Free energy of the sphaleron in the Weinberg-Salam model

Journal Article · Sat Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.40.588· OSTI ID:5960492

Akiba, T; Kikuchi, H; Yanagida, T

We show that the eigenvalue equation for excitation modes around asphaleron background is divided into an infinite number of coupled equations,each of which is composed of only a finite number (2--7) of channels andhence solvable numerically. For spherically symmetric excitation modes we solvethe eigenvalue equations and calculate the free energy of the sphaleron. Wefind no extra entropy suppression other than the damping factors observed inthe previous analyses on sphaleron-induced processes. We also find that thereis /ital only/ /ital one/ unstable mode whose frequency /omega//sub /minus// is estimatedas /omega//sub /minus///sup 2//congruent//minus/2.3m/sub W//sup 2/. We also studycontributions of higher partial waves to the free energy in the Bornapproximation and find even an entropy enhancement for the channels withangular momenta greater than two (/ital L//ge/3). Our result puts the previouscalculation of the rate of the baryon-number-violating processes via thesphaleron on a much firmer ground. However, there remain many issues that needto be examined.

• Research Organization: Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980, Japan(JP)
• OSTI ID: 5960492
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 40:2; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645300 -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Invariance Principles & Symmetries
645400* -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
BARYON NUMBER
BORN APPROXIMATION
COUPLING CONSTANTS
EIGENVALUES
ENERGY
ENERGY SPECTRA
ENTROPY
FIELD THEORIES
FREE ENERGY
GAUGE INVARIANCE
GAUSSIAN PROCESSES
INSTANTONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LIE GROUPS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
PARTICLE MODELS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUASI PARTICLES
SPECTRA
SU GROUPS
SU-2 GROUPS
SYMMETRY GROUPS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
WEINBERG-SALAM GAUGE MODEL