Disoredered Systems and the Functional Renormalization Group: A Pedagogical Introduction
Kay Jörg Wiese
Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030, USA
Abstract
In this article, we review basic facts about disordered
systems, especially the existence of many metastable states and and
the resulting failure of dimensional reduction. Besides techniques
based on the Gaussian variational method and replica-symmetry breaking
(RSB), the functional renormalization group (FRG) is the only general
method capable of attacking strongly disordered systems. We explain
the basic ideas of the latter method and why it is difficult to
implement. We finally review current progress for elastic manifolds in
disorder.
Plenary lecture held at RG-2002
Acta Physica Slovaca 52 (2002) 341 [pdf]
Copyright (C) by Kay Wiese. Last edited March 17, 2008.