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# I Introduction

## I Introduction

Renormalisation group (RG) methods are an essential ingredient in the study of non-perturbative problems in continuum and lattice formulations of quantum field theory. Over the last decade increasing interest has been devoted to particular formulations of RG flows, which have one main property in common: they all can be written as a simple one loop equation in the full field-dependent propagator. Their one loop structure is very useful because it allows to encompass technical complications due to overlapping loop integrations known from standard perturbation theory and Schwinger-Dyson equations. Another important strength of these RG flows is based on their flexibility, when it comes to truncations of the full problem under investigation. This makes all the different sets of RG equations interesting for situations where one has to resort to approximations because the full problem is to hard to attack. For non-perturbative effects at strong coupling or large correlation lengths, such an approach is essentially unavoidable.

Despite their close similarity, the various RG flows with a one loop structure differ qualitatively in important aspects. The RG flows depend on the precise implementation of a regularisation, typically given by momentum or operator cutoffs. Furthermore, some RG flows are known to be exact, as they can be derived from first principles, mainly done within a path integral representation. Prominent examples for such one loop exact flowsFrom now on, we refer to renormalisation group flows with a one loop structure as “one loop flows”. Exact flows with a one loop structure are referred to as “one loop exact flows”. This should not to be confused with a one loop approximation (i.e. one loop exact flows are not one loop approximations of some exact flow). are Exact RG (ERG) flows . These flows, which we use as reference points in the present paper, are closely related to other well-known exact flows like Wilsonian flows , Wegner-Houghton flows  and Callan-Symanzik flows . The strength of exact RG flows is that systematic approximations of the integrated flow correspond to systematic approximations to the full quantum theory. This allows to devise optimisation conditions , which resolve the problem of the spurious regulator dependence .

In turn, some one loop RG flows have been derived within the philosophy of a one loop improvement. This includes the proper-time RG flows  and RG flows based on an operator cutoff . The similarity between the different one loop flows with one loop exact flows has fuelled hopes that the scenario just described for exact flows may be valid in general. Therefore, it is important to either establish that a given flow is exact, or, if not, what approximation to an exact flow it represents. This is at the root for the predictive power of the formalism. So far, this question has been studied within the derivative expansion . A first account of a more general analysis was given in , where we compared the perturbative expansions of different one loop flows.

In the present work we give a general analysis of the problems mentioned above. A detailed study of the following one loop and one loop exact flows is provided: ERG flows, Callan-Symanzik flows and generalisations thereof, proper-time flows, and one loop flows based on an operator regularisation. We show that one loop exact flow depend linearly on the full field-dependent propagator. A general one loop flow does not have this structure. As a consequence, we show that integrated non-exact flows deviate from standard perturbation theory at the first non-trivial order, i.e. two loop. Additionally, we relate proper-time flows to the Callan-Symanzik flow, and -in given approximations- to ERG flows. We also discuss the possibility of an exact map between ERG and proper-time flows. Based on these findings, we present generalised proper-time flows, which are exact.

It proves helpful to introduce two properties of RG flows which we refer to as completeness and consistency. Consider a general flow defined by an initial effective action given at some initial scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and a flow equation connecting it with the full quantum effective action at vanishing cut-off scale. Then we define that

* a flow is consistent, if its flow equation connects an explicitly known initial effective action with the full quantum effective action.
* a consistent flow is complete, if the initial effective action is trivial, namely the classical action.

As the initial effective action of a complete flow is trivial, all quantum fluctuations result from integrating the flow equation. Well-known examples of complete flows are Callan-Symanzik flows and ERG flows. In turn, for a consistent flow, in general, parts of the quantum fluctuations are already contained in the initial effective action. The latter has to be known explicitly.§§§This subtlety is discussed in Sect. III D. Important examples for consistent flow are ERG flows with a non-trivial initial effective action. For thermal field theories, this concerns scenarios where initial effective actions stem from perturbative dimensional reduction , or thermal RG flows within the ERG framework as provided in  and . In the latter, only thermal fluctuations are integrated by the flow while the quantum fluctuations have already been integrated out and are part of the initial effective action.

The outline of the paper is as follows. In Sect. II, as an introduction of the methods, we discuss consistency and completeness for ERG flows. We argue, that general one loop exact flows must depend linearly on the full propagator. This result is derived in App. A. Then we sketch the derivation of ERG flows from first principles and explicitly show their completeness within perturbation theory. Generalisations to consistent ERG flows, in particular at finite temperature are briefly discussed.

In Sect. III we study proper-time flows. We sketch their derivation as one loop improved RG equations. Then we prove that these flows are in general incomplete. We provide explicit expressions for the regulator dependent deviation from complete flows at two loop. We also give their link to Callan Symanzik flows. It is argued that a proper-time flow is not a consistent flow. These findings are illustrated within a simple example.

In Sect. IV, we discuss consistency and completeness for flows derived from a multiplicative regularisation of the one loop momentum integral. By explicitly calculating the two loop contributions of the integrated flow we show, that these flows are neither complete nor consistent.

In Sect. V, we devise maps between given approximations of proper-time flows and ERG flows. In addition, we show how the proper-time regularisation has to be generalised in order to turn the flow into a complete and consistent flow. This is based on generalised proper-time regulators and involves the use of the background field method.

In Sect. VI, we close with a discussion of the main results and their implications regarding the predictive power of the different RG flows.

Some more technical aspects are summarised in the appendices. In App. A, it is shown that a general one loop exact flow for the effective action can only depend linearly on the full propagator. This result is used at various places in the main body of the work. In App. B, we study Callan-Symanzik flows and generalisations thereof. Proper-time flows can be seen as approximations to generalised Callan-Symanzik flows. In App. C, we compute explicitly the two loop effective action from a generalised Callan-Symanzik flow. This result is used in Sect. III for comparison with a specific proper-time flow. In App. D, we derive a recursion relation for the two loop effective action within the standard proper-time RG. This result is used in Sect. III.

## II Exact renormalisation group

In this section we discuss the concepts of completeness and consistency at the example of ERG equations. Prior to this, we comment on the general structure of one loop exact flows. A general exact flow is the flow of some operator insertion within the theory. The expectation values of more than two fields involve multi loop contributions. Thus, insisting on the one loop nature of the flow, one is bound to an insertion which is at most quadratic in the fields. Otherwise, the corresponding exact flow would also contain higher loop contributions. We conclude that an exact flow with a one loop structure must depend linearly on the full propagator . More details are given in App. A.

### A Derivation

The usual starting point is the generating functional of the theory at hand, where a cut-off term $`\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]`$ is added to the classical action. Here we discuss a theory with a scalar field and a general interaction, the generalisation to arbitrary field content is straightforward. We have

$$Z_k[J]=𝑑\varphi \mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]+d^dxJ\varphi \right),$$
(1)
where $`d`$ counts space-time dimensions. This leads to the flow equation

$$_tZ_k[J]=_t\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]_J.$$
(2)
An insertion $`\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]`$ at most quadratic in the fields guarantees the one loop structure of the corresponding flow. Hence, we choose to $`\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]=\frac{1}{2}d^dx\varphi R\varphi `$, where $`R`$ is an infrared (IR) regulator function depending on an IR scale $`k`$. Functions $`R(q^2)`$ have to satisfy a number of conditions in order to provide an infra-red regularisation for the effective propagator, and to ensure that the flow (6) interpolates between an initial (classical) action in the UV and the full quantum effective action in the IR. The necessary conditions on $`R_k`$ are summarised as

$`\underset{q^2/k^20}{lim}R_k(q^2)`$ $`>`$ $`0`$ (3)
$`\underset{k^2/q^20}{lim}R_k(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (4)
$`\underset{k\mathrm{\Lambda }}{lim}R_k(q^2)`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{}.`$ (5)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an ultraviolet (UV) scale. Eq. (3) guarantees that $`R_k`$ provides an IR regulator, because massless modes are effectively cut-off. The second condition (4) ensures that the regulator is removed in the IR limit $`k0`$ and that the theory is unchanged for momentum modes with $`q^2k^2`$. The condition (5) ensures that the correct initial condition is reached for $`lim_{k\mathrm{\Lambda }}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=S_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the initial (UV) scale.

