Study of sphaleron transitions by means of the real time Langevin equation

Aug, 1990
34 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 44 (1991) 519-527
Report number:
  • TPI-MINN-90-51-T,
  • IPS-90-19,
  • IPS-REPORT-90-16

Citations per year

1992199620002004200601234567
Abstract: (APS)
Microscopic Langevin evolution is introduced in Abelian gauge field theory. It is studied numerically in the (1 + 1)-dimensional Abelian Higgs model at finite temperature. The Brownian behavior of the Chern-Simons number is established. Sharp transitions between the classical vacua with different Chern-Simons numbers are observed. The rate of these transitions depends exponentially on the temperature, indicating the relevance of the thermal activation theory involving the sphaleron saddle point.
  • field equations: sphaleron
  • Langevin equation
  • Higgs model: abelian
  • dimension: 2
  • finite temperature
  • vacuum state
  • fermion number: violation
  • approximation: semiclassical
  • numerical calculations: Monte Carlo