arXiv subjects

M. E. Carrington

Publications and source records attributed to M. E. Carrington.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

The soft fermion dispersion relation at next-to-leading order in hot QED

We study next-to-leading order contributions to the soft static fermion dispersion relation in hot QED. We derive an expression for the complete next-to-leading order contribution to the retarded fermion self-energy. The real and imaginary parts of this expression give the next-to-leading order contributions to the mass and damping rate of the fermionic quasi-particle. Many of the terms that are expected to contribute according to the traditional power counting argument are actually subleading. We explain why the power counting method over estimates the contribution from these terms. For the electron damping rate in QED we obtain: $γ_{QED} = \frac{e^2 T}{4π}(2.70)$. We check our method by calculating the next-to-leading order contribution to the damping rate for the case of QCD with two flavours and three coulours. Our result agrees with the result obtained previously in the literature. The numerical evaluation of the nlo contribution to the mass is left to a future publication.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Real time statistical field theory

We have written a {\it Mathematica} program that calculates the integrand corresponding to any amplitude in the closed-time-path formulation of real time statistical field theory. The program is designed so that it can be used by someone with no previous experience with {\it Mathematica}. It performs the contractions over the tensor indices that appear in real time statistical field theory and gives the result in the 1-2, Keldysh or RA basis. We have used the program to calculate the ward identity for the QED 3-point function, the QED 4-point function for two photons and two fermions, and the QED 5-point function for three photons and two fermions. In real time statistical field theory, there are seven 3-point functions, 15 4-point functions and 31 5-point functions. We produce a table that gives the results for all of these functions. In addition, we give a simple general expression for the KMS conditions between $n$-point green functions and vertex functions, in both the Keldysh and RA bases

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

The Dynamics of Entanglement in the Adiabatic Search and Deutsch Algorithms

The goal of this paper is to study the effect of entanglement on the running time of a quantum computation. Adiabatic quantum computation is suited to this kind of study, since it allows us to explicitly calculate the time evolution of the entanglement throughout the calculation. On the other hand however, the adiabatic formalism makes it impossible to study the roles of entanglement and fidelity separately, which means that results have to be interpreted carefully. We study two algorithms: the search algorithm and the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm. We find some evidence that entanglement can be considered a resource in quantum computation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Energy Flow in Acoustic Black Holes

We present the results of an analysis of superradiant energy flow due to scalar fields incident on an acoustic black hole. In addition to providing independent confirmation of the recent results in [5], we determine in detail the profile of energy flow everywhere outside the horizon. We confirm explicitly that in a suitable frame the energy flow is inward at the horizon and outward at infinity, as expected on physical grounds.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2005

2PI effective action and gauge invariance problems

The problem of maintaining gauge invariance when truncating the two particle irreducible (2PI) effective action has been studied recently by several authors. Here we give a simple and very general derivation of the gauge dependence identities for the off-shell 2PI effective action. We consider the case where the gauge is fixed by an arbitrary function of the quantum gauge field, subject only to the restriction that the Faddeev-Popov matrix is invertable. We also study the background field gauge. We address the role that these identies play in solving gauge invariance problems associated with physical quantities calculated using a truncated on-shell 2PI effective action.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Dielectric Functions and Dispersion Relations of Ultra-Relativistic Plasmas with Collisions

In the present paper we calculate the dielectric functions of an ultra-relativistic plasma, such as an electron-positron or a quark-gluon plasma. We use classical transport theory and take into account collisions within the relaxation time approximation. From these dielectric functions we derive the dispersion relations of longitudinal and transverse plasma waves.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

The 4PI Effective Action for ϕ^4 Theory

We work with $ϕ^4$ theory and study the 4PI effective action at 3-loop order. We discuss the relationship between the equations of motion obtained by taking functional derivatives of the effective action with respect to the variational parameters, and the Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equations. We show that the equation obtained by differentiating with respect to the 2-point function is identical to the SD equation for the 2-point function; differentiating with respect to the 3-point function reproduces the SD equation for the 3-point function, up to 1-loop order; and differentiating with respect to the 4-point function reproduces the SD equation for the 4-point function, at the tree level. These results establish a connection between two techniques for performing non-equilibrium calculations, and provide a starting place for a study of the gauge dependence of quantities derived from an $n$PI effective action.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

Dileptons from hot heavy static photons

We compute the production rate of lepton pair by static photons at finite temperature at two-loop order. We treat the infrared region of the gluon phase space carefully by using a hard thermal loop gluon propagator. The result is free of infrared and collinear divergences and exhibits an enhancement which produces a result of order $\sim e^2 g^3$ instead of $\sim e^2 g^4$ as would be expected from ordinary perturbation theory.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2002

Scattering amplitudes at finite temperature

We present a simple set of rules for obtaining the imaginary part of a self energy diagram at finite temperature in terms of diagrams that correspond to physical scattering amplitudes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Chapman-Enskog expansion of the Boltzmann equation and its diagrammatic interpretation