The effective action is defined as the Legendre transformation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]=d^dxJ\varphi \mathrm{ln}Z_k[\varphi ]\mathrm{\Delta }S_k[\varphi ]`$. This leads to a simple form of the flow equation for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$. From (2) we get for the flow of the effective action

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{Tr}\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+R_k\right)^1_tR_k,`$ (6)
where

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ](p,q)=\frac{\delta ^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]}{\delta \varphi (p)\delta \varphi (q)}$$
(7)
and the trace denotes a sum over all momenta and indices, $`t=\mathrm{ln}k`$. The ERG flow is linear in the full propagator, as required for an exact one loop flow. It is IR finite due to (3) and UV finite due to (4).

### B Completeness

It is well-known that perturbation theory is contained in ERG flows. The first use of this approach was to simplify proofs of perturbative renormalisability . The UV boundary condition $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the classical action. All quantum fluctuations are integrated-out along the flow. Therefore, the ERG flow has to be complete. An explicit check of completeness is provided by successively integrating the given flow equation perturbatively order by order and comparing the result to standard perturbation theory. Such a check is useful for flows which lack a derivation from first principles. There, it also provides some insight in the structure of the deviations. Here we perform this check for the ERG up to two loop. It serves as an introduction to the methods used later.

In order to simplify the subsequent expressions, we introduce a short-hand notation by writing $`A_{pqrs\mathrm{}}A(p,q,r,s\mathrm{})`$ for momentum variables $`p,q,r,s,\mathrm{}`$, and repeated indices correspond to a momentum integration

$$A_{qp}B_{pq^{}}(AB)_{qq^{}}=\frac{d^dp}{(2\pi )^d}A(q,p)B(p,q^{}).$$
(8)
As an example we rewrite the ERG equation (6) in this notation,

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\frac{1}{2}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+R}}\right)_{pq}_tR_{qp}.`$ (9)
A simple graphical representation for (9) is given by Fig. 1.

The closed line in Fig. 1 represents the full field-dependent propagator $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}[\varphi ]+R)^1`$ and the crossed circle stands for the insertion $`_tR`$. According to Fig 1, or (9), the ERG equation has a simple one loop structure, which should not be confused with a standard perturbative loop as it contains the full propagator. The explicit calculations are most easily carried out within the graphical representation. We introduce the graphical notation as given in Fig. 2.

The precise expression for the propagator $`G[\varphi ]`$ in Fig. 2 depends on the flow studied. The line in Fig. 2 stands for the field dependent perturbative propagator $`(S^{(2)}[\varphi ]+R)^1`$, in contrast to Fig. 1. The vertices are the classical ones, but also with full field dependence.

Now let us write the effective action within a loop expansion

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }=S+{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_n,`$ (10)
where $`S`$ is the classical action and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_n`$ comprises the $`n`$th loop order. At one loop, the integrated flow is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}+{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}_t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}|_{1\mathrm{loop}}=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}+\frac{1}{2}\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(S^{(2)}+R\right)\right]_{qq}|_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$ (11)
The expression on the right-hand side of (11) approaches the full one loop effective action for $`k0`$. The subtraction at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ provides the necessary UV renormalisation, together with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. As the latter only encodes renormalisation effects, we drop it from now on. For the two loop calculation we also need $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(2)}`$, which follows from (11) as

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,qq^{}}^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2}\left(G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right)_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$ (12)
Again, the indices $`q`$ and $`q^{}`$ stand for the external momenta . Thus, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(2)}`$ consists of two (subtracted) graphs. Its graphical representation is given in Fig. 3. The double lines stand for subtracted (finite) diagrams. They are introduced in Fig. 4.

Clearly the subtraction at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ leads to a renormalisation of the diagrams. For our purpose these terms are not interesting since they only provide the details of the renormalisation procedure. Here, however, we are only interested in the graphical structure of the perturbation series, including the combinatorial factors. For this purpose the structure of the subtractions is irrelevant. In other words, we want to focus on diagrams, which are evaluated at $`k`$ even for subdiagrams. In most results, both graphical and equations, we will only mention them implicitly.

The two loop contribution to the effective action is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2=\frac{1}{2}_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,pq}^{(2)}_t^{}G_{qp},$$
(13)
where

$$G_{qp}=\left(\frac{1}{S^{(2)}+R}\right)_{pq}.$$
(14)
Now one uses that the only $`k`$-dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ or its derivatives with respect to the fields comes from the propagators $`G`$ within the loops. Graphically, $`_tG`$ is given in Fig. 5.

This enables us to write (13) as a total $`t`$-derivative. As in the one loop case, for $`k=0`$ we approach usual perturbation theory with the correct combinatorial factors. We get

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left\{\frac{1}{4}\left(G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right)_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k_t^{}G_{q^{}q}\right\}`$ (15)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\frac{1}{4}_t^{}\left\{\frac{1}{2}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}G_{q^{}q}\frac{1}{3}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}G_{q^{}q}\mathrm{subtractions}\right\}`$ (16)
$`=`$ $`\left[\frac{1}{8}G_{pp^{}}S_{pp^{}qq^{}}^{(4)}G_{q^{}q}\frac{1}{12}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}qq^{}}^{(3)}G_{qr}S_{prr^{}}^{(3)}G_{r^{}q^{}}\right]_{\mathrm{ren}.},`$ (17)
where the subscript ren. indicates that these are renormalised diagrams due to the subtractions at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Note that the sun-set diagram in (17) is completely symmetric under permutations of the propagators, which has lead to the factor $`\frac{1}{3}`$; schematically written as: $`(G)^2_tG=\frac{1}{3}_t(G)^3`$. For illustration we present in Fig. 6 the diagrams for the term in curly brackets in the first line in (17). Employing the identity displayed in Fig. 5 the expression in Fig. 6 is easily rewritten as a total $`t`$-derivative. The calculation presented in (17) is most easily carried out this way.

This analysis can be easily extended to any loop order. The integrands can always be rewritten as total $`t`$-derivatives. Thus, the result is independent of the regulator $`R`$.

### C Consistent ERG flows

Some applications of the ERG are such that a part of the quantum fluctuations are already contained in the initial theory: in these cases, the initial effective action is not trivial. Let us mention two examples. First, it is possible to relax the condition (5) on the cut-off, thus starting at a point, where some (large) momentum fluctuations are already integrated out. The control about truncations to the starting point is very good. The neglection of power counting irrelevant terms in the perturbative regime should only inflict deviations of the order $`(k^2/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2)^n`$ at some IR scale $`k\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Pivotal for such a picture to work is the exactness of the flow itself.

Second, another important example are ERG flows for field theories at finite temperature. Proposals have been put forward, which rely on decoupling quantum fluctuations and thermal fluctuations . Here, the flow equation displays an integrating out of the latter ones whereas the initial effective action contains the quantum fluctuations. Of course, this picture only works in particular situations where a neglection of the quantum fluctuations is feasible or in regimes where their contributions to the effective action at zero temperature are well under control.

We conclude, that the applicability of consistent ERG flows hinges on their exactness. This is an important statement in view of the applicability of other RG flows.

## III Proper-time renormalisation group

In the remaining part of the paper we discuss one loop improved RG flows. In this section we consider so-called proper-time RG flows. We show that proper-time flows in general do not reproduce the perturbative loop expansion. The consequences for approximations and predictive power are discussed.

### A Derivation

The starting point is the equation for the one loop effective action,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }^{1\mathrm{loop}}=S_{\mathrm{cl}}+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{ln}S^{(2)}`$ (18)
The trace in (18) is ill-defined and requires an UV regularisation. Oleszczuk proposed an UV regularisation by means of a Schwinger proper-time representation of the trace ,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }^{1\mathrm{loop}}=S_{\mathrm{cl}}\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}f(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{exp}\left(sS_{\mathrm{cl}}^{(2)}\right)}.`$ (19)
The regulator function $`f(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ provides an UV cut-off. Sending the UV scale to $`\mathrm{}`$ should reduce (19) to the standard Schwinger proper-time integral . This happens for the boundary condition $`f(\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{},s)=1`$. Eq. (19) can be turned into a simple flow equation by also adding an IR scale $`k`$, replacing $`f(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$. A flow equation w.r.t. the infra-red scale $`k`$ (and $`t=\mathrm{ln}k`$) has been proposed as

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\left(_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)\right)\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{exp}\left(s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\right).`$ (20)
Here, the classical action has been replaced by the scale-dependent effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ on the right-hand side of (20). This is the philosophy of a one loop improvement. In (20) only the explicit scale dependence due to the regulator term is considered. There are a few conditions imposed on the proper-time regulator. The UV behaviour remains unchanged if $`lim_{s0}f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)=0`$. It is required that

$`\underset{s\mathrm{}}{lim}f_{k0}(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (21)
$`\underset{k\mathrm{\Lambda }}{lim}f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (22)
$`\underset{\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}}{lim}f_{k=0}(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`=`$ $`1`$ (23)
The condition (21) ensures that the theory is infrared regularised, as the limit $`s\mathrm{}`$ corresponds to the limit of vanishing momentum. The condition (22) ensures that the the flow starts off from the initial condition $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Finally, the condition (23) ensures that the proper-time regularisation reduces to the usual Schwinger proper-time regularisation for $`k=0`$. From now on, we only consider regulators $`f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ of the form

$`f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)=f(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2s)f(k^2s)`$ $`\mathrm{with}`$ $`\underset{x\mathrm{}}{lim}f(x)=1\mathrm{and}\underset{x0}{lim}f(x)=0.`$ (24)
It is easily checked that $`f_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ as defined in (24) satisfies the conditions summarised in (21)–(23).

