Effective actions at finite temperature

This is a more detailed version of our recent paper where we proposed, from first principles, a direct method for evaluating the exact fermion propagator in the presence of a general background field at finite temperature. This can, in turn, be used to determine the finite temperature effective action for the system. As applications, we discuss the complete one loop finite temperature effective actions for 0+1 dimensional QED as well as for the Schwinger model in detail. These effective actions, which are derived in the real time (closed time path) formalism, generate systematically all the Feynman amplitudes calculated in thermal perturbation theory and also show that the retarded (advanced) amplitudes vanish in these theories. Various other aspects of the problem are also discussed in detail.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 1 figure, references adde

Effective Actions for 0+1 Dimensional Scalar QED and its SUSY Generalization at T≠0T\neq 0

We compute the effective actions for the 0+1 dimensional scalar field interacting with an Abelian gauge background, as well as for its supersymmetric generalization at finite temperature.Comment: 5 pages, Latex fil

Hard thermal effective action in QCD through the thermal operator

Through the application of the thermal operator to the zero temperature retarded Green's functions, we derive in a simple way the well known hard thermal effective action in QCD. By relating these functions to forward scattering amplitudes for on-shell particles, this derivation also clarifies the origin of important properties of the hard thermal effective action, such as the manifest Lorentz and gauge invariance of its integrand.Comment: 6 pages, contribution of the quarks to the effective action included and one reference added, version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Thermodynamic properties of Holstein polarons and the effects of disorder

The ground state and finite temperature properties of polarons are studied considering a two-site and a four-site Holstein model by exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. The kinetic energy, Drude weight, correlation functions involving charge and lattice deformations, and the specific heat have been evaluated as a function of electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling strength and temperature. The effects of site diagonal disorder on the above properties have been investigated. The disorder is found to suppress the kinetic energy and the Drude weight, reduces the spatial extension of the polaron, and makes the large-to-small polaron crossover smoother. Increasing temperature also plays similar role. For strong coupling the kinetic energy arises mainly from the incoherent hopping processes owing to the motion of electrons within the polaron and is almost independent of the disorder strength. From the coherent and incoherent contributions to the kinetic energy, the temperature above which the incoherent part dominates is determined as a function of e-ph coupling strength.Comment: 17 pages. 17 figure

Hard thermal effective actions in the Schwinger formulation

We derive the properties of hard thermal effective actions in gauge theories from the point of view of Schwinger's proper time formulation. This analysis is simplified by introducing a set of generalized energy and momenta which are conserved and are non-local in general. These constants of motion, which embody energy-momentum exchanges between the fields and the particles along their trajectories, can be related to a class of gauge invariant or covariant potentials in the hard thermal regime. We show that in this regime the generalized energy, which is non-local in general, generates the relevant non-local behavior of hard thermal effective actions which become local only in the static limit.Comment: 6 pages, references added, version to appear in Physical Review

Nodeless d-wave superconducting pairing due to residual antiferromagnetism in underdoped Pr2−x_{2-x}Cex_xCuO4−δ_{4-\delta}

We have investigated the doping dependence of the penetration depth vs. temperature in electron doped Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_{4-\delta}$ using a model which assumes the uniform coexistence of (mean-field) antiferromagnetism and superconductivity. Despite the presence of a $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing gap in the underlying spectrum, we find nodeless behavior of the low-$T$ penetration depth in underdoped case, in accord with experimental results. As doping increases, a linear-in-$T$ behavior of the penetration depth, characteristic of d-wave pairing, emerges as the lower magnetic band crosses the Fermi level and creates a nodal Fermi surface pocket.Comment: Accepted in PRL for publicatio

Effects of Strain coupling and Marginal dimensionality in the nature of phase transition in Quantum paraelectrics

Here a recently observed weak first order transition in doped SrTiO3 is argued to be a consequence of the coupling between strain and order parameter fluctuations. Starting with a semi-microscopic action, and using renormalization group equations for vertices, we write the free energy of such a system. This fluctuation renormalized free energy is then used to discuss the possibility of first order transition at zero temperature as well as at finite temperature. An asymptotic analysis predicts small but a finite discontinuity in the order parameter near a mean field quantum critical point at zero temperature. In case of finite temperature transition, near quantum critical point such a possibility is found to be extremely weak. Results are in accord with some experimental findings on quantum paraelectrics such as SrTiO3 and KTaO3.Comment: Revised versio