We perform a Chapman-Enskog expansion of the Boltzmann equation keeping up to quadratic contributions. We obtain a generalized nonlinear Kubo formula, and a set of integral equations which resum ladder and extended ladder diagrams. We show that these two equations have exactly the same structure, and thus provide a diagrammatic interpretation of the Chapman-Enskog expansion of the Boltzmann equation, up to quadratic order.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Infrared behaviour of the pressure in gϕ^3 theory in 6 dimensions

In an earlier paper Almeida and Frenkel considered the calculation of the pressure in gϕ^3 theory in 6 dimensions via the Schwinger--Dyson equation. They found, under certain approximations, that a finite result ensues in the infrared limit. We find this conclusion to remain true with certain variations of these approximations, suggesting the finiteness of the result to be fairly robust.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

A General Expression for Symmetry Factors of Feynman Diagrams

The calculation of the symmetry factor corresponding to a given Feynman diagram is well known to be a tedious problem. We have derived a simple formula for these symmetry factors. Our formula works for any diagram in scalar theory ($ϕ^3$ and $ϕ^4$ interactions), spinor QED, scalar QED, or QCD.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

A Diagrammatic Interpretation of the Boltzmann Equation

We study nonlinear response in weakly coupled nonequilibrium $ϕ^4$ theory in the context of both classical transport theory and real time quantum field theory, based on a generalized Kubo formula which we derive. A novel connection between these two approaches is established which provides a diagrammatic interpretation of the Boltzmann equation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking for Scalar QED with Non-minimal Chern-Simons Coupling

We investigate the two-loop effective potential for both minimally and non-minimally coupled Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories. The non-minimal gauge interaction represents the magnetic moment interaction between a charged scalar and the electromagnetic field. In a previous paper we have shown that the two loop effective potential for this model is renormalizable with an appropriate choice of the non-minimal coupling constant. We carry out a detailed analysis of the spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by radiative corrections. As long as the renormalization point for all couplings is chosen to be the true minimum of the effective potential, both models predict the presence of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Two loop corrections are small compared to the one loop result, and thus the symmetry breaking is perturbatively stable.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Equilibration in an Interacting Field Theory

We use a combination of perturbation theory and numerical techniques to study the equilibration of two interacting fields which are initially at thermal equilibrium at different temperatures. Using standard rules of quantum field theory, we examine the master equations that describe the time evolution of the distribution functions for the two coupled systems. By making a few reasonable assumptions we reduce the resulting coupled integral/differential equations to a pair of differential equations that can be solved numerically. Our results show with good accuracy how these coupled systems approach a common equilibrium temperature.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Nonlinear Response from Transport Theory and Quantum Field Theory at Finite Temperature

We study nonlinear response in weakly coupled hot $ϕ^4$ theory. We obtain an expression for a quadratic shear viscous response coefficient using two different formalisms: transport theory and response theory. The transport theory calculation is carried out by assuming a local equilibrium form for the distribution function and expanding in the gradient of the local four dimensional velocity field. By doing a gradient expansion on the Boltzmann equation we obtain a hierarchy of equations for the coefficients of this expansion.To do the response theory calculation we use Zubrave's techniques in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics to derive a generalized Kubo formula. Using this formula allows us to obtain the quadratic shear viscous response from the three-point retarded green function of the viscous shear stress tensor. We use the closed time path formalism of real time finite temperature field theoryto show that this three-point function can be calculated using equilibrium quantum field theory by writing it as an integral equation involving a four-point vertex. This four-point vertex can in turn be obtained from an integral equation which represents the resummation of an infinite series of ladder and extended-ladder diagrams.The connection between transport theory and response theory is made when we show that the integral equation for this four-point vertex has exactly the same form as the equation obtained from the Boltzmann equation for the coefficient of the quadratic term of the gradient expansion of the distribution function.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

KMS conditions for 4-point Green functions at finite temperature

We study the 4-point function in the Keldysh formalism of the closed time path formulation of real time finite temperature field theory. We derive the KMS conditions for these functions and discuss the number of 4-point functions that are independent. We define a set of `physical' functions which are linear combinations of the usual Keldysh functions. We show that these functions satisfy simple KMS conditions. In addition, we consider a set of integral equations which represent a resummation of ladder graphs. We show that these integral equations decouple when one uses the physical functions that we have defined. We discuss the generalization of these results to QED.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

Spontaneous Scale Symmetry Breaking in 2+1-Dimensional QED at Both Zero and Finite Temperature

A complete analysis of dynamical scale symmetry breaking in 2+1-dimensional QED at both zero and finite temperature is presented by looking at solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson equation. In different kinetic energy regimes we use various numerical and analytic techniques (including an expansion in large flavour number). It is confirmed that, contrary to the case of 3+1 dimensions, there is no dynamical scale symmetry breaking at zero temperature, despite the fact that chiral symmetry breaking can occur dynamically. At finite temperature, such breaking of scale symmetry may take place.

hep-ph↗