The Blackbody Radiation Spectrum Follows from Zero-Point Radiation and the Structure of Relativistic Spacetime in Classical Physics

The analysis of this article is entirely within classical physics. Any attempt to describe nature within classical physics requires the presence of Lorentz-invariant classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation so as to account for the Casimir forces between parallel conducting plates at low temperatures. Furthermore, conformal symmetry carries solutions of Maxwell's equations into solutions. In an inertial frame, conformal symmetry leaves zero-point radiation invariant and does not connect it to non-zero-temperature; time-dilating conformal transformations carry the Lorentz-invariant zero-point radiation spectrum into zero-point radiation and carry the thermal radiation spectrum at non-zero temperature into thermal radiation at a different non-zero-temperature. However, in a non-inertial frame, a time-dilating conformal transformation carries classical zero-point radiation into thermal radiation at a finite non-zero-temperature. By taking the no-acceleration limit, one can obtain the Planck radiation spectrum for blackbody radiation in an inertial frame from the thermal radiation spectrum in an accelerating frame. Here this connection between zero-point radiation and thermal radiation is illustrated for a scalar radiation field in a Rindler frame undergoing relativistic uniform proper acceleration through flat spacetime in two spacetime dimensions. The analysis indicates that the Planck radiation spectrum for thermal radiation follows from zero-point radiation and the structure of relativistic spacetime in classical physics.Comment: 21 page

The gauge invariant effective potential: equilibrium and non-equilibrium aspects

We propose a gauge invariant formulation of the effective potential in terms of a gauge invariant order parameter, for the Abelian Higgs model. The one-loop contribution at zero and finite temperature is computed explicitly, and the leading terms in the high temperature expansion are obtained. The result is contrasted to the effective potential obtained in several covariant gauge-fixing schemes, and the gauge invariant quantities that can be reliably extracted from these are identified. It is pointed out that the gauge invariant effective potential in the one-loop approximation is complex for {\em all values} of the order parameter between the maximum and the minimum of the tree level potential, both at zero and non-zero temperature. The imaginary part is related to long-wavelength instabilities towards phase separation. We study the real-time dynamics of initial states in the spinodal region, and relate the imaginary part of the effective potential to the growth rate of equal-time gauge invariant correlation functions in these states. We conjecture that the spinodal instabilities may play a role in non-equilibrium processes {\em inside} the nucleating bubbles if the transition is first order.Comment: 27 pages revtex 3.0, no figures; one reference adde