Non-Equilibrium Real-Time Dynamics of Quantum Fields: Linear and Non-Linear Relaxation in Scalar and Gauge Theories
The real time evolution of field condensates is solved for small and large field amplitudes in scalar theories.For small amplitudes,the quantum equations of motion for the condensate can be linearized and solved by Laplace transform. The late time evolution turns to be determined by the singularities in the complex plane (one-particle poles, two- and multi- particle cuts, Landau cuts for non-zero initial temperature). In hot scalar electrodynamics, we solve the real time evolution of field condensates with soft length scales \sim k^{-1}>(eT)^{-1}. Transverse gauge invariant condensates relax as 1/t^2 to amplitudes determined by the quasiparticle poles. We rederive the HTL action using the non-equilibrium field theory techniques.In the nonlinear regime (for large initial energy densities) we analyze the dynamics of dissipation and relaxation in scalar theory after linear unstabilities are shut-off by the quantum back-reaction. A new time scale emerges that separates the linear from the non-linear regimes. This scale is non-perturbative in the coupling and initial amplitude. A combination of numerical analysis and the implementation of a dynamical renormalization group resummation via multi-time scale analysis reveals the presence of unstable bands in the nonlinear regime. These are associated with power law growth of quantum fluctuations, that result in power law relaxation and dissipation with {\bf non-universal and non-perturbative dynamical anomalous exponents.

title: Theory at quark matter '02
abstract: I summarize theory at Quark Matter '02, stressing the continuing inability model to describe all notable features of the data from √ s /A: 55 → 200GeV

title: Nonabelian Debye screening, tsunami waves, and worldline fermions
abstract: I give a pedagogical review of the derivation for the effective lagrangian for nonabelian Debye screening, or hard thermal loops. Following Kelly, Liu, Lucchesi, and Manuel, I give the simplest derivation possible, using classical kinetic theory. 
The result is valid not just for a thermal, but for an arbitrary initial distributions. I use this to study the evolution, at short times, of a gluonic ``tsunami wave''. 
I also suggest how classical kinetic theory may arise at one loop order. Using the wordline representation of the one loop effective action, I follow D'Hoker and Gagn\'{e} to replace the Wilson line by an integral over worldline fermions. A bilinear of these worldline fermions naturally defines a nonabelian charge, whose equation of motion is Wong's equation.

title: Cool pions move at less than the speed of light
abstract: At nonzero temperature, pions propagate through a thermal medium at less than the speed of light. About low temperature, this effect begins not at $\sim T^2$, but at next to leading order, $\sim T^4$. We also derive the generalization of the relation of Gell-Mann, Oakes, and Renner to nonzero temperature.

title: Damping rates for moving particles in hot QCD.
abstract: Using a program of perturbative resummation I compute the damping rates for fields at nonzero spatial momentum to leading order in weak coupling in hot QCD. Sum rules for spectral densities are used to simplify the calculations. For massless fields the damping rate has an apparent logarithmic divergence in the infrared limit, which is cut off by the screening of static magnetic fields ("magnetic mass"). This demonstrates how at high temperature even perturbative quantities are sensitive to nonperturbative phenomena.

title: Soft Amplitudes in Hot Gauge Theories: A General Analysis
abstract: A systematic method for the calculation of amplitudes in hot gauge theories is developed. It is necessary to distinguish between hard momenta (of order T ) and soft momenta (of order gT ). Ordinary perturbation theory applies at hard momenta, but over soft momenta, effective propagators and vertices are required. These effective quantities resum the leading contributions from thermal fluctuations with hard virtual momenta. These “hard thermal loops” arise solely from subdiagrams at one-loop order: they are ultraviolet finite, gauge independent, and satisfy simple Ward identities. To illustrate the method we apply it to the quark and gluon self-energies. Ward identities are used to show that to one-loop order in this effective perturbation expansion, the two-point T -matrix elements constructed from the self-energies are gauge invariant. This proves that to leading order in g , the quark and gluon damping rates are gauge invariant.

title: The ROSAT HRI X-Ray Survey of the Cygnus Loop
abstract: We describe and report progress on the joint U.S. and German campaign to map the X-ray emission from the entire Cygnus Loop with the ROSAT High Resolution Imager. The Cygnus Loop is the prototype for a supernova remnant that is dominated by interactions with the interstellar medium and supplies fundamental physical information on this basic mechanism for shaping the interstellar medium. The global view that these high-resolution (FWHM ~ 10'') observations provide emphasizes the inhomogeneity of the interstellar medium and the pivotal nature of cloud-blast-wave interactions in determining the X-ray morphology of the supernova remnant. While investigating the details of the evolution of the blast wave, we also describe the interstellar medium in the vicinity of the Cygnus Loop, which the progenitor star has processed. Although we do not expect the X-ray observations to be complete until 1997 September, the incomplete data combined with deep Hα images provide definitive evidence that the Cygnus Loop was formed by an explosion within a preexisting cavity.