The Landau Pole at Finite Temperature

We study the Landau pole in the lambda phi^4 field theory at non-zero and large temperatures. We show that the position of the thermal Landau pole Lambda_L(T) is shifted to higher energies with respect to the zero temperature Landau pole Lambda_L(0). We find for high temperatures T > Lambda_L(0), Lambda_L(T) simeq pi^2 T / log (T / Lambda_L(0)). Therefore, the range of applicability in energy of the lambda phi^4 field theory increases with the temperature.Comment: LaTex, 6 pages, 2 .ps figures. Improved version. To appear in Phys. Rev. D, Rapid Communication

Critical region of the finite temperature chiral transition

We study a Yukawa theory with spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and with a large number N of fermions near the finite temperature phase transition. Critical properties in such a system can be described by the mean field theory very close to the transition point. We show that the width of the region where non-trivial critical behavior sets in is suppressed by a certain power of 1/N. Our Monte Carlo simulations confirm these analytical results. We discuss implications for the chiral phase transition in QCD.Comment: 18 page

Kosterlitz-Thouless Universality in a Fermionic System

A new extension of the attractive Hubbard model is constructed to study the critical behavior near a finite temperature superconducting phase transition in two dimensions using the recently developed meron-cluster algorithm. Unlike previous calculations in the attractive Hubbard model which were limited to small lattices, the new algorithm is used to study the critical behavior on lattices as large as $128\times 128$. These precise results for the first time show that a fermionic system can undergo a finite temperature phase transition whose critical behavior is well described by the predictions of Kosterlitz and Thouless almost three decades ago. In particular it is confirmed that the spatial winding number susceptibility obeys the well known predictions of finite size scaling for $T<T_c$ and up to logarithmic corrections the pair susceptibility scales as $L^{2-\eta}$ at large volumes with $0\leq\eta\leq 0.25$ for $0\leq T\leq T_c$.Comment: Revtex format; 4 pages, 2 figure

Phase Structure of QED3 at Finite Temperature

Dynamical symmetry breaking in three-dimensional QED with N fermion flavours is considered at finite temperature, in the large $N$ approximation. Using an approximate treatment of the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the fermion self-energy, we find that chiral symmetry is restored above a certain critical temperature which depends itself on $N$. We find that the ratio of the zero-momentum zero-temperature fermion mass to the critical temperature has a large value compared with four-fermion theories, as had been suggested in a previous work with a momentum-independent self-energy. Evidence of a temperature- dependent critical $N$ is shown to appear in this approximation. The phase diagram for spontaneous mass generation in the theory is presented in $T-N$ space.Comment: 9 page

Uv light impact on phthalates migration from children's toys into artificial saliva

Phthalates has been widely used in children?s toys as plastic plasticizers and softeners. Therefore, attention should be paid to plastic toys, especially those that children can put in their mouths. In this paper quantification of five phthalates: DMP, DnBP, BBP, DEHP and DnOP in plastic toys, as well as irradiation of toys with UV light was performed. After sample preparation and development of the liquid?liquid phthalate extraction method from artificial saliva phthalate quantitative determination using the GC?MS technique was performed. The mean recovery value for DEHP is 77.03?2.76 %. The determination of phthalate in the recipient models (artificial saliva and n-hexane) was performed after 6, 15 and 30 days of the migration test using the GC?MS technique. Based on the known mass % DEHP in the analyzed toys, the percentage of phthalate migration from each analyzed toy to the recipient model after 6, 15 and 30 days of the migration test was calculated. The results show that there is no significant migration of DEHP into artificial saliva, due to high polarity of the recipient (artificial saliva is polar), unlike n-hexane where the migration of DEHP is significant because it is a non-polar solvent

On the Interplay of Monopoles and Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Non-Compact Lattice QED

Non-compact lattice QED is simulated for various numbers of fermion species $N_f$ ranging from 8 through 40 by the exact Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm. Over this range of $N_f$, chiral symmetry breaking is found to be strongly correlated with the effective monopoles in the theory. For $N_f$ between 8 and 16 the chiral symmetry breaking and monopole percolation transitions are second order and coincident. Assuming powerlaw critical behavior, the correlation length exponent for the chiral transition is identical to that of monopole percolation. This result supports the conjecture that monopole percolation ``drives" the nontrivial chiral transition. For $N_f$ between 20 and 32, the monopoles experience a first order condensation transition coincident with a first order chiral transition. For $N_f$ as large as 40 both transitions are strongly suppressed. The data at large N_f (N_f \mathrel {\mathpalette \vereq >} 20) is interpreted in terms of a strongly interacting monopole gas-liquid transition.Comment: Revtex file, 23 pages, hardcopy figures only

Dimensional Reduction and Quantum-to-Classical Reduction at High Temperatures

We discuss the relation between dimensional reduction in quantum field theories at finite temperature and a familiar quantum mechanical phenomenon that quantum effects become negligible at high temperatures. Fermi and Bose fields are compared in this respect. We show that decoupling of fermions from the dimensionally reduced theory can be related to the non-existence of classical statistics for a Fermi field.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX, revised v. to be published in Phys. Rev. D: some points made more explici

On the Logarithmic Triviality of Scalar Quantum Electrodynamics

Using finite size scaling and histogram methods we obtain numerical results from lattice simulations indicating the logarithmic triviality of scalar quantum electrodynamics, even when the bare gauge coupling is chosen large. Simulations of the non-compact formulation of the lattice abelian Higgs model with fixed length scalar fields on $L^{4}$ lattices with $L$ ranging from $6$ through $20$ indicate a line of second order critical points. Fluctuation-induced first order transitions are ruled out. Runs of over ten million sweeps for each $L$ produce specific heat peaks which grow logarithmically with $L$ and whose critical couplings shift with $L$ picking out a correlation length exponent of $0.50(5)$ consistent with mean field theory. This behavior is qualitatively similar to that found in pure $\lambda\phi^{4}$.Comment: 9 page