Numerical fluid dynamics for FRG flow equations: Zero-dimensional QFTs as numerical test cases. III. Shock and rarefaction waves in RG flows reveal limitations of the $N\to \infty$ limit in $O(N)$-type models

Abstract

Using an $O(N)$-symmetric toy model QFT in zero space-time dimensions we discuss several aspects and limitations of the $\frac{1}{N}$-expansion. We demonstrate, how slight modifications in a classical UV action can lead the $\frac{1}{N}$-expansion astray and how the infinite-$N$ limit may alter fundamental properties of a QFT. Thereby we present the problem of calculating correlation functions from two totally different perspectives: First, we explicitly analyze our model within an $\frac{1}{N}$-saddle-point expansion and show its limitations. Secondly, we picture the same problem within the framework of the Functional Renormalization Group. Applying novel analogies between (F)RG flow equations and numerical fluid dynamics from parts I and II of this series of publications, we recast the calculation of expectation values of our toy model into solving a highly non-linear but exact advection(-diffusion) equation. In doing so, we find that the applicability of the $\frac{1}{N}$-expansion to our toy model is linked to freezing shock waves in field space in the FRG-fluid dynamic picture, while the failure of the $\frac{1}{N}$-expansion in this context is related to the annihilation of two opposing shock waves in field space.

36 pages (main text 18, appendix 18), 9 tables, 13 figures (plot data included in arXiv source file); Updated, published version

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Numerical fluid dynamics for FRG flow equations: Zero-dimensional QFTs as numerical test cases. I. The $O(N)$ model
• Numerical fluid dynamics for FRG flow equations: Zero-dimensional QFTs as numerical test cases. II. Entropy production and irreversibility of RG flows
• Numerical RG-time integration of the effective potential: Analysis and Benchmark
• Functional flows for complex effective actions
• Regulator scheme dependence of the chiral phase transition at high densities
• Ordinary and exotic mesons in the extended Linear Sigma Model
• Addressing energy density functionals in the language of path-integrals II: Comparative study of functional renormalization group techniques applied to the (0+0)-D $O(N)$-symmetric ${\phi }^4$-theory
• Tunneling with physics-informed RG flows in the anharmonic oscillator
• Physics-informed operator flows and observables
• Vertex functions and their flow equations from the 2PI effective action