At the Gaussian fixed point all interaction couplings vanish and scaling dimensions follow from the quadratic theory.
For quadratic dispersion with no interacting anomalous dimension, the thermal and uniform-source scaling eigenvalues are and . The generic homogeneous singular free-energy density has and gap exponent . These Gaussian-model values below the upper critical dimension are not the exponents of an interacting scalar critical point.
A Gaussian determinant with effective dimension has a singular free-energy contribution proportional to after subtraction of cutoff-dependent analytic terms. When is a positive integer, a logarithm replaces the pure power. Differentiating the determinant sufficiently often gives a marginal momentum integral proportional to . For the anisotropic kernel , , so logarithms occur at . These qualify simple homogeneous-power formulas rather than changing the nominal scaling dimensions.
The Gaussian momentum-shell scaling has thermal eigenvalue and source eigenvalue . The formal homogeneous magnetization index is therefore . A free quadratic Hamiltonian alone does not possess a stable negative-mass ordered phase, so this index is not a claim of spontaneous magnetization in an unstabilized Gaussian integral. In , a quartic interaction is relevant at the Gaussian fixed point and changes the generic scalar critical behavior.
Two thermal derivatives of a regulated Gaussian determinant produce this integral. For , rescaling yields a divergent power and heat-capacity critical exponent . At four dimensions the singularity is logarithmic, with power exponent zero. Above four the leading heat capacity is a finite cutoff-dependent background; its leading bounded-power convention has exponent zero, although the background-subtracted singular Gaussian contribution retains the negative index . In a stable quartic theory the mean-field ordered free energy proportional to instead produces a heat-capacity jump. This is why a dangerously irrelevant coupling qualifies naive hyperscaling relation.
After integrating a free-field momentum shell, restore the cutoff with and . The gradient coefficient is invariant, the mass changes as , and a uniform conjugate field changes as . This follows by counting measure, derivative and field factors in the quadratic Hamiltonian. A nonuniform source instead obeys , with the source on the right projected onto the retained Fourier modes. The field has engineering dimension and zero anomalous dimension.
For a stable massive Gaussian field theory, a finite blocking step yields for free-energy density. The finite-step shell and measure terms are analytic backgrounds. Generic-dimension singular scaling is homogeneous after subtracting those backgrounds; resonances such as Gaussian free-energy logarithm at effective dimension two need additive logarithmic terms.
For a quadratic determinant in two effective momentum dimensions, differentiating the free-energy density with respect to the squared mass gives a term proportional to . Integration gives after subtracting analytic terms. Its thermal power index is still 1, but a strictly homogeneous pure-power expression misses this logarithm. It is a Gaussian determinant resonance, distinct from interaction-generated logarithms at an upper critical dimension.
Articles by others on the same topic
The Gaussian fixed point is a concept from the field of statistical physics and quantum field theory, particularly in the context of renormalization group (RG) flows. It refers to a fixed point in the space of coupling constants where the theory becomes independent of the details of the underlying microscopic structure at large length scales. Here’s a deeper explanation: ### Background In many physical systems, particularly those near critical points or phase transitions, the behavior of the system can be described using field theories.