### B Completeness

Next, we show that a general proper-time flow does not depend linearly on the full propagator. We expand a general proper-time flow in the following basis set of regulator functions $`f`$,

$`f(x;m)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m,x)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m)}}`$ (26)
$`_tf(x;m)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m)}}x^me^x.`$ (27)
Here, $`x=k^2s`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(m,x)=_0^x𝑑tt^{m1}e^t`$ denotes the incomplete $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-function. The functions $`f(x;m)`$ have the limits as demanded in (24). The set (III B) spans the space of all cut-offs with an IR behaviour controlled by the term $`e^x`$ serving as a mass. These flows cover all proper-time flows that have been studied in the literature . General proper-time flows (fixed by choosing $`_tf`$) are given by linear combinations of the basis functions (III B). Now we consider the flow for a specific value of $`m`$. Inserting (III B) in (20), we find

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}{\displaystyle \frac{(sk^2)^m}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m)}}\mathrm{exp}s\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2\right).`$ (28)
The trace in (28) can be written in terms of the (normalised) eigenfunctions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n`$ of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ with

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\mathrm{\Psi }_n=\lambda _n\mathrm{\Psi }_n.`$ (29)
This leads to

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k={\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}{\displaystyle \frac{(sk^2)^m}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m)}}\mathrm{exp}s\left(\lambda _n+k^2\right).`$ (30)
For commuting the sum over $`n`$ and the $`s`$-integration we have used that the eigenvalues obey $`\lambda _n+k^20n`$. This condition is not a restriction as it has to hold for a well-defined proper-time flow (28). A similar condition also applies to ERG flows (6): $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}+R_k0`$. By performing the $`s`$-integration we arrive at

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k={\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\lambda _n+k^2}}\right)^m=\mathrm{Tr}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}\right)^m.`$ (31)
The operator kernel inside the trace is the $`m`$th power of a Callan-Symanzik kernel. Exact flows, as discussed in detail in App. A, have a linear dependence on the full propagator. Hence, (31) is not exact for $`m1`$. Furthermore, the functional dependence of (31) on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}`$ depends on the regularisation. This signals that the deviation of a general proper-time flow from an exact flow is regularisation-dependent, which is studied next.

### C Proper time flows at two loop

We study the deviation of integrated proper time flows from perturbation theory at two loop. We derive relations between flows for general $`m`$ and $`m+n`$, where $`n`$ is an integer and $`m`$ is arbitrary. At one loop the integrated flow equation (31) results in

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}={\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}{\displaystyle \frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}}_t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}|_{1\mathrm{loop}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2m}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}^{(2)}}}\right)^m{}_{2}{}^{}F_{1}^{}(m,m;m+1;{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}^{(2)}}})\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k,`$ (32)
where $`{}_{p}{}^{}F_{q}^{}(x,y;z;w)`$ is the generalised hypergeometric series. For integer $`m`$, $`{}_{p}{}^{}F_{q}^{}`$ can be summed up and there is a simpler representation

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}={\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}{\displaystyle \frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}}_t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}|_{1\mathrm{loop}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}^{(2)}+k_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\right){\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}^{(2)}+k_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}}\right)^n\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$ (33)
For $`k0`$ both formulas reproduce the one loop effective action $`\frac{1}{2}[\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2)]_{\mathrm{ren}}`$. For $`k0`$ we also have additional terms as opposed to the one loop integral of an ERG flow, cf. (11). These terms are $`m`$-dependent. For general $`m`$ the difference between $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}`$ is given by

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}=\frac{1}{2(m1)}\left[\mathrm{Tr}(Gk_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})^{m1}\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k,`$ (34)
with $`G=(S^{(2)}+k^2)^1`$. The right-hand side vanishes for $`k0`$. At two loop, we can relate flows with $`m`$ and $`m^{}=m+n`$, where $`n`$ is integer. The details are given in App. D. The key result is the recursive relation

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[(Gk^2)^{m1}G{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}GS^{(2)}\right],`$ (35)
apart from irrelevant terms from the different renormalisation procedures for the two flows. A similar relation was already presented in . It is connected to (35) by a partial integration, see App. D. Using (35) recursively, we find

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,mn}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=mn}{\overset{m1}{}}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[(Gk^2)^lG{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^lGS^{(2)}\right].`$ (36)
The difference (36) depends on arbitrarily high powers of the fields and does not vanish. Eq. (36) provides a constructive proof that proper-time flows, in general, are non-exact. Let us assume for a moment that the proper-time flow for a particular $`m_0`$ is exact. Then it follows from (36) that all flows with $`m=m_0+n`$ for integer $`n`$ are not exact, because the corresponding terms (36) do not vanish identically in the fields. This has an immediate consequence for flows with integer $`m`$: The Callan-Symanzik flow ($`m=1`$) is exact. Therefore any flow with integer $`m>1`$, or any linear combination thereof, is not exact.

Let us close with two comments. We have found regulator dependent terms at two loop. Hence, the proper time flow (20) does not represent a total $`t`$-derivative. One could think that the proper-time flow (20) is improved by also taking into account the $`t`$-derivative of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$,

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\mathrm{Tr}\left(_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)sf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\right)\mathrm{exp}\left(s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\right).`$ (37)
The flow equation (37) is, in contrast to (20), a total $`k`$-derivative. Its end point does not depend on the regularisation. However, the end point is the functional $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ which solves $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=S_{\mathrm{cl}}+\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}|_{\mathrm{ren}}`$. This equation is not satisfied by the full effective action.

A second comment concerns another extention of proper-time flows, discussed in App. B. Consider the flow

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}F_{n,m}_t^{n+1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{Tr}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}\right)^m+\mathrm{Tr}F_k[_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)},\mathrm{},_t^{m1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)};\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}].`$ (38)
The coefficients $`F_{n,m}`$ and $`F_k`$ are defined in App. B. The flow (38) is exact and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ obeys the usual Callan-Symanzik equation. The first term in (38) is the standard proper time flow (31). The new terms in (38) are proportional to the flow of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ and to higher order scale derivatives of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$.

### D Consistency

We have shown that proper-time flows are not complete. We are left with the question whether proper-time flows are consistent. In this case the initial effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is non-trivial and must be known explicitly. Let us first argue that any flow trivially represents an exact flow by the following construction. The initial effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is given as a function of the flow and the full effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ by

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }[\mathrm{\Gamma }_0]=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0+{\displaystyle _0^\mathrm{\Lambda }}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }_0].`$ (39)
At least within a loop expansion this is possible, as $`n`$-loop order contribution to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ depend on the flow to loop order $`n1`$. The only condition for the global construction is the existence of flow trajectories from the full effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. For such a scenario to be applicable, the initial effective action (39) has to be known explicitly. Then the flow is consistent. If the initial condition is not known explicitly, the flow cannot be integrated. This consideration implies that proper-time flows are not consistent: the flow is not complete, and we don’t have any further information about $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, except the trivial one encoded in (39). This observation makes it interesting to investigate possible enhancements of proper-time flows, which is done in Sect. V.

