Out of Equilibrium Dynamics of Supersymmetry at High Energy Density

We investigate the out of equilibrium dynamics of global chiral supersymmetry at finite energy density. We concentrate on two specific models. The first is the massive Wess-Zumino model which we study in a selfconsistent one-loop approximation. We find that for energy densities above a certain threshold, the fields are driven dynamically to a point in field space at which the fermionic component of the superfield is massless. The state, however is found to be unstable, indicating a breakdown of the one-loop approximation. To investigate further, we consider an O(N) massive chiral model which is solved exactly in the large $N$ limit. For sufficiently high energy densities, we find that for late times the fields reach a nonperturbative minimum of the effective potential degenerate with the perturbative minimum. This minimum is a true attractor for O(N) invariant states at high energy densities, and this provides a mechanism for determining which of the otherwise degenerate vacua is chosen by the dynamics. The final state for large energy density is a cloud of massless particles (both bosons and fermions) around this new nonperturbative supersymmetric minimum. By introducing boson masses which softly break the supersymmetry, we demonstrate a see-saw mechanism for generating small fermion masses. We discuss some of the cosmological implications of our results.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figure

One-loop corrections to the metastable vacuum decay

We evaluate the one-loop prefactor in the false vacuum decay rate in a theory of a self interacting scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. We use a numerical method, established some time ago, which is based on a well-known theorem on functional determinants. The proper handling of zero modes and of renormalization is discussed. The numerical results in particular show that quantum corrections become smaller away from the thin-wall case. In the thin-wall limit the numerical results are found to join into those obtained by a gradient expansion.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Gauge Fields Out-Of-Equilibrium: A Gauge Invariant Formulation and the Coulomb Gauge

We study the abelian Higgs model out-of-equilibrium in two different approaches, a gauge invariant formulation, proposed by Boyanovsky et al. \cite{Boyanovsky:1996dc} and in the Coulomb gauge. We show that both approaches become equivalent in a consistent one loop approximation. Furthermore, we carry out a proper renormalization for the model in order to prepare the equations for a numerical implementation. The additional degrees of freedom, which arise in gauge theories, influence the behavior of the system dramatically. A comparison with results in the 't Hooft-Feynman background gauge found by us recently, shows very good agreement.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figure

Nonequilibrium dynamics: a renormalized computation scheme

We present a regularized and renormalized version of the one-loop nonlinear relaxation equations that determine the non-equilibrium time evolution of a classical (constant) field coupled to its quantum fluctuations. We obtain a computational method in which the evaluation of divergent fluctuation integrals and the evaluation of the exact finite parts are cleanly separated so as to allow for a wide freedom in the choice of regularization and renormalization schemes. We use dimensional regularization here. Within the same formalism we analyze also the regularization and renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor. The energy density serves to monitor the reliability of our numerical computation. The method is applied to the simple case of a scalar phi^4 theory; the results are similar to the ones found previously by other groups.Comment: 15 pages, 9 postscript figures, revtex; version published in Phys. Rev, with minor corrections; improves the first version of 1996 by including the discussion of energy momentum tenso

Fluctuation corrections to bubble nucleation

The fluctuation determinant which determines the preexponential factor of the transition rate for minimal bubbles is computed for the electroweak theory with $\sin \Theta_W = 0$. As the basic action we use the three-dimensional high-temperature action including, besides temperature dependent masses, the $T \Phi^3$ one-loop contribution which makes the phase transition first order. The results show that this contribution (which has then to be subtracted from the exact result) gives the dominant contribution to the one-loop effective action. The remaining correction is of the order of, but in general larger than the critical bubble action and suppresses the transition rate. The results for the Higgs field fluctuations are compared with those of an approximate heat kernel computation of Kripfganz et al., good agreement is found for small bubbles, strong deviations for large thin-wall bubbles.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, no macros, no figure

Out-of-equilibrium evolution of scalar fields in FRW cosmology: renormalization and numerical simulations

