85 research outputs found
Generalized Boltzmann equations for on-shell particle production in a hot plasma
A novel refinement of the conventional treatment of Kadanoff--Baym equations
is suggested. Besides the Boltzmann equation another differential equation is
used for calculating the evolution of the non-equilibrium two-point function.
Although it was usually interpreted as a constraint on the solution of the
Boltzmann equation, we argue that its dynamics is relevant to the determination
and resummation of the particle production cut contributions. The differential
equation for this new contribution is illustrated in the example of the cubic
scalar model. The analogue of the relaxation time approximation is suggested.
It results in the shift of the threshold location and in smearing out of the
non-analytic threshold behaviour of the spectral function. Possible
consequences for the dilepton production are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 2 ps figure
Chimpanzee identification and social network construction through an online citizen science platform
Abstract Citizen science has grown rapidly in popularity in recent years due to its potential to educate and engage the public while providing a means to address a myriad of scientific questions. However, the rise in popularity of citizen science has also been accompanied by concerns about the quality of data emerging from citizen science research projects. We assessed data quality in the online citizen scientist platform Chimp&See, which hosts camera trap videos of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and other species across Equatorial Africa. In particular, we compared detection and identification of individual chimpanzees by citizen scientists with that of experts with years of experience studying those chimpanzees. We found that citizen scientists typically detected the same number of individual chimpanzees as experts, but assigned far fewer identifications (IDs) to those individuals. Those IDs assigned, however, were nearly always in agreement with the IDs provided by experts. We applied the data sets of citizen scientists and experts by constructing social networks from each. We found that both social networks were relatively robust and shared a similar structure, as well as having positively correlated individual network positions. Our findings demonstrate that, although citizen scientists produced a smaller data set based on fewer confirmed IDs, the data strongly reflect expert classifications and can be used for meaningful assessments of group structure and dynamics. This approach expands opportunities for social research and conservation monitoring in great apes and many other individually identifiable species
Renormalization in Self-Consistent Approximations schemes at Finite Temperature I: Theory
Within finite temperature field theory, we show that truncated
non-perturbative self-consistent Dyson resummation schemes can be renormalized
with local counter-terms defined at the vacuum level. The requirements are that
the underlying theory is renormalizable and that the self-consistent scheme
follows Baym''s -derivable concept. The scheme generates both, the
renormalized self-consistent equations of motion and the closed equations for
the infinite set of counter terms. At the same time the corresponding
2PI-generating functional and the thermodynamical potential can be
renormalized, in consistency with the equations of motion. This guarantees the
standard -derivable properties like thermodynamic consistency and exact
conservation laws also for the renormalized approximation schemes to hold. The
proof uses the techniques of BPHZ-renormalization to cope with the explicit and
the hidden overlapping vacuum divergences.Comment: 22 Pages 1 figure, uses RevTeX4. The Revision concerns the correction
of some minor typos, a clarification concerning the real-time contour
structure of renormalization parts and some comments concerning symmetries in
the conclusions and outloo
Nonequilibrium perturbation theory for complex scalar fields
Real-time perturbation theory is formulated for complex scalar fields away
from thermal equilibrium in such a way that dissipative effects arising from
the absorptive parts of loop diagrams are approximately resummed into the
unperturbed propagators. Low order calculations of physical quantities then
involve quasiparticle occupation numbers which evolve with the changing state
of the field system, in contrast to standard perturbation theory, where these
occupation numbers are frozen at their initial values. The evolution equation
of the occupation numbers can be cast approximately in the form of a Boltzmann
equation. Particular attention is given to the effects of a non-zero chemical
potential, and it is found that the thermal masses and decay widths of
quasiparticle modes are different for particles and antiparticles.Comment: 15 pages using RevTeX; 2 figures in 1 Postscript file; Submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Perturbative nonequilibrium dynamics of phase transitions in an expanding universe
A complete set of Feynman rules is derived, which permits a perturbative
description of the nonequilibrium dynamics of a symmetry-breaking phase
transition in theory in an expanding universe. In contrast to a
naive expansion in powers of the coupling constant, this approximation scheme
provides for (a) a description of the nonequilibrium state in terms of its own
finite-width quasiparticle excitations, thus correctly incorporating
dissipative effects in low-order calculations, and (b) the emergence from a
symmetric initial state of a final state exhibiting the properties of
spontaneous symmetry breaking, while maintaining the constraint . Earlier work on dissipative perturbation theory and spontaneous symmetry
breaking in Minkowski spacetime is reviewed. The central problem addressed is
the construction of a perturbative approximation scheme which treats the
initial symmetric state in terms of the field , while the state that
emerges at later times is treated in terms of a field , linearly related
to . The connection between early and late times involves an infinite
sequence of composite propagators. Explicit one-loop calculations are given of
the gap equations that determine quasiparticle masses and of the equation of
motion for and the renormalization of these equations is
described. The perturbation series needed to describe the symmetric and
broken-symmetry states are not equivalent, and this leads to ambiguities
intrinsic to any perturbative approach. These ambiguities are discussed in
detail and a systematic procedure for matching the two approximations is
described.Comment: 22 pages, using RevTeX. 6 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Towards a Nonequilibrium Quantum Field Theory Approach to Electroweak Baryogenesis
We propose a general method to compute -violating observables from
extensions of the standard model in the context of electroweak baryogenesis. It
is alternative to the one recently developed by Huet and Nelson and relies on a
nonequilibrium quantum field theory approach. The method is valid for all
