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We report on recent advances in the understanding of non-perturbative phenomena in the quantum theory of fields and strings.

We review the use of an exact renormalization group equation in quantum field theory and statistical physics. It describes the dependence of the free energy on an infrared cutoff for the quantum or thermal fluctuations. Non-perturbative solutions follow from approximations to the general form of the coarse-grained free energy or effective average action. They interpolate between the microphysical laws and the complex macroscopic phenomena. Our approach yields a simple unified description for O(N)-symmetric scalar models in two, three or four dimensions, covering in particular the critical phenomena for the second-order phase transitions, including the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and the critical behavior of polymer chains. We compute the aspects of the critical equation of state which are universal for a large variety of physical systems and establish a direct connection between microphysical and critical quantities for a liquid-gas transition. Universal features of first-order phase transitions are studied in the context of scalar matrix models. We show that the quantitative treatment of coarse graining is essential for a detailed estimate of the nucleation rate. We discuss quantum statistics in thermal equilibrium or thermal quantum field theory with fermions and bosons and we describe the high temperature symmetry restoration in quantum field theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking. In particular, we explore chiral symmetry breaking and the high temperature or high density chiral phase transition in quantum chromodynamics using models with effective four-fermion interactions.

During the '70, several relativistic quantum field theory models in $D=1+1$ and also in $D=2+1$ have been constructed in a non-perturbative way. That was done in the so-called {\it constructive quantum field theory} approach, whose main results have been obtained by a clever use of Euclidean functional methods. Although in the construction of a single model there are several technical steps, some of them involving long proofs, the constructive quantum field theory approach contains conceptual insights about relativistic quantum field theory that deserved to be known and which are accessible without entering in technical details. The purpose of this note is to illustrate such insights by providing an oversimplified schematic exposition of the simple case of $\lambda\Phi^4$ (with $m>0$) in $D=1+1$. Because of the absence of ultraviolet divergences in its perturbative version, this simple example -although does not capture all the difficulties in the constructive quantum field theory approach- allows to stress those difficulties inherent to the non-perturbative definition. We have made an effort in order to avoid several of the long technical intermediate steps without missing the main ideas and making contact with the usual language of the perturbative approach.

In many domains of physics, methods are needed to deal with non-perturbative aspects. I want here to argue that a good approach is to work on the Borel transforms of the quantities of interest, the singularities of which give non-perturbative contributions. These singularities in many cases can be largely determined by using the alien calculus developed by Jean \'Ecalle. My main example will be the two point function of a massless theory given as a solution of a renormalization group equation.

We analyze phenomenological aspects of the quantum field theoretical formulation of meson mixing and obtain the exact oscillation formula in the presence of the decay. This formula is different from quantum mechanical formula by additional high-frequency oscillation terms. In the infinite volume limit, the space of the flavor quantum states is unitarily inequivalent to the space of energy eigenstates.

In this expository article we review recent advances in our understanding of the combinatorial and algebraic structure of perturbation theory in terms of Feynman graphs, and Dyson-Schwinger equations. Starting from Lie and Hopf algebras of Feynman graphs, perturbative renormalization is rephrased algebraically. The Hochschild cohomology of these Hopf algebras leads the way to Slavnov-Taylor identities and Dyson-Schwinger equations. We discuss recent progress in solving simple Dyson-Schwinger equations in the high energy sector using the algebraic machinery. Finally there is a short account on a relation to algebraic geometry and number theory: understanding Feynman integrals as periods of mixed (Tate) motives.

We introduce a spectral approach to non-perturbative field theory within the periodic field formalism. As an example we calculate the real and imaginary parts of the propagator in 1+1 dimensional phi^4 theory, identifying both one-particle and multi-particle contributions. We discuss the computational limits of existing diagonalization algorithms and suggest new quasi-sparse eigenvector methods to handle very large Fock spaces and higher dimensional field theories.

The subject of the first section-lecture is concerned with the strength and the weakness of the perturbation theory (PT) approach, that is expansion in powers of a small parameter $\alpha$, in Quantum Theory. We start with outlining a general troublesome feature of the main quantum theory instrument, the perturbation expansion method. The striking issue is that perturbation series in powers of $\alpha \ll 1$ is not a convergent series. The formal reason is an essential singularity of quantum amplitude (matrix element) $C(\alpha)$ at the origin $\alpha=0$. In many physically important cases one needs some alternative means of theoretical analysis. In particular, this refers to perturbative QCD (pQCD) in the low-energy domain. In the second section-lecture, we discuss the approach of Analytic Perturbation Theory (APT). We start with a short historic preamble and then discuss how combining the Dispersion Relation with the Renormalization Group (RG) techniques yields the APT with \myMath{\displaystyle e^{-1/\alpha}} nonanalyticity. Next we consider the results of APT applications to low-energy QCD processes and show that in this approach the fourth-loop contributions, which appear to be on the asymptotic border in the pQCD approach, are of the order of a few per mil. Then we note that using the RG in QCD dictates the need to use the Fractional APT (FAPT) and describe its basic ingredients. As an example of the FAPT application in QCD we consider the pion form factor $F_\pi(Q^2)$ calculation. At the end, we discuss the resummation of nonpower series in {(F)APT} with application to the estimation of the Higgs-boson-decay width $\Gamma_{H\to\bar{b}b}(m_H^2)$.

