Dynamical symmetry breaking due to radiative corrections in cosmology

Journal Article · Sun Mar 14 23:00:00 EST 1982 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.25.1510· OSTI ID:5524699

Ford, L H; Toms, D J

Dynamical symmetry breaking in massless lambdaphi/sup 4/ theory in curved spacetime with nonconformal coupling to the curvature is investigated. It is shown that in general the one-loop self-energy for such a field will involve a term of the form R lnVertical BarR..mu../sup -2/Vertical Bar, where R is the scalar curvature, and ..mu.. is a mass. This term can give rise to symmetry breaking. Two models, the Einstein universe and a spatially flat Robertson-Walker universe with a power-law expansion, are considered where this term is the sole contribution to the one-loop self-energy. In both cases a phase transition will occur at a critical value of the curvature. The form of the two-loop corrections to the self-energy and the limits of validity of the one-loop approximation are discussed.

• Research Organization: Department of Physics, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155
• OSTI ID: 5524699
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 25:6; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645301* -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Invariance Principles & Symmetries-- General-- (-1987)
645400 -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CORRECTIONS
COSMOLOGY
ENERGY
FIELD THEORIES
PHI4-FIELD THEORY
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIATIVE CORRECTIONS
SCALAR FIELDS
SELF-ENERGY
SPACE-TIME
SYMMETRY BREAKING
UNIVERSE
VACUUM STATES