Abstract:
The induced fractional fermion number at zero temperature is topological (in the sense that it is only sensitive to global asymptotic properties of the background field), and is a sharp observable (in the sense that it has vanishing rms fluctuations). In contrast, at finite temperature, it is shown to be generically nontopological, and not a sharp observable.
Note:
  • 6 pp, 2 figs; based on talks at Workshop on Lattice Hadron Physics (Cairns, July 2001), Workshop on Light-Cone: Particles and Strings (Trento, September 2001), and Workshop on Quantum Field Theory in External Conditions (Leipzig, September 2001)
  • talk: Leipzig 2001/09/10
  • talk: Trento 2001/09/03
  • talk: Cairns 2001/07/09
  • fermion number: induced
  • fermion number: fractional
  • background: topological
  • finite temperature
  • kink
  • sigma model