Exact renormalization group for quantum spin systems

Abstract

We show that the diagrammatic approach to quantum spin systems developed in a seminal work by Vaks, Larkin, and Pikin [Sov. Phys. JETP 26, 188 (1968)] can be embedded in the framework of the functional renormalization group. The crucial insight is that the generating functional of the time-ordered connected spin correlation functions of an arbitrary quantum spin system satisfies an exact renormalization group flow equation which resembles the corresponding flow equation of a system of interacting bosons. The $SU (2)$ spin algebra is implemented via a non-trivial initial condition for the renormalization group flow. Our method is rather general and offers a new non-perturbative approach to quantum spin systems.