Quantum field theory in the infinite temperature limit

Tamás S. Bíró

Masao Hirokawa

In this paper, we treat a quantum harmonic oscillator in thermal equilibrium with any systems in certain classes of bosons with infinitely many degrees of freedom. We describe the following results: (i) when a canonical correlation function is given, we so reconstmct a Hamiltonian by the rotating wave approximation from it that the Hamiltonian restores it. Namely, we solve an inverse problem in the quantum field theory at finite temperature in a finite volume. (ii) Taking an infinite volume limit for the result in (i), we consider long-time behavior of the canonical correlation function in the finite volume limit.

Stefano Galanda

In this thesis interacting relativistic and non relativistic Quantum Field Theories (QFT) are studied, investigating their equilibrium configurations and their long time evolution in the framework of perturbative Algebraic Quantum Field Theory, studying also convergence in a specific model. In the first part, concerning the relativistic case, we study, in formal perturbation theory, interacting KMS states generalising results by Fredenhagen and Lindner to fermionic field theories. As an application their stability is investigated together with the characterisation of the Debye screening effect in plasmas via the explicit solution of the Semiclassical Maxwell equations. Connected to these results, we also initiate a systematic study of secular growths appearing in the truncated perturbative series and affecting the validity of perturbation theory in its long time predicting capability. We restrict to theories on Minkowski spacetime and provide, for interactions depending on time via a switching process, a sufficient condition preventing secular growths in the truncated perturbative series. In the second part, we focus on a model of non relativistic quantum field theory. We construct equilibrium states at positive temperature in the presence of a condensation phase for a gas of non relativistic Bose particles on an infinite space interacting through a localised two body interaction. The convergence is proven, both for the interacting KMS state and for the entropy of the interacting KMS state relative to the free KMS state. The strategy of our proof combines ideas of Algebraic QFT, Constructive QFT and methods of statistical mechanics in the operator algebraic setting. Limits where the localisation of the two-body interaction is removed are eventually discussed, in combination with limits of the other physical parameters of the theory such as temperature, strength of the interaction and chemical potential. Finally, in the appendix, we present results on the Araki-Uhlmann relative entropy in fermionic quantum field theories, as well as an entropy-area relation, obtained via semiclassical methods, for the cosmological horizon in the static patch of de Sitter spacetime sourced by a coherent excitation of a free quantum scalar field. This completes the collection of original results obtained during the PhD.

D. Ya. Petrina, Stanislav Ivanov

Hongbin Chen, A. Liam Fitzpatrick, Emanuel Katz +1 more

A bstract We develop methods for computing the effective action at infinite momentum for 1 + 1 d QFTs at finite volume which do not rely on the theory having a Lagrangian description. We do this by taking the infinite momentum limit of equal-time quantization and integrating out all except for the chiral modes of the theory. Our main application of this method is to the Ising Field Theory (IFT), with an energy and magnetic deformation, where we compute the effective lightcone Hamiltonian numerically and check it against results from TCSA. Remarkably, in the low-temperature phase, the Lorentz invariant effective Hamiltonian at infinite momentum takes a very compact form and depends on the volume only through the finite volume vacuum expectation value of ⟨ σ ⟩, the spin operator.

E. Celeghini, Elvira Graziano, Kouji Nakamura +1 more