Surface critical behaviour at m-axial Lifshitz points: continuum models, boundary conditions and two-loop renormalization group results

Abstract

The critical behaviour of semi-infinite $d$-dimensional systems with short-range interactions and an O(n) invariant Hamiltonian is investigated at an $m$-axial Lifshitz point with an isotropic wave-vector instability in an $m$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{R}^d$ parallel to the surface. Continuum $|\bphi|^4$ models representing the associated universality classes of surface critical behaviour are constructed. In the boundary parts of their Hamiltonians quadratic derivative terms (involving a dimensionless coupling constant $\lambda$) must be included in addition to the familiar ones $\propto\phi^2$. Beyond one-loop order the infrared-stable fixed points describing the ordinary, special and extraordinary transitions in $d=4+\frac{m}{2}-\epsilon$ dimensions (with $\epsilon>0$) are located at $\lambda=\lambda^*=\Or(\epsilon)$. At second order in $\epsilon$, the surface critical exponents of both the ordinary and the special transitions start to deviate from their $m=0$ analogues. Results to order $\epsilon^2$ are presented for the surface critical exponent $\beta_1^{\rm ord}$ of the ordinary transition. The scaling dimension of the surface energy density is shown to be given exactly by $d+m (\theta-1)$, where $\theta=\nu_{l4}/\nu_{l2}$ is the bulk anisotropy exponent.