Nonequilibrium dynamics in scalar hybrid models

We study by numerical simulations the transition from the metastable "false vacuum" to the broken symmetry phase in the preheating stage after cosmic inflation in a scalar hybrid model. We take quantum fluctuations and their back reaction into account by applying a one-loop bubble-resummation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the conference Strong and Electroweak Matter (SEWM2004), Helsinki, Finland, 16-19 June 200

Scalar O(N) Model at Finite Temperature -- 2PI Effective Potential in Different Approximations

We calculate the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective potential of the O(N) linear sigma model in 1+1 dimensions. The approximations we use are the next-to-leading order of a 1/N expansion (for arbitrary N) and a kind of "resummed loop approximation" for N=1. We show that the effective potential of the 1/N expansion is convex for N=4 and N=10 whereas it is not for the "loop" expansion and the case N=1 of the 1/N expansion.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages. Contribution to the Proceedings of 6th Conference on Strong and Electroweak Matter 2004 (SEWM04), Helsinki, Finland, 16-19 Jun 200

One-loop corrections to the Nielsen-Olesen vortex: collective oscillations

We connect the translation modes of the instanton in the two-dimensional Abelian Higgs model with local translations of the vortex of the related model in (3+1) dimensions, the Nielsen-Olesen vortex. In this context these modes describe collective oscillations of the string. We construct the wave function of this mode and we derive, via a virial theorem, an effective action for these oscillations, which is consistent with the action constructed by Nielsen and Olesen using general arguments. We discuss some aspects of renormalization, based on a recent computation of one loop corrections to string tension of the vortex.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur