The Magic Renormalisability of Affine Gaudin Models

We study the renormalisation of a large class of integrable $\sigma$-models obtained in the framework of affine Gaudin models. They are characterised by a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ and a rational twist function $\phi (z)$ with simple zeros, a double pole at infinity but otherwise no further restrictions on the pole structure. The crucial tool used in our analysis is the interpretation of these integrable theories as $\mathcal{E}$-models, which are $\sigma$-models studied in the context of Poisson-Lie T-duality and which are known to be at least one- and two-loop renormalisable. The moduli space of $\mathcal{E}$-models still contains many non-integrable theories. We identify the submanifold formed by affine Gaudin models and relate its tangent space to curious matrices and semi-magic squares. In particular, these results provide a criteria for the stability of these integrable models under the RG-flow. At one loop, we show that this criteria is satisfied and derive a very simple expression for the RG-flow of the twist function, proving a conjecture made earlier in the literature.