Related papers: Nonequilibrium quantum fields with large fluctuati…
We concern with various aspects of equilibrium and non-equilibrium quantum field theory.
A quantum scalar field theory with spacetime-dependent coupling is studied. Surprisingly, while translation invariance is explicitly broken in the classical theory, momentum conservation is recovered at the quantum level for some specific…
In this brief review we introduce the methods of quantum field theory out of equilibrium and study the non-equilibrium aspects of phase transitions. Specifically we critically study the picture of the ``slow-roll'' phase transition in the…
The absence of recognizable, low energy quantum gravitational effects requires that some asymptotic series expansion be wonderfully accurate, but the correct expansion might involve logarithms or fractional powers of Newton's constant. That…
Dynamic equations for quantum fields far from equilibrium are derived by use of functional renormalisation group techniques. The obtained equations are non-perturbative and lead substantially beyond mean-field and quantum Boltzmann type…
A complete set of Feynman rules is derived, which permits a perturbative description of the nonequilibrium dynamics of a symmetry-breaking phase transition in $\lambda\phi^4$ theory in an expanding universe. In contrast to a naive expansion…
We compute the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of relativistic scalar quantum fields in 3+1 space-time dimensions starting from over-occupied initial conditions. We determine universal scaling exponents and functions for two-point correlators…
Ill-defined pinch singularities arising in a perturbative expansion in out of equilibrium quantum field theory have a natural analogue to standard scattering theory. We explicitly demonstrate that the occurrence of such terms is directly…
We study the evolution of a quantum scalar field in a toy universe which has three stages of evolution, viz., (i) an early (inflationary) de Sitter phase (ii) radiation dominated phase and (iii) late-time (cosmological constant dominated)…
The time development of equal-time correlation functions in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory is described by an exact evolution equation for generating functionals. This permits a comparison between classical and quantum evolution…
We study the implications of quantum fluctuations of a dispersive medium, under steady rotation, either in or out of thermal equilibrium with its environment. A rotating object exhibits a quantum instability by dissipating its mechanical…
The Heisenberg-Euler theory of the quantum vacuum supplements Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism with nonlinear light-light interactions. These originate in vacuum fluctuations, a key prediction of quantum theory, and can be triggered by…
Mean field theory for the time evolution of quantum meson fields is studied in terms of the functional Schroedinger picture with a time-dependent Gaussian variational wave functional. We first show that the equations of motion for the…
Out-of-equilibrium phenomena are attracting high interest in physics, materials science, chemistry and life sciences. In this state, the study of structural fluctuations at different length scales in time and space are necessary to achieve…
The theory of Gaussian quantum fluctuations around classical steady states in nonlinear quantum-optical systems (also known as standard linearization) is a cornerstone for the analysis of such systems. Its simplicity, together with its…
The motivations of the 1/N expansion method in quantum field theory are explained. The method is first illustrated with the O(N) model of scalar fields. A second example is considered with the two-dimensional Gross-Neveu model of fermion…
A nonequilibrium Green's functions approach to the collective response of correlated Coulomb systems at finite temperature is presented. It is shown that solving Kadanoff-Baym type equations of motion for the two-time correlation functions…
The non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems is one of the most fascinating problems in physics. Open questions range from how they relax to equilibrium to how to extract useful work from them. A critical point lies in…
Interacting quantum many-body systems constitute a fascinating playground for researchers since they form quantum liquids with correlated ground states and low-lying excitations, which exhibit universal behaviour. In fermionic systems, such…
The quantum O(N) model in the infinite $N$ limit is a paradigm for symmetry-breaking. Qualitatively, its phase diagram is an excellent guide to the equilibrium physics for more realistic values of $N$ in varying spatial dimensions ($d>1$).…