shapes and sizes of the bubble wall expanding in the thermal bath during a
first-order electroweak phase transition. The quantum physics of -violation
and its suppression coming from the incoherent nature of thermal processes are
also made explicit.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure available upon e-mail reques
Evolution of Inhomogeneous Condensates after Phase Transitions
Using the O(4) linear model, we address the topic of non-equilibrium
relaxation of an inhomogeneous initial configuration due to quantum and thermal
fluctuations. The space-time evolution of an inhomogeneous fluctuation of the
condensate in the isoscalar channel decaying via the emission of pions in the
medium is studied within the context of disoriented chiral condensates. We use
out of equilibrium closed time path methods in field theory combined with the
amplitude expansion. We give explicit expressions for the asymptotic space-time
evolution of an initial inhomogeneous configuration including the contribution
of thresholds at zero and non-zero temperature. At non-zero temperature we find
new relaxational processes due to thermal cuts that have no counterpart in the
homogeneous case. Within the one-loop approximation, we find that the space
time evolution of such inhomogeneous configuration out of equilibrium is
effectively described in terms of a rapidity dependent temperature
as well as a rapidity dependent decay rate
. This rate is to be interpreted as the
production minus absorption rate of pions in the medium and approaches the zero
temperature value at large rapidities. An initial configuration localized on a
bounded region spreads and decays in spherical waves with slower relaxational
dynamics at large rapidity.Comment: 25 pages Revtex 3.0, two figures available upon reques
Relaxation and Kinetics in Scalar Field Theories
A new approach to the dynamics of relaxation and kinetics of thermalization
in a scalar field theory is presented that incorporates the relevant time
scales through the resummation of hard thermal loops. An alternative derivation
of the kinetic equations for the ``quasiparticle'' distribution functions is
obtained that allows a clear understanding of the different ``coarse graining''
approximations usually involved in a kinetic description. This method leads to
a systematic perturbative expansion to obtain the kinetic equations including
hard-thermal loop resummation and to an improvement including renormalization,
off-shell effects and contributions that change chemical equilibrium on short
time scales. As a byproduct of these methods we establish the relation between
the relaxation time scale in the linearized equation of motion of the
quasiparticles and the thermalization time scale of the quasiparticle
distribution function in the ``relaxation time approximation''. Hard thermal
loop resummation dramatically modifies the scattering rate for long wavelength
modes as compared to the usual (semi) classical estimate. Relaxation and
kinetics are studied both in the unbroken and broken symmetry phases of the
theory. The broken symmetry phase also provides the setting to obtain the
contribution to the kinetic equations from processes that involve decay of a
heavy scalar into light scalar particles in the medium.Comment: 28 pages, revtex 3.0, two figures available upon reques
Magnetic field generation from non-equilibrium phase transitions
We study the generation of magnetic fields during the stage of particle
production resulting from spinodal instabilities during phase transitions out
of equilibrium. The main premise is that long-wavelength instabilities that
drive the phase transition lead to strong non-equilibrium charge and current
fluctuations which generate electromagnetic fields. We present a formulation
based on the non-equilibrium Schwinger-Dyson equations that leads to an exact
expression for the spectrum of electromagnetic fields valid for general
theories and cosmological backgrounds and whose main ingredient is the
transverse photon polarization out of equilibrium. This formulation includes
the dissipative effects of the conductivity in the medium. As a prelude to
cosmology we study magnetogenesis in Minkowski space-time in a theory of N
charged scalar fields to lowest order in the gauge coupling and to leading
order in the large N within two scenarios of cosmological relevance. The
long-wavelength power spectrum for electric and magnetic fields at the end of
the phase transition is obtained explicitly.
It follows that equipartition between electric and magnetic fields does not
hold out of equilibrium. In the case of a transition from a high temperature
phase, the conductivity of the medium severely hinders the generation of
magnetic fields, however the magnetic fields generated are correlated on scales
of the order of the domain size, which is much larger than the magnetic
diffusion length. Implications of the results to cosmological phase transitions
driven by spinodal unstabilities are discussed.Comment: Preprint no. LPTHE 02-55, 30 pages, latex, 2 eps figures. Added one
reference. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Dynamical Renormalization Group Approach to Quantum Kinetics in Scalar and Gauge Theories
We derive quantum kinetic equations from a quantum field theory implementing
a diagrammatic perturbative expansion improved by a resummation via the
dynamical renormalization group. The method begins by obtaining the equation of
motion of the distribution function in perturbation theory. The solution of
this equation of motion reveals secular terms that grow in time, the dynamical
renormalization group resums these secular terms in real time and leads
directly to the quantum kinetic equation. We used this method to study the
relaxation in a cool gas of pions and sigma mesons in the O(4) chiral linear
sigma model. We obtain in relaxation time approximation the pion and sigma
meson relaxation rates. We also find that in large momentum limit emission and
absorption of massless pions result in threshold infrared divergence in sigma
meson relaxation rate and lead to a crossover behavior in relaxation. We then
study the relaxation of charged quasiparticles in scalar electrodynamics
(SQED). While longitudinal, Debye screened photons lead to purely exponential
relaxation, transverse photons, only dynamically screened by Landau damping
lead to anomalous relaxation, thus leading to a crossover between two different
relaxational regimes. We emphasize that infrared divergent damping rates are
indicative of non-exponential relaxation and the dynamical renormalization
group reveals the correct relaxation directly in real time. Finally we also
show that this method provides a natural framework to interpret and resolve the
issue of pinch singularities out of equilibrium and establish a direct
correspondence between pinch singularities and secular terms. We argue that
this method is particularly well suited to study quantum kinetics and transport
in gauge theories.Comment: RevTeX, 40 pages, 4 eps figures, published versio
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