Real-time contour propagator for high temperature dimensional reduction

We discuss the extension of dimensional reduction in thermal field theory at high temperature to real-time correlation functions. It is shown that the perturbative corrections to the leading classical behavior of a scalar bosonic field theory are determined by an effective contour propagator. On the real-time-branch of the time-path contour the effective propagator is obtained by subtracting the classical propagator from the contour propagator of thermal field theory, whereas on the Euclidean branch it reduces to the non-static Matsubara propagator of standard dimensional reduction.Comment: 6 pages, Revte

Effective Classical Theory for Real-Time SU(N) Gauge Theories at High Temperature

We derive an effective classical theory for real-time SU($N$) gauge theories at high temperature. By separating off and integrating out quantum fluctuations we obtain a 3D classical path integral over the initial fields and conjugate momenta. The leading hard mode contribution is incorporated in the equations of motion for the classical fields. This yields the gauge invariant hard thermal loop (HTL) effective equation of motion. No gauge-variant terms are generated as in treatments with an intermediate momentum cut-off. Quantum corrections to classical correlation functions can be calculated perturbatively. The 4D renormalizability of the theory ensures that the 4D counterterms are sufficient to render the theory finite. The HTL contributions of the quantum fluctuations provide the counterterms for the linear divergences in the classical theory.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, title changed, discussion on the classical approximation include