Effective Theories for Hot Non-Abelian Dynamics

Abstract

The dynamics of soft ($|\vec{p}|\sim g^2 T$) non-Abelian gauge fields at finite temperature is non-perturbative. The effective theory for the soft fields can be obtained by first integrating out the momentum scale T, which yields the well known hard thermal loop effective theory. Then the latter is used to integrate out the scale gT. One obtains a Boltzmann equation, which can be solved in a leading logarithmic approximation. The resulting effective theory for the soft fields is described by a Langevin equation, and it is well suited for non-perturbative lattice simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; plenary talk given at Conference on Strong and Electroweak Matter (SEWM 98), Copenhagen, Denmark, 2-5 Dec 199