### E Example

We illustrate our findings with a simple example by considering $`m=2`$. A short account of this calculation was already given in . In the condensed notation introduced in Sect. II B, the proper-time flow with $`m=2`$ is

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^4}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{k}^{}{}_{}{}^{(2)}+k^2)^2}}\right)_{qq},`$ (40)
where the kernel is the square of a Callan-Symanzik kernel, and $`q`$ denotes momenta. The flow is depicted in Fig. 8. The line in Fig. 8 stands for the full field-dependent propagator $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}+k^2)^1`$, the crossed square stands for the insertion $`k^2`$. This has to be compared with the ERG flow in Fig. 1.

The one loop contribution from the integrated flow (40) can be read off from (33) as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=\frac{1}{2}\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(k^2+S^{(2)}\right)\right]_{qq}\frac{1}{2}k^2G_{qq}$$
(41)
with

$$G_{qq^{}}=\left(\frac{1}{S^{(2)}+k^2}\right)_{qq^{}}.$$
(42)
The two loop contribution is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2=2{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,qq^{}}^{(2)}(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}.`$ (43)
In (43), it is understood that $`G`$ (42) depends on $`k^{}`$ under the integral. From (41), we obtain

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,qq^{}}^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{2}[G_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})`$ (45)
$`+(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}2S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$
Notice the difference to (12). Graphically, (45) is given in Fig. 9, where we resort to the definitions in Fig. 4. Lines represent field dependent perturbative propagators, vertices represent field dependent classical vertices.

In comparison to the ERG result for the one loop propagator in Fig. 3 there are two additional diagrams in Fig. 9. Inserting (45) into (43), we end up with

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2={\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\{\left[G_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}`$ (47)
$`\left[(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}2S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\}.`$
The integrand in (47) has the graphical representation given in Fig. 10.

Next, we compare our findings with a generalised Callan-Symanzik flow (C.105) discussed in App. C. This flow is exact. It differs from the proper-time flow (40) only by loop terms proportional to the flow $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$. Graphically, the difference between the flows is given by the second term in Fig. 14. At two loop, we compare the integrands as given in Fig. 10 and Fig. 15, respectively. The first two terms in Fig. 15 and Fig. 10 agree whereas the last two terms are different. More specifically, the last two terms in Fig. 15 have $`Gk^2G`$ as the bottom line, whereas we have $`Gk^2Gk^2G`$ in Fig. 10. It is this difference which makes it impossible to rewrite the integrand in (47) as a total derivative.

Now, let us expand (47) about the correct two loop result (17). After some algebra, we arrive at

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\frac{1}{8}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}G_{q^{}q}\frac{1}{12}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}G_{q^{}q}\right]_{\mathrm{ren}.}`$ (49)
$`\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}(Gk^2G)_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}.`$
A simple consistency check on (49) is to take its derivative w.r.t. $`k`$. This leads to the kernel of (47). The first line in (49) corresponds to the correct two loop result. The second line denotes the deviation from standard perturbation theory. The integrand in the second line of (49) is the non-standard diagram depicted in Fig. 11. The second term on the right-hand side of (49) is the term on the right-hand side of the recursive relation (35) for $`m=2`$ \[see also App. C, Eqs. (C.116) and (C.117)\]. The last term on the right-hand side of (49) cannot be absorbed in renormalisation constants. It contains arbitrary powers in fields and momenta and does not integrate to zero in the limit $`k0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}`$. For massive theories both limits are safe. This term displays a non-trivial deviation of the present proper-time flow from perturbation theory. The form of the integrand is that of the sunset graph where all propagators have been substituted by their squares.

To be more explicit, consider a massive $`\varphi ^4`$-theory with mass $`M`$ and quartic interaction $`\frac{1}{4!}\lambda d^dx\varphi ^4`$. The contribution of the non-standard diagram to the propagator is obtained after taking the second derivative with respect to the fields in (49) at $`\varphi =0`$. We find

$`\lambda ^2{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}\frac{dk}{k}{\displaystyle \frac{d^dq}{(2\pi )^d}\frac{d^dl}{(2\pi )^d}\frac{k^2}{(k^2+M^2+q^2)^2}\frac{k^2}{(k^2+M^2+l^2)^2}\frac{k^2}{(k^2+M^2+(l+qp)^2)^2}}`$ (50)
The integrand it strictly positive. Hence the integral is non-vanishing. Moreover it has a non-trivial momentum dependence. This can be seen by evaluating the limits $`p0`$ and $`p\mathrm{}`$. For $`p0`$ we are left with a non-vanishing constant. For $`p\mathrm{}`$ the expression in (50) vanishes.

## IV Multiplicative regularisation

In this section we discuss a recent suggestion for a one loop improved RG , which is based on an operator regularisation of the one loop effective action. The starting point of  is the regularised form of the one loop effective action,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{1\mathrm{loop}}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}\left(\rho \mathrm{ln}S^{(2)}\right).`$ (51)
Here, $`\rho `$ provides a regularisation of the otherwise ill-defined trace in (51). In the limit $`k0`$ the regularisation is removed and $`\rho 1`$. Taking the $`t=\mathrm{ln}k`$ derivative of (51) and using the condensed notation introduced in (8) leads to

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{1\mathrm{loop}}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\mathrm{ln}S^{(2)}\right)_{qq^{}}_t\rho _{q^{}q}.`$ (52)
Again one resorts to the idea of a one loop improvement and substitutes $`S^{(2)}`$ on the right-hand side of (52) with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$. This leads to the final form of the one loop improved flow,

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\frac{1}{2}\left(\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\right)_{qq^{}}_t\rho _{q^{}q}.`$ (53)
The factorisation of the regulator $`\rho `$ makes numerical as well as analytical calculations easily accessible. In Ref. , the flow (53) has been studied to leading order in the derivative expansion. As the flow (53) depends on the logarithm of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}`$, it cannot be exact.

We would like to understand the structure of the deviation more explicitly and compute the two loop effective action. The one loop effective action is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1={\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}_t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}|_{1\mathrm{loop}}=\left(\frac{1}{2}\left(\mathrm{ln}S^{(2)}\right)_{qq^{}}\rho _{q^{}q}\right)_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$ (54)
The two loop effective action is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,qq^{}}^{(2)}G_{q^{}p}_t^{}\rho _{pq},`$ (55)
where $`G=1/S^{(2)}`$. We rewrite the expression on the right-hand side of (55) as a total derivative using that the only $`k`$-dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(2)}`$ is given by $`\rho `$. We finally get

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left(\frac{1}{4}G_{pp^{}}\rho _{p^{}r}S_{rpqq^{}}^{(4)}\frac{1}{4}G_{pp^{}}\rho _{p^{}r}S_{rr^{}q}^{(3)}G_{r^{}s}S_{spq^{}}^{(3)}\right)_\mathrm{\Lambda }^kG_{q^{}s^{}}_t^{}\rho _{s^{}q}`$ (56)
$`=`$ $`\left[\frac{1}{8}(\rho G)_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}(\rho G)_{q^{}q}\frac{1}{8}(\rho G)_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}(\rho G)_{q^{}q}\right]_{\mathrm{ren}.}.`$ (57)
For $`k=0`$, the two loop result (57) is independent of the regularisation. The integrand in (57) has the graphical representation given in Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows the two loop contribution of the flow (53), corresponding to the last line in (57) at $`k=0`$.

The combinatorial factor for the sunset graph is not the correct one. How does this come about? In the ERG case, one deals with expressions which are, qualitatively, of the form $`(G)^n_tG=\frac{1}{n+1}_t(G)^{n+1}`$. Stated differently, all propagators are regularised. In the RG equation (53), there is one regulator insertion $`\rho `$ for each loop, regardless, how many propagator are contained in the loop. The first diagram in Fig. 12 contains two loops and two propagators, leading to the correct combinatorial factor in Fig. 13. The sunset diagram contains two loops but three propagators, therefore, the combinatorial factor comes out too big by $`\frac{3}{2}`$.

To sum up, in contrast to ERG flows which are based upon a regularisation of the full inverse propagator, the one loop improved flow (53) is based on a regularisation of the logarithm of the full inverse propagator. This choice has been motivated in order to facilitate computations, and to find simple expressions for the flow. As it turns out, it is precisely this form of the regularisation which is ultimately responsible for the mismatch with standard perturbation theory beyond one loop.

## V Exact proper-time flows

In this section we relate proper-time flows to exact flows, both, within given approximations and as closed formal expressions.