These are lectures presented at the Les Houches Summer School ``Topology and Geometry in Physics'', July 1998. They provide a simple introduction to non perturbative methods of field theory in 1+1 dimensions, and their application to the study of strongly correlated condensed matter problems - in particular quantum impurity problems. The level is moderately advanced, and takes the student all the way to the most recent progress in the field: many exercises and additional references are provided. In the first part, I give a sketchy introduction to conformal field theory. I then explain how boundary conformal invariance can be used to classify and study low energy, strong coupling fixed points in quantum impurity problems. In the second part, I discuss quantum integrability from the point of view of perturbed conformal field theory, with a special emphasis on the recent ideas of massless scattering. I then explain how these ideas allow the computation of (experimentally measurable) transport properties in cross-over regimes. The case of edge states tunneling in the fractional quantum Hall effect is used throughout the lectures as an example of application.

In this contribution to the proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2015, I give an overview over quantum field theories on non-commutative Moyal space and renormalization. In particular, I review the new features and challenges one faces when constructing various scalar, fermionic and gauge field theories on Moyal space, and especially how the UV/IR mixing problem was solved for certain models. Finally, I outline more recent progress in constructing a renormalizable gauge field model on non-commutative space, and how one might attempt to prove renormalizability of such a model using a generalized renormalization scheme adapted to the non-commutative (and hence non-local) setting.

The non-perturbative dynamics of quantum field theories is studied using theoretical tools inspired by string formalism. Two main lines are developed: the analysis of stringy instantons in a class of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories and the holographic study of the minimal model for a strongly coupled unbalanced superconductor. The field theory instanton calculus admits a natural and efficient description in terms of D-brane models. In addition, the string viewpoint offers the possibility of generalizing the ordinary instanton configurations. Even though such generalized, or stringy, instantons would be absent in a purely field-theoretical, low-energy treatment, we demonstrate that they do alter the IR effective description of the brane dynamics by introducing contributions related to the string scale. In the first part of this thesis we compute explicitly the stringy instanton corrections to the effective prepotential in a class of quiver gauge theories. In the second part of the thesis, we present a detailed analysis of the minimal holographic setup yielding an effective description of a superconductor with two Abelian currents. The model contains a scalar field whose condensation produces a spontaneous symmetry breaking which describes the transition to a superfluid phase. This system has important applications in both QCD and condensed matter physics; moreover, it allows us to study mixed electric-spin transport properties (i.e. spintronics) at strong coupling.

The non-perturbative dynamics of quantum field theories is studied using theoretical tools inspired by string formalism. Two main lines are developed: the analysis of stringy instantons in a class of four-dimensional N=2 gauge theories and the holographic study of the minimal model for a strongly coupled unbalanced superconductor. The field theory instanton calculus admits a natural and efficient description in terms of D-brane models. In addition, the string viewpoint offers the possibility of generalizing the ordinary instanton configurations. Even though such generalized, or stringy, instantons would be absent in a purely field-theoretical, low-energy treatment, we demonstrate that they do alter the IR effective description of the brane dynamics by introducing contributions related to the string scale. In the first part of this thesis we compute explicitly the stringy instanton corrections to the effective prepotential in a class of quiver gauge theories. In the second part of the thesis, we present a detailed analysis of the minimal holographic setup yielding an effective description of a superconductor with two Abelian currents. The model contains a scalar field whose condensation produces a spontaneous symmetry breaking which describes the transition to a superfluid phase. This system has important applications in both QCD and condensed matter physics; moreover, it allows us to study mixed electric-spin transport properties (i.e. spintronics) at strong coupling.

These are notes of lectures given at The NATO Advanced Study Institute/EC Summer School on ``New Theoretical Approaches to Strongly Correlated Systems'' (Newton Institute, April 2000). They are a sequel to the notes I wrote two years ago for the Summer School ``Topological Aspects of Low Dimensional Systems'', (Les Houches, July 1998). In this second part, I review the form-factors technique and its extension to massless quantum field theories. I then discuss the calculation of correlators in integrable quantum impurity problems, with special emphasis on point contact tunneling in the fractional quantum Hall effect, and the two-state problem of dissipative quantum mechanics.