Critical Matter

TL;DR

This paper reviews a class of critical matter exhibiting universal power-law orders governed by non-Gaussian fixed points, using renormalization group methods to understand their critical behavior without fine tuning.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes a novel class of critical matter states characterized by strongly fluctuating orders and non-Gaussian fixed points, expanding the understanding of critical phenomena.

Findings

Critical matter exhibits universal power-law orders.

RG methods can describe these states without fine tuning.

These states resemble second-order phase transitions.

Abstract

As part of a chapter for a book titled "50 years of the renormalization group", dedicated to the memory of Michael E. Fisher, edited by Amnon Aharony, Ora Entin-Wohlman, David Huse, and Leo Radzihovsky, I review a class of novel ordered states of "critical matter", that exhibit strongly fluctuating universal power-law orders, controlled by an infra-red attractive, non-Gaussian fixed point. I will illustrate how RG methods pioneered by Wilson and Fisher can be used to deduce critical phenomenology of such critical phases, resembling that of a critical point of second order phase transitions, but requiring no fine tuning.