### A Proper-time representation of ERG flows

We have already introduced a representation of proper-time flows which is quite close to the ERG (see Sect. III B). Let us now investigate a proper-time representation of ERG equations. This allows us to study the map from ERG to proper-time flows more directly as done in . We start with the ERG (6) which can be rewritten as

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{Tr}_tR_k{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑s\mathrm{exp}s(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+R_k).`$ (58)
It is easy to see that the flow equation (58) is well-defined in both the ultra-violet and the infra-red. We now turn (58) into

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\mathrm{Tr}\left(F_k[sR_k;s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}]\mathrm{exp}s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}\right),`$ (59)
in order to facilitate the comparison of ERG flows to proper-time flows (20). Here, the operator $`F_k[A,B]`$ is given as

$`F_k[A;B]`$ $`=`$ $`(_tA)\mathrm{exp}(A+K[(A+B),B])`$ (60)
$`K[A,B]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{()^n}{n+1}}{\displaystyle \underset{p_i+q_i1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+_{i=1}^np_i}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\mathrm{ad}A)^{p_i}}{p_i!}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\mathrm{ad}B)^{q_i}}{q_i!}}[A],`$ (61)
where $`\mathrm{ad}B[A]=[B,A]`$ and $`(\mathrm{ad}B)^0[A]=A`$. Equations (60) and (61) can be deduced from the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff-formula:

$`e^{A+B+K[A,B]}e^B=e^A.`$ (62)
The term $`K[s(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+R),sR]`$ vanishes for $`[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)},R]=0`$. Now we compare the representation (59) of ERG flows with proper-time flows (20). We already know that proper-time flows and ERG flows are not equivalent. Comparing the kernels, this information is encoded in

$`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)F_k[sR_k;s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}],`$ (63)
which states that no field- and momentum-independent function $`f`$ can be found to match the right-hand side of (63). Indeed, the right-hand side carries physical information about the theory due to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ]`$.

Still, there are two options left to overcome (63). First, the expressions in (63) are integration kernels. Within given approximations, the integrals could agree despite of the kernels being qualitatively different. This possibility is worked out in Sect. V B. Second, one may consider generalised proper time regulators, by allowing for an additional dependence on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$. This is addressed in Sect. V C.

### B Derivative expansion

Next, we study ERG and proper-time flows to lowest order in a derivative expansion, where wave function renormalisations are not present. Here, we explicitly map regulators $`R_kf_k[R_k]`$. The inverse map does not exist in general. In , a similar analysis was performed on the level of the threshold functions. The effective action in this approximation is

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]={\displaystyle d^dx\left[_\mu \varphi _\mu \varphi +U_k(\varphi )\right]}`$ (64)
and, consequently,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ](p^2)=p^2+U_k^{\prime \prime }(\varphi ).`$ (65)
The scale dependent part of the effective action is the potential $`U_k`$. We only consider constant fields $`\varphi _0`$ in the flow. In this approximation, we have

$`[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi _0],R]=0`$ (66)
which implies that $`F_k`$ in (59) depends only on $`R_k`$. Then we cast the ERG equation in a proper-time form, also using (60)

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}s(_tR_k)\mathrm{exp}(sR_k)\mathrm{exp}s(p^2+U_k^{\prime \prime })`$ (67)
$`=`$ $`\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Omega }_d{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\left(s{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dy}{y}}y^{d/2}(_tR_k)\mathrm{exp}s(R_k(y)+y)\right)\mathrm{exp}sU_k^{\prime \prime },`$ (68)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_d`$ is the volume of the $`d`$-sphere over $`(2\pi )^d`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_d=2((2\pi )^{d/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2))^1`$ and $`y=q^2`$. This has to be compared with (20) in this approximation. After performing the momentum integration in (20) we get

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Omega }_d{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\left(s^{d/2}_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)\right)\mathrm{exp}sU_k^{\prime \prime }.`$ (69)
Eqs. (68) and (69) are identical for the following choice of $`f_k`$:

$`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)={\displaystyle \frac{s^{1+d/2}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2)}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dy}{y}}y^{d/2}(_tR_k)\mathrm{exp}s(R_k+y),`$ (70)
Eq. (70) defines a map $`R_kf_k(R)`$. Thus it is guaranteed that there is always a function $`f_k`$ corresponding to a choice of $`R`$. Next, we show that the opposite is not the case.

Eq. (70) fixes the behaviour of $`f_k(R)`$ for $`s0`$, which is the UV-limit and $`s\mathrm{}`$, which is the IR-limit. We restrict ourselves to regulators with constant IR-limit: $`R(x0)k^2`$. Moreover we demand that

$`\underset{y}{\mathrm{min}}\left(y+R(y)\right)=c_0k^2\mathrm{with}c_0>0.`$ (71)
Eq. (71) implies that we have an IR regularisation. If we would take $`c_00`$ we introduce poles in the momentum integration of the ERG. Thus, (71) leads to an exclusion of wildly fluctuating regulators $`R`$. With (71) we deduce the following limit behaviour of $`f_k(R,s)`$:

$`\underset{s0}{lim}|_tf_k(R,s)|`$ $`<`$ $`s^{d/2+1}\mathrm{exp}(sc_0k^2)C[R]`$ (72)
$`\underset{s\mathrm{}}{lim}|_tf_k(R,s)|`$ $`<`$ $`s^{d/2+1}\mathrm{exp}(sc_0k^2)C[R],`$ (73)
where

$`C[R]={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2)}}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dy}{y^{1d/2}}}_tR(y).`$ (74)
and the exponential factor in (72) is sub-leading and has only been introduced for symmetry reasons. These limits only make sense for $`C[R]<\mathrm{}`$ (no infra-red divergent cut-offs). Infra-red divergent cut-offs including the sharp cut-off are even more severely limited in the infra-red for $`s\mathrm{}`$. Only if $`f_k`$ obeys both limits (72) and (73), the corresponding regulator $`R_k`$ exists. Here, the relevant limit is $`s\mathrm{}`$.

It is left to investigate the r$`\widehat{\mathrm{o}}`$le of the constant $`c_0`$. We assume to have found a regulator $`f_k(R,s)`$ which precisely matches the boundary value of the IR limit: $`f_{\mathrm{ext}.}(R,s\mathrm{})=c_fs^{d/2+1}\mathrm{exp}(c_0sk^2)`$. The UV behaviour is irrelevant for the integration of the flow. The normalisation $`c_f`$ follows from the conditions (21) – (23), leading to

$`f_{\mathrm{ext}}(R,s)={\displaystyle \frac{2(c_0sk^2)^{d/2+1}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2+1)}}\mathrm{exp}(c_0sk^2).`$ (75)
Since (75) depends only on the product $`c_0k^2`$, we can reabsorb $`c_0`$ in the infrared scale and set it to one, $`c_0=1`$.

Next we verify some of the explicit examples given earlier in . We insert several cut-offs into the right-hand side of (70) ($`x=sk^2`$) to find the proper-time analogues. For the optimised regulator , the sharp cut off and the mass-like regulator

$`R_k^{\mathrm{opt}}(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`(k^2q^2)\theta (k^2q^2),`$ (76)
$`R_k^{\mathrm{sharp}}(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`\underset{c\mathrm{}}{lim}c\theta (k^2q^2),`$ (77)
$`R_k^{\mathrm{mass}}(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`k^2,`$ (78)
we find the proper-time analogues as

$`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{4}{d}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2)}}x^{d/2+1}\mathrm{exp}x,`$ (79)
$`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(d/2)}}x^{d/2}\mathrm{exp}x,`$ (80)
$`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$ $`=x\mathrm{exp}x.`$ (81)
The optimal cut-off  precisely matches both limits (72) and (73) (for $`c_0=1`$). In this sense it is an extremum of the allowed space of $`f_k`$.

In summary, there is only a narrow window for proper-time regulators $`f_k`$ which are images of ERG regulators $`R`$. We find that regulators $`f_k(R,s)`$ are generally given by

$`_tf_k(R,s)={\displaystyle _{d/2}^{d/2+1}}𝑑m{\displaystyle \frac{2x^mb(m)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(m)}}\mathrm{exp}(x)\mathrm{with}{\displaystyle _{d/2}^{d/2+1}}𝑑mb(m)=1.`$ (82)
For other proper-time regulators there is no corresponding ERG regulator $`R`$. The upper boundary $`m_{\mathrm{max}}=d/2+1`$ follows from the IR limit (73). The lower boundary $`m_{\mathrm{min}}=d/2`$ is the demand of UV finiteness. It can be relaxed to $`m_{\mathrm{min}}=1`$, thus including Callan-Symanzik flows as a boundary.

