Jürgen Berges

Far-from-equilibrium dynamics with broken symmetries from the 1/N expansion of the 2PI effective action

We derive the nonequilibrium real-time evolution of an O(N) – invariant scalar quantum field theory in the presence of a nonvanishing expectation value of the quantum field. Using a systematic 1/N expansion of the 2PI effective action to next-to-leading order, we obtain nonperturbative evolution equations which include scattering and memory effects. The equivalence of the direct method, which requires the resummation of an infinite number of skeleton diagrams, with the auxiliary-field formalism, which involves only one diagram at next-to-leading order, is shown. email: aarts@mps.ohio-state.edu email: dahrens@physik.uni-bielefeld.de email: baier@physik.uni-bielefeld.de email: j.berges@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de email: serreau@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de

Bose-Einstein condensation in relativistic field theories far from equilibrium.

The formation of Bose condensates far from equilibrium can play an important role in our understanding of collision experiments of heavy nuclei or for the evolution of the early universe. In the relativistic quantum world particle number changing processes can counteract Bose condensation, and there is a considerable debate about the relevance of this phenomenon in this context. We show that the involved question of Bose condensation from initial over-population can be answered for the example of scalar field theories. Condensate formation occurs as a consequence of an inverse particle cascade with a universal power-law spectrum. This particle transport towards low momenta is part of a dual cascade, in which energy is also transfered by weak wave turbulence towards higher momenta. To highlight the importance of number changing processes for the subsequent decay of the condensate, we also compare to non-relativistic theories with exact number conservation. We discuss the relevance of these results for nonabelian gauge theories.

Lattice simulations of real-time quantum fields

We investigate lattice simulations of scalar and non-Abelian gauge fields in Minkowski space-time. For SU(2) gauge-theory expectation values of link variables in 3+1 dimensions are constructed by a stochastic process in an additional (5th) Langevin-time. A sufficiently small Langevin step size and the use of a tilted real-time contour leads to converging results in general. All fixed point solutions are shown to fulfil the infinite hierarchy of Dyson-Schwinger identities, however, they are not unique without further constraints. For the non-Abelian gauge theory the thermal equilibrium fixed point is only approached at intermediate Langevin-times. It becomes more stable if the complex time path is deformed towards Euclidean space-time. We analyze this behavior further using the real-time evolution of a quantum anharmonic oscillator, which is alternatively solved by diagonalizing its Hamiltonian. Without further optimization stochastic quantization can give accurate descriptions if the real-time extent of the lattice is small on the scale of the inverse temperature.

Over-populated gauge fields on the lattice

We study nonequilibrium dynamics of SU(2) pure gauge theory starting from initial over-population, where intense classical gauge fields are characterized by a single momentum scale Q_s. Classical-statistical lattice simulations indicate a quick evolution towards an approximate scaling behavior with exponent 3/2 at intermediate times. Remarkably, the value for the scaling exponent may be understood as arising from the leading O(g^2) contribution in the presence of a time-dependent background field. The phenomenon is associated to weak wave turbulence describing an energy cascade towards higher momenta. This particular aspect is very similar to what is observed for scalar theories, where an effective cubic interaction arises because of the presence of a time-dependent Bose condensate.

Simulating plasma instabilities in SU(3) gauge theory

Abstract We compute nonequilibrium dynamics of plasma instabilities in classical-statistical lattice gauge theory in 3 + 1 dimensions. The simulations are done for the first time for the SU ( 3 ) gauge group relevant for quantum chromodynamics. We find a qualitatively similar behavior as compared to earlier investigations in SU ( 2 ) gauge theory. The characteristic growth rates are about 25% lower for given energy density, such that the isotropization process is slower. Measured in units of the characteristic screening mass, the primary growth rate is independent of the number of colors.

Turbulence in nonabelian gauge theory

Kolmogorov wave turbulence plays an important role for the thermalization process following plasma instabilities in nonabelian gauge theories. We show that classical-statistical simulations in SU(2) gauge theory indicate a Kolmogorov scaling exponent known from scalar models. In the range of validity of resummed perturbation theory this result is shown to agree with analytical estimates. We study the effect of classical-statistical versus quantum corrections and demonstrate that the latter lead to the absence of turbulence in the far ultraviolet.

Simulating fermion production in 1+1 dimensional QED

We investigate fermion--anti-fermion production in 1+1 dimensional QED using real-time lattice techniques. In this non-perturbative approach the full quantum dynamics of fermions is included while the gauge field dynamics can be accurately represented by classical-statistical simulations for relevant field strengths. We compute the non-equilibrium time evolution of gauge invariant correlation functions implementing low-cost Wilson fermions. Introducing a lattice generalization of the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner function, we recover the Schwinger formula in 1+1 dimensions in the limit of a static background field. We discuss the decay of the field due to the backreaction of the created fermion--anti-fermion pairs and apply the approach to strongly inhomogeneous gauge fields. The latter allows us to discuss the striking phenomenon of a linear rising potential building up between produced fermion bunches after the initial electric pulse ceased.

Quantum theory of fermion production after inflation

We show that quantum effects dramatically enhance the production of fermions following preheating after inflation in the early Universe in the presence of high excitations of bosonic quanta. As a consequence, fermions rapidly approach a quasistationary distribution with a thermal occupancy in the infrared, while the inflaton enters a turbulent scaling regime. The failure of standard semiclassical descriptions based on the Dirac equation with a homogeneous background field is caused by nonperturbatively high boson occupation numbers. During preheating the inflaton occupation number increases, thus leading to a dynamical mechanism for the enhanced production of fermions from the rescattering of the inflaton quanta. We comment on related phenomena in heavy-ion collisions for the production of quark matter fields from highly occupied gauge bosons.

Universality far from equilibrium: From superfluid Bose gases to heavy-ion collisions

Isolated quantum systems in extreme conditions can exhibit unusually large occupancies per mode. This overpopulation gives rise to new universality classes of many-body systems far from equilibrium. We present theoretical evidence that important aspects of non-Abelian plasmas in the ultrarelativistic limit admit a dual description in terms of a Bose condensed scalar field theory.

Progress in nonequilibrium quantum field theory III

We review recent developments and open questions for the description of nonequilibrium quantum fields, continuing hep-ph/0302210 and hep-ph/0410330 [J. Berges and J. Serreau in SEWM02, Ed. M.G. Schmidt, World Scientific, Singapore, 2003 [ arXiv:hep-ph/0302210 ]. SEWM04, Eds. K.J. Eskola, K. Kainulainen, K. Kajantie, K. Rummukainen, World Scientific, Singapore, 2005 [ arXiv:hep-ph/0410330 ]].