Related papers: Topological defect formation from 2PI effective ac…
Truncations of the 2PI effective action are seen as a promising way of studying non-equilibrium dynamics in quantum field theories. We probe their applicability in the non-perturbative setting of topological defect formation in a…
We study the full out-of-thermal-equilibrium dynamics of a relativistic classical scalar field through a symmetry breaking phase transition. In these circumstances we determine the evolution of the ensemble averages of the correlation…
We derive the nonequilibrium real-time evolution of an O(N) - invariant scalar quantum field theory in the presence of a nonvanishing expectation value of the quantum field. Using a systematic 1/N expansion of the 2PI effective action to…
The 1/N expansion of the two-particle irreducible effective action offers a powerful approach to study quantum field dynamics far from equilibrium. We investigate the effective convergence of the 1/N expansion in the O(N) model by comparing…
We study the formation of topological defects in nonequilibrium phase transitions of both classical and quantum field theory. We examine three model systems. 1). The phase transition of a quantum scalar field in a FRW universe is analyzed…
We compute the nonequilibrium real-time evolution of an O(N)-symmetric scalar quantum field theory from a systematic 1/N expansion of the 2PI effective action to next-to-leading order, which includes scattering and memory effects. In…
We study the nonequilibrium dynamics leading to the formation of topological defects in a symmetry-breaking phase transition of a quantum scalar field with \lambda\Phi^4 self-interaction in a spatially flat, radiation-dominated…
Nonperturbative approximation schemes are inevitable even in weakly coupled theories if the nonequilibrium behavior of quantum fields is investigated. The two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action formalism provides an efficient…
We calculate the far-from-equilibrium dynamics and thermalization both for the quantum and the classical O(N)--model. The early and late-time behavior can be described from the 2PI--loop expansion for weak couplings or the nonperturbative…
A dynamic symmetry-breaking transition with noise and inertia is analyzed. Exact solution of the linearized equation that describes the critical region allows precise calculation (exponent and prefactor) of the number of defects produced as…
Calculations of nonequilibrium processes become increasingly feasable in quantum field theory from first principles. There has been important progress in our analytical understanding based on 2PI generating functionals. In addition, for the…
Topological defects play a fundamental role in the investigation of symmetries in quantum field theories. For conformal field theories in two space-time dimensions, it is possible to construct these defects using lattice models allowing…
We investigate the out-of-equilibrium evolution of a classical background field and its quantum fluctuations in the scalar O(N) model with spontaneous symmetry breaking. We consider the 2-loop 2PI effective action in the Hartree…
Nonequilibrium dynamics in quantum field theory has been studied extensively using truncations of the 2PI effective action. Both 1/N and loop expansions beyond leading order show remarkable improvement when compared to mean-field…
We present an explicit treatment of the two-particle-irreducible (2PI) effective action for a zero-dimensional quantum field theory. The advantage of this simple playground is that we are required to deal only with functions rather than…
Point-like topological defects are singular configurations that occur in a variety of in and out of equilibrium systems with two-dimensional orientational order. As they are associated with a nonzero circuitation condition, the presence of…
We discuss the renormalisation of the initial value problem in quantum field theory using the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action formalism. The nonequilibrium dynamics is renormalised by counterterms determined in equilibrium.…
We investigate false vacuum decay of a relativistic scalar field initialized in the metastable minimum of an asymmetric double-well potential. The transition to the true ground state is a well-defined initial-value problem in real time,…
We study the dynamical evolution of coupled one- and two-point functions of a scalar field in the 2PI framework at the Hartree approximation, including backreaction from out-of-equilibrium modes. We renormalize the 2PI equations of motion…
This is a survey article for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, 2nd Edition. Topological defects are described in the context of the 2-dimensional Ising model on the lattice, in 2-dimensional quantum field theory, in topological…