### C Generalised proper-time flows and background fields

Finally we derive a generalised proper-time flow which is both consistent and complete. Since (63) cannot be satisfied, we seek for a convenient generalisation of the proper-time regulator. As we cannot get rid of the operator dependence on the right-hand side of (63) we have to allow for field- and momentum-dependent functions $`_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)`$. A key property of a proper-time flow (20) is that the operator trace only depends on the operator $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$. Maintaining this simple structure, and allowing for a field- and momentum-dependent regulator leads to

$$_tf_k(\mathrm{\Lambda },s)_tf_k[\mathrm{\Lambda },s;\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}].$$
(83)
Such a generalised proper-time flow is equivalent to an ERG flow, if

$`_tf_k[\mathrm{\Lambda },s;\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}]\stackrel{!}{=}F_k[sR_k;s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}].`$ (84)
In order to satisfy (84), the regulator $`R_k`$ must depend solely on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ and its $`t`$-derivative,

$$R_k(q^2)R_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}].$$
(85)
In order not to spoil the one loop structure of the ERG flow equation, $`R_k`$ cannot depend on the full propagating field. The only admissible dependence of $`R_k`$ on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ comes via background fields. For details of a background field formulation of the ERG (for gauge theories) we refer the reader to . Here we mention the important facts by restricting ourselves to a scalar theory: in the background field formalism, the full field $`\varphi =\overline{\varphi }+\phi `$ is split into the background field $`\overline{\varphi }`$ and the fluctuation field $`\phi `$. The effective action depends on the fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\overline{\varphi }`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\overline{\varphi }]`$. As the propagating field is $`\phi `$, the regulator $`R_k`$ can only depend on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\overline{\varphi },\overline{\varphi }]`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\overline{\varphi }]:=\delta ^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\overline{\varphi }]/(\delta \varphi )^2`$. The cut-off term depends on $`\overline{\varphi }`$ and it follows that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\overline{\varphi }]\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]`$ for $`k0`$. Finally such a flow depends also on $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\overline{\varphi },\overline{\varphi }]`$. For the explicit form of the flow notice that the operator $`K[A,B]`$ in (60) vanishes for $`[A,B]=0`$. Hence, a vanishing commutator

$$[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)},R_k]=0$$
(86)
implies that the operator $`F_k`$ in (59) becomes under the trace

$$F_k[sR_k]=\left(s_tR_k\right)\mathrm{exp}(sR_k)=2s\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}R^{}R\frac{1}{2}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}R^{}\right)\mathrm{exp}(sR_k)$$
(87)
In this case, the representation (59) simplifies tremendously. Eq. (86) holds trivially at $`\overline{\varphi }=\varphi `$, where $`R_k`$ is a function of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\overline{\varphi },\overline{\varphi }]`$. The flow is

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\varphi ]=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{ds}{s}}\mathrm{Tr}F_k\left[sR_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]]\right]\mathrm{exp}\left(s\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]\right)`$ (88)
with $`F_k`$ given by (87). The corresponding ERG flow is given by

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\varphi ]=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]+R_k\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]\right]}}_tR_k\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]\right]`$ (89)
In summary, the following picture has emerged: we have defined a generalised proper-time flow for an effective action based on the background field formalism. It differs from the standard one by terms proportional to $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}`$. These terms make the flow consistent and complete. It can be mapped to an ERG flow at vanishing fluctuation fields. The flow equation is not closed, because it depends on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]`$. The output of the flow equation is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ,\varphi ]`$ and does not entail the information for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}[\varphi ,\varphi ]`$, which requires the derivative w.r.t. the first argument. The background field dependence is controlled by a separate equation . The flow (89), apart from being an interesting subject by its own right, gives a clear definition on the limits of proper-time flows.

## VI Discussion

We have studied the completeness and consistency of different one loop RG flows. We summarise the main results and their implications.

Consistency and completeness of a flows are directly related to the propagator dependence of the flow, which, for an exact flow, has to be linear. The linearity is important for a recursive perturbative integration of the flow. For exact flows, the integrated flow at a given loop order contains the same diagrams with identical combinatorial factors as standard perturbation theory. ERG flows at two loop served as an illustration of these facts.

For proper-time flows, we have shown that they are not complete. This result is based, first, on a structural analysis of the proper-time flow. When written in the form (31), it is apparent that the functional dependence of the flow on the full propagator is non-linear — except when it matches the Callan-Symanzik flow. Second, we have formally integrated the flow up to two loop order. As a result, we have explicitly established that the integrated proper-time flow deviates from perturbation theory. The deviation of fully integrated proper-time flows (when the cut-off is removed) from fully integrated exact flows turns out to be regulator-dependent. Proper-time flows are also not consistent, because it is not known beforehand which part of perturbation theory is missing along the flow.

An analogous analysis has been applied to the one loop improved flow (53). We found that (53) is neither complete nor consistent, for arbitrary regulator. The main structural reason for this fact is that the flow depends logarithmically on the full propagator for any regulator, and not linearly. This structure entails that, first, the perturbative loop expansion does not lead to the correct combinatorial factors, and, second, that the deviation from perturbation theory is independent on the regulator. This last property is in marked contrast to proper-time flows. There, we have seen that the functional dependence of the flow on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}`$ is regulator dependent, as is, consequently, the deviation from perturbation theory.

Links between proper time flows and exact flows have been discussed in Sect. V. This enabled us to provide information about the inherent approximation they represent to exact flows. We established links between exact flows and standard proper-time flows along three different lines:

First, we provided an explicit equation for the deviation of proper time flows from Callan-Symanzik flows. This deviation is given by the difference between (B.102) and (31). Essentially, proper-time flows lack additional contributions from two sources. There are additional one loop terms proportional to scale derivatives of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$, and a sum of higher scale derivatives of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$.

Second, it is possible to relate proper-time flows to exact flows within specific approximations. To leading order in the derivative expansion, we derived explicit maps from ERG flows to proper-time flows and discussed their properties. It has also been shown that higher orders of the derivative expansion cannot be mapped onto ERG flows.

Third, we constructed generalised proper-time flows (88). These flows can be mapped in a closed form to specific ERG flows, which established both, completeness and consistency for (88). Similar to the generalised Callan-Symanzik flow, they differ from the standard proper-time flow only through higher order terms proportional to the flow of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$. This philosophy, however, applies only within a background field method.

These results have important implications. Most notably, they make the intrinsic approximation of a proper-time flow explicit. This makes it possible to link approximations to proper-time flow to approximations to the full theory and allows to discuss predictive power within the formalism. For its applications, it is important to know how results based on standard proper-time flows are affected by the additional terms. For example, for $`3d`$ scalar theories at criticality, a particular proper-time flow  has lead to critical exponents, which agree remarkably well with experiment or Monte Carlo simulations. From the present analysis, it emerged that the underlying exact flow contains additional contributions already to leading order in a derivative expansion. These terms are expected to modify the physical predictions, and it remains to be seen whether these corrections are quantitatively large or small. We hope to report on this issue in near future.

Acknowledgments: DFL thanks the Institute for Theoretical Physics III, University of Erlangen, and JMP thanks CERN for hospitality and financial support. The work of DFL has been supported by the European Community through the Marie-Curie fellowship HPMF-CT-1999-00404.

## A Structure of one loop exact flows

In this paper, we have discussed renormalisation group flows whose striking feature is their one loop nature. It is precisely this property which facilitates numerical implementations, as we need not to cope with overlapping integrals. In this appendix, we derive the most general form of one loop flows that are exact. We consider one loop flows with the general form

$`k_k\mathrm{\Gamma }_k[\varphi ]=\mathrm{Tr}f_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}],`$ (A.90)
where $`f_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}](p,q)`$ is a smooth function of its arguments. It depends both explicitly and implicitly, via $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$, on momenta. We demand that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{k=0}`$ is the full quantum effective action. The structure of flows given by (A.90) covers all flows discussed in the literature and in the present work. Note that $`f_k`$ may also have some intrinsic dependence on running couplings and vertices of the theory. Trivially there are no overlapping momentum integrals in (A.90).

As it stands, a flow of the form (A.90) can be derived within a one loop improvement philosophy. Then, $`f_k`$ just encodes the information of the cut-off procedure at one loop. We want to know, what restrictions are posed upon $`f_k`$ if we demand that (A.90) is an exact flow, i.e. a flow which has a first principle derivation, say from a path integral representation of the theory. The path we take, is the following. First, we derive the most general form of flows for the functional $`Z`$. Then we discuss convenient parameterisations of such flows. Finally we translate our findings to flows of the effective action $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ via a Legendre transform.

