Electroweak baryon number violation at finite temperature

We consider baryon and lepton number violating processes in the electroweak theory induced by gauge and Higgs fields passing the sphaleron solution at finite temperature. We show that for temperatures larger than 19 GeV the anomalous baryon and lepton number violating processes are suppressed by the Boltzmann factor exp (?βE _sp), whereE _sp is the sphaleron energy, rather than by the instanton tunneling factor exp (?8π²/g ²). We caculate the rate of baryon and lepton number violating processes at finite temperature and determine the freezing temperature of the anomalous processes in the early universe as a function of the Higgs mass. We compare the freezing temperature with the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition infered from the one-loop finite-temperature effective potential. We obtain a critical Higgs mass of the order of 100 GeV, slightly depending on the top mass and the magnitude of the pre-exponential factor in the rate of theB non-conservation, above which the anomalous processes are certainly in equilibrium after the electroweak phase transition. Assuming that the temperature-dependence of the sphaleron energy is given by that found from the one-loop finitetemperature effective potential, this critical Higgs mass is lowered to a value of the order of 50 GeV.     

Approximate projection of angular momentum and particle number in heavy nuclei

The problem of symmetry violations in Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov wavefunctions is handled by projection techniques. For the cases of strong and weak symmetry violations, approximate formulas of the projected energy are given. They allow an approximate projection before the variation for heavy nuclei. The methods are applied numerically to some model calculations for strong and weak deformations.     

Nontopological finite temperature induced fermion number

We show that while the zero temperature induced fermion number in a chiral sigma model background depends only on the asymptotic values of the chiral field, at finite temperature the induced fermion number depends also on the detailed shape of the chiral background. We resum the leading low temperature terms to all orders in the derivative expansion, producing a simple result that can be interpreted physically as the different effect of the chiral background on virtual pairs of the Dirac sea and on the real particles of the thermal plasma. By contrast, for a kink background, not of sigma model form, the finite T induced fermion number is temperature dependent but topological.     

Rate of anomalous electroweak baryon and lepton number violation at finite temperature

Using Langer's statistical theory of the decay of metastable states we calculate the rate of the anomalous electroweak baryon and lepton number violating processes in the case that the electroweak phase transition is of second order. Our formulas are valid in a temperature range between M_w and the critical temperature T_c. We get a dissipation of the baryon and lepton number of the order of exp(4.6×10⁹).     

Merons at finite temperature

We prove the existence of solutions to the SU(2) Yang—Mills equations on IR⁴, periodic in time, with meron singularities along the time-axis.Supported in part by the Icelandic Science Foundation.     

Tunneling at finite temperature

In a two-dimensional scalar field theory the rate of the metastable vacuum decay at finite temperature is calculated.     

QCD at finite temperature

Quantum chromodynamics is studied at finite temperatures and densities using the temperature Green functions method. For the Green functions the renormalized Schwinger-Dyson equations are obtained and their qualitative properties are discussed. The equality of the renormalization constants for the equations obtained at T, μ ≠ 0 with those for quantum field theory is pointed out. General properties of the gluon polarization tensor are investigated at T, μ ≠ 0. The temperature Green functions are calculated within the one-loop approximation using both relativistic and axial gauges. The fulfilment of the Slavnov-Taylor identities is verified. The asymptotic behaviour of the polarization tensor at T, μ ≠ 0 is established and the excitation spectrum of quark-gluon plasma is found. Both Fermi and Bose excitations are considered and the gauge invariance of the spectra is demonstrated. The renormalization group extension of the dispersion laws into the regions of high temperatures and densities is presented. The exact representation of the thermodynamical potential in QCD is found in terms of the temperature Green functions. For the quark-gluon plasma the thermodynamical potential is calculated with the g³-term taken into account. The equation of state of the hot quark-gluon plasma is found and its properties are discussed. The complete evolutional diagram of the hadronic matter is outlined. The phase curve asymptotics, which put bounds on the quark-gluon plasma domain, are found for the two limiting cases (μ = 0, T → T₀; T = 0, μ → μ₀). The phase transition of the hot quark-gluon plasma placed in external Abelian field is studied. The instability of such plasma has been found and the program of its stabilization is indicated. The infrared behaviour of the non-Abelian gauge theory is studied for finite temperatures when power divergencies are essential. The propagator of transverse gluons is shown to be singular for momenta |p| ˜ g²T and this cannot be avoided by summing the simplest bubble chains. The infrared asymptotic behaviour of the tree-gluon vertex is found and the results obtained are checked using the Slavnov-Taylor identities. The Green functions asymptotics found indicate either an instability of the quark-gluon plasma in the infrared momentum domain or the inconsistency of the perturbational methods. A non-perturbative approach to the infrared problem in QCD is developed within the axial gauge. The closed equations for the structure functions that determine the gluon polarization tensor are obtained by using the Slavnov-Taylor identities to found approximately the three-gluon vertex. It is shown that the solution of the equations obtained by iterations does not remove the infrared singularity from the temperature Green functions. The nonperturbative solution of such equations is discussed.     

Dissipative tunneling at finite temperature

A simple theory is presented for the influence of a weakly coupled interaction system on the tunneling of a particle out of a metastable well. It is based on the standard model of momentum and energy transfer to an infinite set of oscillators and is applied to the case of phase tunneling in a Josephson contact. The distribution of the energy transfer and in particular the Debye-Waller factor for elastic processes is determined by the imaginary part of the dielectric function. For small damping γ the main influence of dissipation on the total tunneling probability is contained in a factor exp —AMγ(Δq)². The numerical coefficientA and the distance Δq under the barrier depend on the considered tunneling state andA(T) vanishes at a temperatureT ^* above which classical activation prevails. The tunneling probability of any level is therefore predicted to increase with temperature. In additional general expressions are derived for the correlation functions of a damped quantum oscillator in terms of the classical response of the interaction system.     

Pion polarizabilities at finite temperature

A first calculation of pion polarizabilities at finite temperature is presented. Compton scattering off a pion is examined in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and an expansion in the inverse number of colors N _c is used. Quark loop, σ-pole and vector meson contributions to the invariant amplitude are considered. The calculated polarizabilities of the charged and neutral pions at T = 0 agree fairly well with experiment. For increasing temperature, the polarizabilities stay fairly constant until they diverge at the Mott temperature (T _M = 202.2 MeV), above which the pion can decay into two quarks.     

Wick's theorem at finite temperature

We consider Wick's theorem for finite temperature and finite volume systems. Working at an operator level with a path ordered approach, we show that contrary to claims in the literature, expectation values of normal ordered products can be chosen to be zero and that results obtained are independent of volume. Thus the path integral and operator approaches to finite temperature and finite volume quantum field theories are indeed seen to be identical. The conditions under which normal ordered products have simple symmetry properties are also considered.     

Rotational motion at finite temperature

Moments of inertia and rotational velocity fields are calculated in the cranking model for the harmonic oscillator and the Nilsson potential for even-even rare earth nuclei. By means of a temperature-averaging procedure these quantities are decomposed into a smooth and a shell-structure-dominated part. The results are in good agreement with the corresponding Strutinsky-averaged results. The velocity fields are analyzed in terms of vector spherical harmonics and compared to rigid flow. The smooth velocity fields reveal rigid flow in the nuclear interior; in the surface region a deviation from rigid flow occurs, giving rise to a backflow in the inner system. The temperature dependence of the smooth moments of inertia is approximated by a quadratic function.