and grat eful l y acknowl edge discussions with A. Gut h and H. Tye whi ch led me to
consi der this probl em. Finally, I am i ndebt ed to all member s of the t heor y gr oup at
Sacl ay for their ki nd hospitality.
408 P. Ginsparg / Phase transitions
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