Let us consider the functional $`Z[S,J]`$. The first argument of $`Z`$ indicates the classical action, about which the theory is quantised. A general flow of $`Z[S,J]`$ can be described by the flow of an operator insertion $`𝒪_k`$ depending on a cut-off scale $`k`$. We define

$`Z[S,J;𝒪_k]={\displaystyle 𝑑\varphi 𝒪_k[\varphi ]\mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]+\varphi J\right)}.`$ (A.91)
In particular, we demand $`lim_{k0}𝒪_k[\varphi ]=1`$. In this limit, (A.91) reduces to $`Z[S,J;1]Z[S,J]`$, the full generating functional. The flow of $`Z[S,J;𝒪_k]`$ is given by

$`k_kZ[S,J;𝒪_k]={\displaystyle 𝑑\varphi k_k𝒪_k[\varphi ]\mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]+\varphi J\right)}`$ (A.92)
Thus, a general flow of $`Z`$ is just given by the expectation value $`k_k𝒪_k[\varphi ]_{S,J}`$. However, expectation values of $`\varphi ^n`$ with $`n>2`$ involve multi-loop contributions in the full propagator. This can be seen as follows: We expand $`𝒪_k[\varphi ]`$ in powers of $`\varphi `$. Terms in the expansion have the form

$`{\displaystyle _{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n}}k_k𝒪_k^{(n)}(p_1,\mathrm{}p_n){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\varphi (p_i)_{S,J}.`$
This expectation value can be written in terms of the Schwinger functional $`W[S,J]=\mathrm{ln}Z[S,J]`$ as

$`{\displaystyle 𝑑\varphi _{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n}𝒪_k^{(n)}(p_1,\mathrm{}p_n)\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\varphi (p_i)\mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]+\varphi J\right)}`$ (A.93)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n}}𝒪_k^{(n)}(p_1,\mathrm{}p_n){\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta J(p_i)}}\mathrm{exp}W[S,J].`$ (A.94)
Thus it depends on all functional derivatives $`\delta ^iW/(\delta J)^i`$ with $`in`$. Next we check how (A.94) is expressed in terms of the full propagator $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)})^1=\delta ^2W/(\delta J)^2`$. The propagator enters in the recursive relation

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta J(p_i)}}W[S,J]={\displaystyle _q}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}}}(p_1,q){\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\varphi (q)}}\right){\displaystyle \underset{i=2}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta J(p_i)}}W[S,J=\frac{\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }}{\delta \varphi }].`$ (A.95)
Consequently any expectation value (A.94), expressed in terms of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ and its derivatives, for $`n>2`$ contains multi-loop terms. This leads to the first important result: flows, which are exact already at one loop can only involve expectation values of at most two fields.

However, the argument above did not make use of the form of the classical action $`S`$ entering the exponent in the path integral. We can always use a redefinition of $`S`$ as follows

$`k_k𝒪_k[\varphi ]\mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]\right)={\displaystyle _{p_1,p_2}}\varphi (p_1)\widehat{O}_k(p_1,p_2)\varphi (p_2)\mathrm{exp}\left(S[\varphi ]+\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k[\varphi ]\right)`$ (A.96)
where $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k`$ depends on the choice of $`\widehat{𝒪}_k`$ and $`𝒪_k`$. Take ERG flows as an example. Here $`𝒪_k=\mathrm{exp}\frac{1}{2}\varphi R\varphi `$. Choosing $`\widehat{𝒪}_k=\frac{1}{2}k_kR`$ we have $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k=\frac{1}{2}\varphi R\varphi `$. Note that in general $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k`$ is highly non-local. We conclude that general flows can be written as one loop exact flow with

$`k_kZ[S+\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k,J;\widehat{𝒪}_k]={\displaystyle 𝑑\varphi _{p_1,p_2}\varphi (p_1)\widehat{𝒪}_k(p_1,p_2)\varphi (p_2)\mathrm{exp}\left(S+\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k+\varphi J\right)}.`$ (A.97)
Our findings can be summarised in the following statement: Any flow – if represented as a one loop exact flow for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ of the form (A.90) – depends linearly on the full propagator. In consequence, the most general form for the function $`f_k`$ is

$`f_k[\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}](p_1,p_2)={\displaystyle _q}\widehat{𝒪}_k(p_1,q){\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(2)}}}(q,p_2),`$ (A.98)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ is the Legendre transform of $`\mathrm{ln}W[S+\stackrel{~}{𝒪}_k,J]`$. Finally, we mention that only those functions $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}`$, which are polynomial in the fields, have simple properties for $`k\mathrm{}`$. Furthermore, the functional $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ matches simple boundary conditions only if $`\stackrel{~}{𝒪}`$ is quadratic in the fields. These requirements are met for ERG flows.

## B Generalised Callan-Symanzik flows

In this appendix, we discuss RG flows based on a mass term $`R=k^2`$. The resulting flow is a Callan-Symanzik (CS) flow . This flow can be brought into the more standard form of the Callan-Symanzik equation in case we had introduced anomalous dimensions. On the basis of the CS flow we construct flows which are similar in form to proper-time flows. We restrict ourselves to the discussion of massive theories, in order to avoid some particular problems with massless ones. Massless theories can be dealt with as well, but the additional problems there are of no relevance for our purposes.

Employing the notation introduced earlier, the CS flow is simply given by

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}.`$ (B.99)
We stress that the CS flow is not precisely an ERG flow as defined above since it fails to satisfy condition (5). In particular, the CS flow does not admit the Wilsonian interpretation of the flow: in contrast to the ERG case, at every fixed scale $`k`$, the momentum integration is not regularised in the UV and all momenta contribute to the flow. There is the necessity of an additional UV renormalisation of the flow, not required for the ERG. This problem has been discussed in detail in . For the present purposes we can neglect this intricacy.

The integrated CS flow (B.99) gives the full quantum effective action. Let us now address a slightly different flow, given by the difference of the CS flow and the flow of the CS flow,

$`(_t\frac{1}{2}_t^2)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=(1\frac{1}{2}_t)\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}=\mathrm{Tr}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}\right)^2+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2)^2}}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}.`$ (B.100)
Eq. (B.100) represents a flow for $`(1\frac{1}{2}_t)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$. Such a flow trivially escapes the linearity constraint on general one loop exact flows derived in appendix A. It involves higher derivatives of a general one loop exact flow with respect to $`k`$. This is signalled by the term proportional to $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ on the right hand side. Consequently it does not match the allowed structure on the right hand side of (A.90). Note, however, that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ satisfies the CS-equation in agreement with appendix A. Integrating the flow displayed in (B.100) leads to the effective action. For $`k0`$, we arrive at

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{1}{2}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k|_{k=\mathrm{\Lambda }}+{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}(_t\frac{1}{2}_t^2)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\frac{1}{2}\left[\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}\right]_{k=0}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0.`$ (B.101)
The initial condition for such the flow (B.100) is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{1}{2}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k|_{k=\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ which tends to the classical action for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}`$. Such a flow is complete. However, we emphasise, that the right hand side of (B.100) depends on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ and $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ obeys the CS-equation. This is important for the iterative calculations done in appendix C.

This example can be extended to arbitrary sums of derivatives $`(_t+_nc_n_t^n)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$. Integrals of these flows always result in the effective action due to the first term $`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$. This can be used to define the following flow:

$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}F_{n,m}_t^{n+1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\mathrm{Tr}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}\right)^m+\mathrm{Tr}F_k[_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)},\mathrm{},_t^{m1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)};\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}].`$ (B.102)
Here, $`F_k[0,\mathrm{},0;x]0`$ and $`F_{n,m}=\frac{1}{2}_{i=n}^{m1}\frac{1}{i}F_{n1,i}`$ for $`n>1`$ and $`F_{1,m}=\frac{1}{2}_{i=1}^{m1}\frac{1}{i}`$. $`F_k`$ is given by the terms proportional to $`_t^i\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}`$ with $`i=1,\mathrm{},m1`$ contained in $`_{n=1}^{m1}F_{n,m}_t^{n+1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$. By construction, the flow (B.102) is an exact flow. Again, as for the integrated flow (B.100) (see (B.101)), the integral of (B.102) is the full effective action:

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}F_{n,m}_t^n\mathrm{\Gamma }_k|_{k=\mathrm{\Lambda }}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}F_{n,m}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}_t^{n+1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k`$ (B.103)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{m1}{}}}F_{n,m}_t^n\mathrm{Tr}{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2}}|_{k=0}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0.`$ (B.104)
The integrated flow is the full effective action, as the additional terms are proportional to powers of $`k^2`$. Moreover, the initial effective action tends to the classical action for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{}`$, subject to a properly chosen renormalisation. We have shown in Sect. III that the first term of (B.102) represents a generic proper-time flow . Hence, $`\mathrm{Tr}F_k[_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)},\mathrm{},_t^{n1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)};\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}]+F_{n,m}_t^{n+1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_k0`$ represents the unavoidable deviation of a proper-time flow from an exact flow.

