Results in finite temperature quantum electrodynamics

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5612733

Down, D M

First, three quantities of physical interest are calculated. The first two quantities are the self energy of the electron at order ..cap alpha.. and the self mass of the electron at order ..cap alpha../sup 2/ due to its interaction with a thermal bath of photons. The third quantity of physical interest is the thermal contribution to the self mass of the axion. Second, some formal developments are presented. First among these is the proof of an extension to the familiar optical theorem to cover processes taking place at finite temperature. Then an example of the application of the theorem is given for a simple field theory involving two types of scalar particles. The example illustrates that the relationship between the forward scattering amplitude and the total cross section is more complex at finite temperature than at zero temperature. Third, a method for calculating the wave function renormalization constant at finite temperature for an electron in a thermal bath of photons is presented. This method is compared with methods invented by other authors.

• Research Organization: Texas Univ., Austin (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5612733
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
AXIONS
ELECTRONS
MASS
PHOTONS
RENORMALIZATION
SCATTERING
SELF-ENERGY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
WAVE FUNCTIONS
BOSONS
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
GOLDSTONE BOSONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
645400* - High Energy Physics- Field Theory