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

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

Hard thermal loops in a magnetic field and the chiral anomaly

The fermionic dispersion relation in the presence of a background magnetic field and a high temperature QED plasma is calculated exactly in the external field, using the Hard Thermal Loop effective action. As the field strength increases there is a smooth transition from the weak-field ($qB\ll q^2T^2$) thermal dispersion relations to the vacuum Landau levels when the background field is much stronger than any thermal effects ($qB\gg q^2T^2$). The self-energy at finite field strength acquires an imaginary part. The spectral width becomes important for critical field strengths ($qB \sim q^2T^2$), necessitating the use of the full spectral function. It is shown that the spectral function satisfies the usual condition of normalization and causality. Using the exact spectral function I also show that the production of chirality in an external electromagnetic field at high temperature is unaffected by the presence of the thermal masses of the fermions.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, late

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

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

Condensation and Magnetization of the Relativistic Bose Gas

We present a simple proof of the absence of Bose--Einstein condensation of a relativistic boson gas, in any finite local magnetic field in less than five dimensions. We show that the relativistic charged boson gas exhibit a genuine Meissner--Ochsenfeld effect of the Schafroth form at fixed supercritical density. As in the well--known non--relativistic case, this total expulsion of a magnetic field is caused by the condensation of the Bose gas at vanishing magnetic field. The result is discussed in the context of kaon condensation in neutron stars.Comment: 8 pages, Late

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

Thermalization of the Higgs Field at the Electroweak Phase Transition

The thermalization rate for long wavelength fluctuations in the Higgs field is calculated from the imaginary part of the finite temperature effective action in the unbroken phase of the Standard Model. We use improved propagators including a resummation of hard thermal loops. The thermalization rate is computed at one loop level, but an estimate of the two--loop contribution appears to give an indication that they are comparable to the one--loop result for small thermal higgs mass. We show also that the Higgs field fluctuations are likely to thermalize very fast compared with the electroweak phase transition time.Comment: (21 pp, 5 figures available upon request). NORDITA--93/48