## C Example

In this appendix we calculate the two loop contribution of the generalised CS flow as introduced in App. B for $`m=2`$. This serves as a reference point for the proper-time flow with $`m=2`$, discussed in Sect. III E. The line of reasoning is analogous to the one presented in Sect. II B. In the condensed notation introduced there, the flow (B.100) is given by

$`\left(_t\frac{1}{2}_t^2\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k=\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^4}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2)^2}}\right)_{qq}+\frac{1}{2}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{(2)}+k^2)^2}}\right)_{qq^{}}_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_{k,q^{}q}^{(2)}.`$ (C.105)
The right-hand side of (C.105) has the graphical representation given in Fig. 14.

Expanding (C.105) in loop orders we arrive at

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left(_t^{}\frac{1}{2}_t^{}^2\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^{}|_{2\mathrm{loop}}`$ (C.106)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left(2\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,pq}^{(2)}(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{qp}+\frac{1}{2}(Gk^2G)_{pq}_t^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{k^{},qp}^{(2)}\right).`$ (C.107)
The hat in $`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2`$ indicates that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2`$ has a diagrammatic expansions different from $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$. Note also that on the right-hand side $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ is the one of the CS flow (B.99). Now we use that

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,qq^{}}^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`\frac{1}{2}\left[G_{pp^{}}\left(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right)\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k,`$ (C.108)
$`_t\mathrm{\Gamma }_{k,q^{}q}^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}\left(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}2S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right).`$ (C.109)
Combining (C.107), (C.108) and (C.109) leads us to

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2={\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\{\left[G_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}`$ (C.111)
$`\frac{1}{2}(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}2S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\}`$
We rewrite the integrand in (C.111) in terms of total derivatives with respect to the scale parameter $`t`$. Again a graphical representation for the integrand is helpful, cf. Fig. 15, where the definitions of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 have been used with $`_tR=2k^2`$ and $`R=k^2`$.

Using Fig. 5, we rewrite Fig. 15 in terms of total derivatives. Inserting the simple graphical derivative in (C.111) we end up with

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left\{\frac{1}{4}_t^{}\left(G_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\right)\mathrm{subtractions}\right\}`$ (C.112)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left\{\frac{1}{2}G_{pp^{}}(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)})(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\mathrm{subtractions}\right\}`$ (C.113)
$`=`$ $`\left[\frac{1}{8}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}G_{q^{}q}\frac{1}{12}G_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}G_{q^{}q}\right]_{\mathrm{ren}.}`$ (C.114)
This is the correct two loop result as displayed in (17). In order to arrive at (C.114), we made use of the fact that the total derivative term in the first line of (C.114) vanishes at $`k=0`$. The second line can be written as a total $`t`$-derivative by noticing that in the present case $`Gk^2G=\frac{1}{2}_tG`$. It reduces the second line of (C.114) to the first line of (17). This proof of perturbative completeness can be extended to arbitrary high orders within the loop expansion.

This offers an alternative way to arrive at the result (49). We study the difference of the integrated flow (C.107) to the integrated proper-time flow in (47). The difference between the two flows is given by

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left\{(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}\left(S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}2S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right)(Gk^2Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\right\}`$ (C.116)
$`+{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Lambda }^k}\frac{dk^{}}{k^{}}\left\{(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}\left(\frac{1}{2}S_{p^{}pqq^{}}^{(4)}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}G_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}\right)(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q}\right\}`$
modulo subtractions. Eq. (C.116) can also be deduced from the recursive relation between $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_m`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{m1}`$ as displayed in App. D, eqs. (D.125) and (D.126). If the proper-time flow was complete the difference would vanish since the CS flow is complete. After some straightforward algebra this leaves us with the following consistency condition:

$`0\stackrel{!}{}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_2=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}\frac{dk}{k}(Gk^2G)_{pp^{}}S_{p^{}rq}^{(3)}(Gk^2G)_{rr^{}}S_{r^{}pq^{}}^{(3)}(Gk^2G)_{q^{}q},`$ (C.117)
which is not satisfied. Using (C.114) and (C.117) leads us to the representation (49) of the proper-time flow.

## D Recursive relations

In this appendix, we derive two loop recursive relations for proper-time flows for values $`m`$ and $`m^{}`$ that differ by an integer. These relations make the scheme dependent deviation from perturbation theory explicit. The result is used in Sect. III.

The equation for the two loop contribution to a flow with parameter $`m`$ is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}=m{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}\frac{dk}{k}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^mG\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}.`$ (D.118)
with $`G=(S^{(2)}+k^2)^1`$. Eq. (D.118) can be rewritten in terms of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}`$ and loop terms. In the following it is understood that integrals between $`k=0`$ and $`k=\mathrm{}`$ of total derivatives proportional to $`k^2`$ vanish up to renormalisation. Now we use that

$`m(Gk^2)^mG=\frac{1}{2}_t\left[(Gk^2)^{m1}G\right](m1)(Gk^2)^{m1}G.`$ (D.119)
Using also a partial integration we get from (D.118) and (D.119)

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}=\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}\frac{dk}{k}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}G_t\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}(m1){\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}\frac{dk}{k}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}G\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}.`$ (D.120)
If we could substitute $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}`$ by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}^{(2)}`$ in the second term on the right-hand side of (D.120), this term would just be $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}`$, as can be seen from (D.118). To that end notice that

$`(Gk^2)^m(Gk^2)^{m1}=(Gk^2)^{m1}GS^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2(m1)}_t(Gk^2)^{m1}.`$ (D.121)
With (D.121), it is possible to express the one loop contribution $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}`$ in terms of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}`$ and a one loop term:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}\frac{1}{2(m1)}\left[\mathrm{Tr}(Gk_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})^{m1}\right]_\mathrm{\Lambda }^k.`$ (D.122)
Alternatively, (D.122) can be read off from (32), or more easily for integer $`m`$ from (33). Using (D.121) in the second term on the right-hand side of (D.120), this term takes the form

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}+\frac{1}{2}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}\frac{dk}{k}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}G{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}.`$ (D.123)
Next, we consider the first contribution on the right-hand side of (D.120), where we use

$$_t\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}=\frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^m.$$
(D.124)
Combining the first term in (D.120), using (D.124), with the second term in (D.123), and making use of the first equation in (D.121), we arrive at the recursive relation

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[(Gk^2)^{m1}G{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}GS^{(2)}\right],`$ (D.125)
apart from irrelevant terms from the different renormalisation procedures for the two flows. Eq. (D.125) cannot be written as the integral of a total derivative. We can, however, perform a partial integration using $`_t(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m}^{(2)}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,m1}^{(2)})=\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}GS^{(2)}`$. Employing also (D.122), we end up with

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m1}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[(Gk^2)^m(\frac{m}{m1}Gk^2){\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^{m1}\right],`$ (D.126)
which has been given previously in . The different forms could prove useful when discussing the terms dropped in a specific proper-time flow. Finally, (D.125) can be used to write down a general relation between flows with $`m,m^{}`$ that differ by an integer $`n`$. We have

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,m}=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2,mn}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=mn}{\overset{m1}{}}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k}}\mathrm{Tr}\left[(Gk^2)^lG{\displaystyle \frac{\delta ^2}{(\delta \varphi )^2}}\mathrm{Tr}(Gk^2)^lGS^{(2)}\right].`$ (D.127)
The difference (D.127) depends on arbitrarily high powers of the fields and does not integrate to zero. Similar relations also exist for non-zero $`k`$, but then we also have contributions that integrate to zero as they are total derivatives of terms proportional to $`k^2`$.