The
λϕ4 model in a finite volume is studied in the infinite
N limit and within a non-gaussian Hartree-Fock approximation both at equilibrium and out of equilibrium, with particular attention to certain fundamental features of the broken symmetry phase. The numerical solution of the dynamical evolution equations show that the zero-mode quantum fluctuations cannot grow macroscopically large starting from microscopic initial conditions. Thus we conclude that there is no evidence for a dynamical Bose-Einstein condensation. On the other hand, out of equilibrium the long-wavelength fluctuations do scale with the linear size of the system, signalling dynamical infrared properties quite different from the equilibrium ones characteristic of the same approximation schemes. This result suggests the cause, and the possible remedy, of some unlikely features of the application to out--of--equilibrium dynamics of the standard HF factorization scheme, which coincides with the gaussian restriction of our Hartree--Fock approximation.
This work is devoted to the study of relaxation--dissipation processes in systems described by Quantum Field Theory. In the first part, I focus on the phi^4 scalar quantum field theory in finite volume in the large N limit. I find that the zero-mode quantum fluctuations cannot grow macroscopically large starting from microscopic initial conditions, while the long-wavelength fluctuations do scale with the linear size of the system, signalling dynamical infrared properties quite different from the equilibrium ones. I also introduce a non-gaussian Hartree-Fock approximation (tdHF) and I derive the mean-field coupled time-dependent Schroedinger equations for the modes of the scalar field. The dynamical evolution of a uniform condensate is studied in a further controlled gaussian approximation, for N=1. Results similar to the large N case show an internal inconsistency of this approximation. I also study the dynamics of the system in infinite volume in the broken symmetry phase. The data show that the fixed points of the evolution cover at most the classically metastable part of the static effective potential. I finally study the dynamical evolution for the O(N+1) nonlinear sigma model in 1+1 dimensions in the large N limit. I first of all verify that the large coupling limit of the O(N+1) phi^4 model, which renders the model non linear, commutes with the large N limit, so that the O(infty) nonlinear sigma model is uniquely defined. I then study the evolution of several observables, like the spectrum of produced particles, finding no evidence for parametric resonance. I conclude with some remarks on the ``state of art'' in gauge theories and some comments about the open issues in the subject.
We analyze the nonequilibrium dynamics of the $O(N) {\ensuremath{\Phi}}^{4}$ model in the large N limit with a broken symmetry tree level potential and for states of large energy density. The dynamics is dramatically different when the energy density is above the top of the tree level potential
V0 than when it is below it. When the energy density is below
V0, we find that nonperturbative particle production through spinodal instabilities provides a dynamical mechanism for the Maxwell construction. The asymptotic values of the order parameter only depend on the initial energy density and all values between the minima of the tree level potential are available; the asymptotic dynamical ``effective potential'' is flat between the minima. When the energy density is larger than
V0, the evolution samples ergodically the broken symmetry states, as a consequence of nonperturbative particle production via parametric amplification. Furthermore, we examine the quantum dynamics of phase ordering into the broken symmetry phase and find a novel scaling behavior of the correlation function. There is a crossover in the dynamical correlation length at a time scale ${t}_{s}\ensuremath{\approx}\mathrm{ln}(1/\ensuremath{\lambda}).$ For
t<ts the dynamical correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)\ensuremath{\propto}\sqrt{t}$ and the evolution is dominated by linear instabilities and spinodal decomposition, whereas for
t>ts the evolution is nonlinear and dominated by the onset of nonequilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation of long-wavelength Goldstone bosons. In this regime a true scaling solution emerges with a nonperturbative anomalous scaling length dimension
z=1/2 and a dynamical correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)\ensuremath{\propto}(t\ensuremath{-}{t}_{s}).$ The equal time correlation function in this scaling regime vanishes for $r>2(t\ensuremath{-}{t}_{s})$ by causality. For
t>ts phase ordering proceeds by the formation of domains that grow at the speed of light, with nonperturbative condensates of Goldstone bosons and the equal time correlation function falls of as
1/r. A semiclassical but stochastic description emerges for time scales
t>ts. Our results are compared to phase ordering in classical stochastic descriptions in condensed matter and cosmology.
The $\ensuremath{\lambda}{\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ model in a finite volume is studied within a non-Gaussian, time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) approximation both at equilibrium and out of equilibrium, with particular attention to the structure of the ground state and of certain dynamical features in the broken symmetry phase. The mean-field coupled time-dependent Schr\"odinger equations for the modes of the scalar field are derived and the suitable procedure to renormalize them is outlined. A further controlled Gaussian approximation of our TDHF approach is used in order to study the dynamical evolution of the system from nonequilibrium initial conditions characterized by a uniform condensate. We find that, during the slow rolling down, the long-wavelength quantum fluctuations do not grow to a macroscopic size but do scale with the linear size of the system, in accordance with similar results valid for the large-N approximation of the
O(N) model. This behavior undermines in a precise way the Gaussian approximation within our TDHF approach, which therefore appears as a viable means to correct an unlikely feature of the standard HF factorization scheme, such as the so-called ``stopping at the spinodal line'' of the quantum fluctuations. We also study the dynamics of the system in infinite volume with particular attention to the asymptotic evolution in the broken symmetry phase. We are able to show that the fixed points of the evolution cover at most the classically metastable part of the static effective potential.
The quantum time evolution of ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$-field theory for a spatially homogeneous system in 2+1 space-time dimensions is investigated numerically for out-of-equilibrium initial conditions on the basis of the Kadanoff-Baym equations including the tadpole and sunset self-energies. Whereas the tadpole self-energy yields a dynamical mass, the sunset self-energy is responsible for dissipation and an equilibration of the system. In particular we address the dynamics of the spectral (``off-shell'') distributions of the excited quantum modes and the different phases in the approach to equilibrium described by Kubo-Martin-Schwinger relations for thermal equilibrium states. The investigation explicitly demonstrates that the only translation invariant solutions representing the stationary fixed points of the coupled equation of motions are those of full thermal equilibrium. They agree with those extracted from the time integration of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{t}\ensuremath{\infty}.$ Furthermore, a detailed comparison of the full quantum dynamics to more approximate and simple schemes such as that of a standard kinetic (on-shell) Boltzmann equation is performed. Our analysis shows that the consistent inclusion of the dynamical spectral function has a significant impact on relaxation phenomena. The different time scales that are involved in the dynamical quantum evolution towards a complete thermalized state are discussed in detail. We find that far off-shell $1\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}3$ processes are responsible for chemical equilibration, which is missed in the Boltzmann limit. Finally, we briefly address the case of (bare) massless fields. For sufficiently large couplings $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ we observe the onset of Bose condensation, where our scheme within symmetric ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory breaks down.
We numerically exhibit two strange phenomena of finite-size fluctuation in thermal equilibrium of a paradigmatic long-range interacting system having a second-order phase transition. One is a nonclassical finite-size scaling at the critical point, which differs from the prediction by statistical mechanics. With the aid of this strange scaling, the scaling theory for infinite-range models conjectures the nonclassical values of critical exponents for the correlation length. The other is relaxation of the fluctuation strength from one level to another in spite of being in thermal equilibrium. A scenario is proposed to explain these phenomena from the viewpoint of the Casimir invariants and their nonexactness in finite-size systems, where the Casimir invariants are conserved in the Vlasov dynamics describing the long-range interacting systems in the limit of large population. This scenario suggests appearance of the reported phenomena in a wide class of isolated long-range interacting systems.