Resummation in hot field theories
- Nordita, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Technische Universitaet Wien, Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10, A-1040 Vienna (Austria)
There has been significant progress in our understanding of finite-temperature field theory over the past decade. In this paper, we review the progress in perturbative thermal field theory focusing on thermodynamic quantities. We first discuss the breakdown of naive perturbation theory at finite temperature and the need for an effective expansion that resums an infinite class of diagrams in the perturbative expansion. This effective expansion which is due to Braaten and Pisarski, can be used to systematically calculate various static and dynamical quantities as a weak-coupling expansion in powers of g. However, it turns out that the weak-coupling expansion for thermodynamic quantities are useless unless the coupling constant is very small. We critically discuss various ways of reorganizing the perturbative series for thermal field theories in order to improve its convergence. These include screened perturbation theory (SPT), hard-thermal-loop perturbation theory, the {phi}-derivable approach, dimensionally reduced (DR) SPT, and the DR {phi}-derivable approach.
- OSTI ID:
- 20690159
- Journal Information:
- Annals of Physics (New York), Vol. 317, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.aop.2004.09.017; PII: S0003-4916(04)00193-9; Copyright (c) 2004 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-4916
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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