We present a renormalized computational framework for the evolution of a self-interacting scalar field (inflaton) and its quantum fluctuations in an FRW background geometry. We include a coupling of the field to the Ricci scalar with a general coupling parameter $\xi$. We take into account the classical and quantum back reactions, i.e., we consider the the dynamical evolution of the cosmic scale factor. We perform, in the one-loop and in the large-N approximation, the renormalization of the equation of motion for the inflaton field, and of its energy momentum tensor. Our formalism is based on a perturbative expansion for the mode functions, and uses dimensional regularization. The renormalization procedure is manifestly covariant and the counter terms are independent of the initial state. Some shortcomings in the renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor in an earlier publication are corrected. We avoid the occurence of initial singularities by constructing a suitable class of initial states. The formalism is implemented numerically and we present some results for the evolution in the post-inflationary preheating era.Comment: 44 pages, uses latexsym, 6 pages with 11 figures in a .ps fil

Quantum Fluctuations around the Electroweak Sphaleron

We present an analysis of the quantum fluctuations around the electroweak sphaleron and calculate the associated determinant which gives the 1--loop correction to the sphaleron transition rate. The calculation differs in various technical aspects from a previous analysis by Carson et al. so that it can be considered as independent. The numerical results differ also -- by several orders of magnitude -- from those of this previous analysis; we find that the sphaleron transition rate is much less suppressed than found previously.Comment: DO-TH-93/19 39 pages, 5 figures (available on request as Postscript files or via Fax or mail), LaTeX, no macros neede

Nonequilibrium dynamics: preheating in the SU(2) Higgs model

The term `preheating' has been introduced recently to denote the process in which energy is transferred from a classical inflaton field into fluctuating field (particle) degrees of freedom without generating yet a real thermal ensemble. The models considered up to now include, besides the inflaton field, scalar or fermionic fluctuations. On the other hand the typical ingredient of an inflationary scenario is a nonabelian spontaneously broken gauge theory. So the formalism should also be developed to include gauge field fluctuations excited by the inflaton or Higgs field. We have chosen here, as the simplest nonabelian example, the SU(2) Higgs model. We consider the model at temperature zero. From the technical point of view we generalize an analytical and numerical renormalized formalism developed by us recently to coupled channnel systems. We use the 't Hooft-Feynman gauge and dimensional regularization. We present some numerical results but reserve a more exhaustive discussion of solutions within the paramter space of two couplings and the initial value of the Higgs field to a future publication.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures in enhanced postscript, 2 unreadable figures made accessibl

One-loop corrections to the instanton transition in the two-dimensional Abelian Higgs model

We present an evaluation of the fluctuation determinant which appears as a prefactor in the instanton transition rate for the two-dimensional Abelian Higgs model. The corrections are found to change the rate at most by a factor of 2 for 0.4 < M_W/M_H < 2.0.Comment: DO-TH-94/17, 20 pages, 4 figures appended as uucompressed .eps files, LaTeX, needs epsfig.st

Dynamics of coupled bosonic systems with applications to preheating

Coupled, multi-field models of inflation can provide several attractive features unavailable in the case of a single inflaton field. These models have a rich dynamical structure resulting from the interaction of the fields and their associated fluctuations. We present a formalism to study the nonequilibrium dynamics of coupled scalar fields. This formalism solves the problem of renormalizing interacting models in a transparent way using dimensional regularization. The evolution is generated by a renormalized effective Lagrangian which incorporates the dynamics of the mean fields and their associated fluctuations at one-loop order. We apply our method to two problems of physical interest: (i) a simple two-field model which exemplifies applications to reheating in inflation, and (ii) a supersymmetric hybrid inflation model. This second case is interesting because inflation terminates via a smooth phase transition which gives rise to a spinodal instability in one of the fields. We study the evolution of the zero mode of the fields and the energy density transfer to the fluctuations from the mean fields. We conclude that back reaction effects can be significant over a wide parameter range. In particular for the supersymmetric hybrid model we find that particle production can be suppressed due to these effects.Comment: 23 pages, 16 eps-figures, minor changes in the text, references added, accepted for publication in PR