Laplace transform of spherical Bessel functions

We provide a simple analytic formula in terms of elementary functions for the Laplace transform j_{l}(p) of the spherical Bessel function than that appearing in the literature, and we show that any such integral transform is a polynomial of order l in the variable p with constant coefficients for the first l-1 powers, and with an inverse tangent function of argument 1/p as the coefficient of the power l. We apply this formula for the Laplace transform of the memory function related to the Langevin equation in a one-dimensional Debye model.Comment: 5 pages LATEX, no figures. Accepted 2002, Physica Script

The saddle-point method for condensed Bose gases

The application of the conventional saddle-point approximation to condensed Bose gases is thwarted by the approach of the saddle-point to the ground-state singularity of the grand canonical partition function. We develop and test a variant of the saddle-point method which takes proper care of this complication, and provides accurate, flexible, and computationally efficient access to both canonical and microcanonical statistics. Remarkably, the error committed when naively employing the conventional approximation in the condensate regime turns out to be universal, that is, independent of the system's single-particle spectrum. The new scheme is able to cover all temperatures, including the critical temperature interval that marks the onset of Bose--Einstein condensation, and reveals in analytical detail how this onset leads to sharp features in gases with a fixed number of particles. In particular, within the canonical ensemble the crossover from the high-temperature asymptotics to the condensate regime occurs in an error-function-like manner; this error function reduces to a step function when the particle number becomes large. Our saddle-point formulas for occupation numbers and their fluctuations, verified by numerical calculations, clearly bring out the special role played by the ground state.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures. Ann. Phys. (N.Y.), in pres

Constrained effective potential in hot QCD

Constrained effective potentials in hot gauge theory give the probability that a configuration p of the order parameter (Polyakov loop) occurs. They are important in the analysis of surface effects and bubble formation in the plasma. The vector potential appears non-linearly in the loop; in weak coupling the linear term gives rise to the traditional free energy graphs. But the non-linear terms generate insertions of the constrained modes into the free energy graphs, through renormalisations of the Polyakov loop. These insertions are gauge dependent and are necessary to cancel the gauge dependence of the free energy graphs. The latter is shown, through the BRST identities, to have again the form of constrained mode insertions. It also follows, that absolute minima of the potential are at the centergroup values of the loop. We evaluate the two-loop contributions for SU(N) gauge theories, with and without quarks, for the full domain of the N-1 variables.Comment: Altes,39 pages, CPT/P2991, 1 tex file, 6 figures in ps format. This version contains corrections of mostly cosmetic nature. The results are unchanged. v3 includes properly the figure

The Evolution of Unpolarized and Polarized Structure Functions at Small xx

A survey is given of recent developments on the resummed small-$x$ evolution, in a framework based on the renormalization group equation, of non--singlet and singlet structure functions in both unpolarized and polarized deep--inelastic scattering. The available resummed anomalous dimensions are discussed for all these cases, and the most important analytic and numerical results are compiled. The quantitative effects of these small-$x$ resummations on the evolution of the various parton densities and structure functions are presented, and their present uncertainties are investigated. An application to QED radiative corrections is given.Comment: 18 pages Latex, including 11 eps-figures, and a style file. To appear in: Proc. of the International Workshop: QCD and QED in Higher Orders, Rheinsberg, April, 1996, Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl

The Virtual Compton Amplitude in the Generalized Bjorken Region: Twist--2 Contributions

A systematic derivation is presented of the twist-2 anomalous dimensions of the general quark and gluon light-ray operators in the generalized Bjorken region in leading order both for unpolarized and polarized scattering. Various representations of the anomalous dimensions are derived both in the non-local and the local light cone expansion and their properties are discussed in detail. Evolution equations for these operators are derived using different representations. General two- and single-variable evolution equations are presented for the expectation values of these operators for non-forward scattering. The Compton amplitude is calculated in terms of these distribution amplitudes. In the limit of forward scattering a new derivation of the integral relations between the twist-2 contributions to the structure functions is given. Special limiting cases which are derived from the general relations are discussed, as the forward case, near-forward scattering, and vacuum-meson transition. Solutions of the two-variable evolution equations for non-forward scattering are presented.Comment: 52 pages LATEX, published version in Nucl. Phys.

Two-loop QED Operator Matrix Elements with Massive External Fermion Lines

The two-loop massive operator matrix elements for the fermionic local twist--2 operators with external massive fermion lines in Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) are calculated up to the constant terms in the dimensional parameter $\epsilon = D - 4$. We investigate the hypothesis of Ref. \cite{BBN} that the 2--loop QED initial state corrections to $e^+e^-$ annihilation into a virtual neutral gauge boson, except power corrections of $O((m_f^2/s)^k), k \geq 1$, can be represented in terms of these matrix elements and the massless 2-loop Wilson coefficients of the Drell-Yan process.Comment: 60 pages, 1 style fil