From Here to Criticality: Renormalization Group Flow Between Two Conformal Field Theories

Abstract

Using nonperturbative techniques, we study the renormalization group trajectory between two conformal field theories. Specifically, we investigate a perturbation of the A3 superconformal minimal model such that in the infrared limit the theory flows to the A2 model. The correlation functions in the topological sector of the theory are computed numerically along the trajectory, and these results are compared to the expected asymptotic behavior. Excellent agreement is found, and the characteristic features of the infrared theory, including the central charge and the normalized operator product expansion coefficients are obtained. We also review and discuss some aspects of the geometrical description of N=2 supersymmetric quantum field theories recently uncovered by S. Cecotti and C. Vafa.