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Quantum extremism: effective potential and extremal paths

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Abstract

The reality and convexity of the effective potential in quantum field theories has been studied extensively in the context of Euclidean space-time. It has been shown that canonical and path-integral approaches may yield different results, thus resolving the convexity problem. We discuss the transferal of these treatments to Minkowskian space-time, which also necessitates a careful discussion of precisely which field configurations give the dominant contributions to the path integral. In particular, we study the effective potential for the N=1 linear sigma model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nuclear Physics, NCSR “Demokritos”, Athens, Greece

    E. N. Argyres

  2. IMAPP, FNWI, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    M. T. M. van Kessel & R. H. P. Kleiss

Authors
  1. E. N. Argyres
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  2. M. T. M. van Kessel
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  3. R. H. P. Kleiss
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Correspondence to M. T. M. van Kessel.

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Argyres, E.N., van Kessel, M.T.M. & Kleiss, R.H.P. Quantum extremism: effective potential and extremal paths. Eur. Phys. J. C 65, 303–310 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-009-1179-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-009-1179-8

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