Depinning Transition of Charge-Density Waves: Mapping onto O(n) Symmetric φ4 Theory with n →-2 and Loop-Erased Random Walks

Driven periodic elastic systems such as charge-density waves (CDWs) pinned by impurities show a nontrivial, glassy dynamical critical behavior. Their proper theoretical description requires the functional renormalization group. We show that their critical behavior close to the depinning transition is related to a much simpler model, O(n) symmetric phi(4) theory in the unusual limit of n -> -2. We demonstrate that both theories yield identical results to four-loop order and give both a perturbative and a nonperturbative proof of their equivalence. As we show, both theories can be used to describe loop-erased random walks (LERWs), the trace of a random walk where loops are erased as soon as they are formed. Remarkably, two famous models of non-self-intersecting random walks, self-avoiding walks and LERWs, can both be mapped phi(4) theory, taken with formally n = 0 and n. -2 components. This mapping allows us to compute the dynamic critical exponent of CDWs at the depinning transition and the fractal dimension of LERWs in d = 3 with unprecedented accuracy, z(d = 3) = 1.6243 +/- 0.001, in excellent agreement with the estimate z = 1.62400 +/- 0.00005 of numerical simulations.