408 research outputs found
Two-particle irreducible effective action approach to nonlinear current conserving approximations in driven systems
Using closed-time path two-particle irreducible coarse-grained effective
action (CTP 2PI CGEA) techniques, we study the response of an open interacting
electronic system to time-dependent external electromagnetic fields. We show
that the CTP 2PI CGEA is invariant under a simultaneous gauge transformation of
the external field and the full Schwinger-Keldysh propagator, and that this
property holds even when the loop expansion of the CTP 2PI CGEA is truncated at
arbitrary order. The effective action approach provides a systematic way of
calculating the propagator and response functions of the system, via the
Schwinger-Dyson equation and the Bethe-Salpeter equations, respectively. We
show that, due to the invariance of the CTP 2PI CGEA under external gauge
transformations, the response functions calculated from it satisfy the
Ward-Takahashi hierarchy, thus warranting the conservation of the electronic
current beyond the expectation value level. We also clarify the connection
between nonlinear response theory and the WT hierarchy, and discuss an example
of an ad hoc approximation that violate it. These findings may be useful in the
study of current fluctuations in correlated electronic pumping devices.Comment: 30 pages. Accepted for publication in JPC
Covariant approach to equilibration in effective field theories
The equilibration of two coupled reservoirs is studied using a Green function
approach which is suitable for future development with the closed time path
method. The problem is solved in two parameterizations, in order to demonstrate
the non-trivial issues of parameterization in both the intermediate steps and
the interpretation of physical quantities. We use a covariant approach to find
self-consistent solutions for the statistical distributions as functions of
time. We show that by formally introducing covariant connections, one can
rescale a slowly varying non-equilibrium theory so that it appears to be an
equilibrium one, for the purposes of calculation. We emphasize the importance
of properly tracking variable redefinitions in order to correctly interpret
physical quantities.Comment: 11 pages, Late
Mode decomposition and renormalization in semiclassical gravity
We compute the influence action for a system perturbatively coupled to a
linear scalar field acting as the environment. Subtleties related to
divergences that appear when summing over all the modes are made explicit and
clarified. Being closely connected with models used in the literature, we show
how to completely reconcile the results obtained in the context of stochastic
semiclassical gravity when using mode decomposition with those obtained by
other standard functional techniques.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, no figure
Divergence-type 2+1 dissipative hydrodynamics applied to heavy-ion collisions
We apply divergence-type theory (DTT) dissipative hydrodynamics to study the
2+1 space-time evolution of the fireball created in Au+Au relativistic
heavy-ion collisions at 200 GeV. DTTs are exact hydrodynamic
theories that do no rely on velocity gradient expansions and therefore go
beyond second-order theories. We numerically solve the equations of motion of
the DTT for Glauber initial conditions and compare the results with those of
second-order theory based on conformal invariants (BRSS) and with data. We find
that the charged-hadron minumum-bias elliptic flow reaches its maximum value at
lower in the DTT, and that the DTT allows for a value of
slightly larger than that of the BRSS. Our results show that the differences
between viscous hydrodynamic formalisms are a significant source of uncertainty
in the precise extraction of from experiments.Comment: v4: 29 pages, 12 figures, minor changes. Final version as published
in Phys. Rev.
Renormalization group and nonequilibrium action in stochastic field theory
We investigate the renormalization group approach to nonequilibrium field
theory. We show that it is possible to derive nontrivial renormalization group
flow from iterative coarse graining of a closed-time-path action. This
renormalization group is different from the usual in quantum field theory
textbooks, in that it describes nontrivial noise and dissipation. We work out a
specific example where the variation of the closed-time-path action leads to
the so-called Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, and show that the renormalization
group obtained by coarse graining this action, agrees with the dynamical
renormalization group derived by directly coarse graining the equations of
motion.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures included in the text. Revised; one reference
adde
Quantum Spinodal Decomposition
We study the process of spinodal decomposition in a scalar quantum field
theory that is quenched from an equilibrium disordered initial state at to a final state at . The process of formation and growth
of correlated domains is studied in a Hartree approximation. We find an
approximate scaling law for the size of the domains at long times for weakly coupled theories, with the zero
temperature correlation length.Comment: REVTEX 13 pages(2 figures not included),PITT 93-0
Noise induced transitions in semiclassical cosmology
A semiclassical cosmological model is considered which consists of a closed
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker in the presence of a cosmological constant, which
mimics the effect of an inflaton field, and a massless, non-conformally coupled
quantum scalar field. We show that the back-reaction of the quantum field,
which consists basically of a non local term due to gravitational particle
creation and a noise term induced by the quantum fluctuations of the field, are
able to drive the cosmological scale factor over the barrier of the classical
potential so that if the universe starts near zero scale factor (initial
singularity) it can make the transition to an exponentially expanding de Sitter
phase. We compute the probability of this transition and it turns out to be
comparable with the probability that the universe tunnels from "nothing" into
an inflationary stage in quantum cosmology. This suggests that in the presence
of matter fields the back-reaction on the spacetime should not be neglected in
quantum cosmology.Comment: LaTex, 33.tex pages, no figure
Cosmological Magnetic Fields from Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry-Breaking Models
We study the generation of primordial magnetic fields, coherent over
cosmologically interesting scales, by gravitational creation of charged scalar
particles during the reheating period. We show that magnetic fields consistent
with those detected by observation may obtained if the particle mean life
\tau_s is in the range 10^{-14} sec \leq \tau_s \leq 10{-7} sec. We apply this
mechanism to minimal gauge mediated supersymmetry-breaking models, in the case
in which the lightest stau \tilde\tau_1 is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric
particle. We show that, for a large range of phenomenologically acceptable
values of the supersymmetry-breaking scale \sqrt{F}, the generated primordial
magnetic field can be strong enough to seed the galactic dynamo.Comment: 12 pages, Latex. Final version accepted for publication in Phys.
Lett.
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