Kadanoff-Baym equations with non-Gaussian initial conditions: The equilibrium limit

Abstract

The nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum fields is an initial-value problem, which can be described by Kadanoff-Baym equations. Typically, and, in particular, when numerical solutions are demanded, these Kadanoff-Baym equations are restricted to Gaussian initial states. However, physical initial states are non-Gaussian correlated initial states. In particular, renormalizability requires the initial state to feature $n$-point correlations that asymptotically agree with the vacuum correlations at short distances. In order to identify physical nonequilibrium initial states, it is therefore a precondition to describe the vacuum correlations of the interacting theory within the nonequilibrium framework. In this paper, Kadanoff-Baym equations for non-Gaussian correlated initial states describing vacuum and thermal equilibrium are derived from the 2PI effective action. A diagrammatic method for the explicit construction of vacuum and thermal initial correlations from the 2PI effective action is provided. We present numerical solutions of Kadanoff-Baym equations for a real scalar ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}^{4}$ quantum field theory, which take the thermal initial four-point correlation as the leading non-Gaussian correction into account. We find that this minimal non-Gaussian initial condition yields an approximation to the complete equilibrium initial state that is quantitatively and qualitatively significantly improved as compared to Gaussian initial states.