Stability of Random-Field and Random-Anisotropy Fixed Points at large N

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability of fixed points in large-N random-field and random-anisotropy models, revealing differences between infinite and finite N and identifying stable non-analytic fixed points for RA.

Contribution

It clarifies the stability of large-N fixed points in RF and RA models, especially the persistence of non-analytic fixed points in RA at finite N.

Findings

Non-analytic RF fixed point becomes unstable at finite N.

RA fixed point remains non-analytic and stable at finite N.

Critical exponents computed to 2-loop order in 1/N expansion.

Abstract

In this note, we clarify the stability of the large-N functional RG fixed points of the order/disorder transition in the random-field (RF) and random-anisotropy (RA) O(N) models. We carefully distinguish between infinite N, and large but finite N. For infinite N, the Schwarz-Soffer inequality does not give a useful bound, and all fixed points found in cond-mat/0510344 (Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 197202 (2006)) correspond to physical disorder. For large but finite N (i.e. to first order in 1/N) the non-analytic RF fixed point becomes unstable, and the disorder flows to an analytic fixed point characterized by dimensional reduction. However, for random anisotropy the fixed point remains non-analytic (i.e. exhibits a cusp) and is stable in the 1/N expansion, while the corresponding dimensional-reduction fixed point is unstable. In this case the Schwarz-Soffer inequality does not constrain the 2-point spin correlation. We compute the critical exponents of this new fixed point in a series in 1/N and to 2-loop order.