Derivatives as an IR Regulator for Massless Fields

The free propagator for the scalar $\lambda \phi^4$--theory is calculated exactly up to the second derivative of a background field. Using this propagator I compute the one--loop effective action, which then contains all powers of the field but with at most two derivatives acting on each field. The standard derivative expansion, which only has a finite number of derivatives in each term, breaks down for small fields when the mass is zero, while the expression obtained here has a well--defined expansion in $\phi$. In this way the resummation of derivatives cures the naive IR divergence. The extension to finite temperature is also discussed.Comment: Late

Temperature Renormalization Group and Resummation

The temperature renormalization group equation (TRGE) is compared with a diagrammatic expansion for the $(\phi^4)_4$-theory. It is found that the one-loop TRGE resums the leading powers of temperature for the effective mass. A two-loop contribution to TRGE is required to do the leading resummation for the coupling constant. It is also shown that the higher order TRGE resums subleading powers of temperature.Comment: 17pp, LATEX and FEYNMAN, NORDITA 92/63

Dispersion relations from the Hard Thermal Loop effective action in a magnetic field

Dispersion relations for fermions at high temperature and in a background magnetic field are calculated in two different ways. First from a straightforward one-loop calculation where, in the weak field limit, we find an expression closely related to the standard dispersion relations in the absence of the magnetic field. Secondly, we derive the dispersion relations directly from the Hard Thermal Loop effective action, which allows for an exact solution (i.e. to all orders in the external field), up to the last numerical integrals.Comment: Latex+epsf with uuencoded ps-figure

Neutrino self-energy in a magnetized medium in arbitrary ξ\xi-gauge

We calculate the one-loop neutrino self-energy in a magnetized plasma to all orders in the magnetic field. The calculation is done in a general gauge. We obtain the dispersion relation and effective potential for neutrinos in a CP-symmetric plasma under various conditions, and show that, while the self-energy depends on the gauge parameter $\xi$, the dispersion relation and effective potential to leading order are independent of it.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, epsfig, axodra

QED effective action at finite temperature

The QED effective Lagrangian in the presence of an arbitrary constant electromagnetic background field at finite temperature is derived in the imaginary-time formalism to one-loop order. The boundary conditions in imaginary time reduce the set of gauge transformations of the background field, which allows for a further gauge invariant and puts restrictions on the choice of gauge. The additional invariant enters the effective action by a topological mechanism and can be identified with a chemical potential; it is furthermore related to Debye screening. In concordance with the real-time formalism, we do not find a thermal correction to Schwinger's pair-production formula. The calculation is performed on a maximally Lorentz covariant and gauge invariant stage.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX, 1 figure, typos corrected, references added, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Thermally induced photon splitting

We calculate thermal corrections to the non-linear QED effective action for low-energy photon interactions in a background electromagnetic field. The high-temperature expansion shows that at $T \gg m$ the vacuum contribution is exactly cancelled to all orders in the external field except for a non-trivial two-point function contribution. The high-temperature expansion derived reveals a remarkable cancellation of infrared sensitive contributions. As a result photon-splitting in the presence of a magnetic field is suppressed in the presence of an electron-positron QED-plasma at very high temperatures. In a cold and dense plasma a similar suppression takes place. At the same time Compton scattering dominates for weak fields and the suppression is rarely important in physical situations.Comment: 15 pages, 2 ps figures, Late

Light Cone Condition for a Thermalized QED Vacuum

Within the QED effective action approach, we study the propagation of low-frequency light at finite temperature. Starting from a general effective Lagrangian for slowly varying fields whose structure is solely dictated by Lorentz covariance and gauge invariance, we derive the light cone condition for light propagating in a thermalized QED vacuum. As an application, we calculate the velocity shifts, i.e., refractive indices of the vacuum, induced by thermalized fermions to one loop. We investigate various temperature domains and also include a background magnetic field. While low-temperature effects to one loop are exponentially damped by the electron mass, there exists a maximum velocity shift of $-\delta v^2_{max}=\alpha/(3\pi)$ in the intermediate-temperature domain $T\sim m$.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX, typos corrected, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Atomic beam correlations and the quantum state of the micromaser

Correlation measurements on the states of two-level atoms having passed through a micromaser at different times can be used to infer properties of the quantum state of the radiation field in the cavity. Long(short) correlation length in time is to some extent associated with super(sub)-Poissonian photon statistics. The correlation length is also an indicator of a phase structure much richer than what is revealed by the usual single-time observables, like the atomic inversion or the Mandel quality factor. In realistic experimental situations the correlations may extend over many times the decay time of the cavity. Our assertions are verified by comparing theoretical calculations with a high-precision Monte-Carlo simulation of the micromaser system.Comment: 4 pages, styles: aps, latex, times, epsf, More physical insight added, title and figures changed, more references. The paper can be retrieved as compressed file called elmfors.maser.ps.Z from http://connect.nbi.dk/pub/lautrup/ or via anonymous ftp at ftp://connect.nbi.dk/pub/lautrup

Thermal Fermionic Dispersion Relations in a Magnetic Field

The thermal self-energy of an electron in a static uniform magnetic field $B$ is calculated to first order in the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and to all orders in $eB$. We use two methods, one based on the Furry picture and another based on Schwinger's proper-time method. As external states we consider relativistic Landau levels with special emphasis on the lowest Landau level. In the high-temperature limit we derive self-consistent dispersion relations for particle and hole excitations, showing the chiral asymmetry caused by the external field. For weak fields, earlier results on the ground- state energy and the anomalous magnetic moment are discussed and compared with the present analysis. In the strong-field limit the appearance of a field-independent imaginary part of the self-energy, related to Landau damping in the $e^{+}e^{-}$ plasma, is pointed out.Comment: Latex+FEYNMAN.tex. 5 figures and special files are submitted using Figure