Fermi Systems with Strong Forward Scattering

Abstract

We review the theory of interacting Fermi systems whose low-energy physics is governed by forward scattering, i.e. scattering processes generated by effective interactions with small momentum transfers. These systems include Fermi liquids as well as several important non-Fermi liquid phases: one-dimensional Luttinger liquids, systems with long-range interactions, and fermions coupled to a gauge field. We report results for the critical dimensions separating different "universality classes", and discuss the behavior of physical quantities as the momentum distribution function, the single-particle propagator and low-energy response functions in each class. The renormalization group for Fermi systems will be reviewed and applied as a link between microscopic models and effective low-energy theories. Particular attention is payed to conservation laws, which constrain any effective low-energy theory of interacting Fermi systems. In scattering processes with small momentum transfers the velocity of each scattering particle is (almost) conserved. This asymptotic conservation law leads to non-trivial cancellations of Feynman diagrams and other simplifications, making thus possible a non-perturbative treatment of forward scattering via Ward identities or bosonization techniques.