Thermal loops in the accelerating frame

TL;DR

This paper analyzes a conformal scalar field with self-interaction in accelerating frames, revealing the thermal mass effects, stability conditions, and stress-energy tensor properties at finite temperature, with implications for quantum field theory in curved spacetime.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of the thermal mass and quantum stress-energy tensor in Rindler coordinates, highlighting differences from Minkowski space and the stability of Unruh states.

Findings

Thermal (Debye) mass appears at one-loop order.

States below Unruh temperature are unstable.

Thermal mass vanishes at the Unruh temperature.

Abstract

We consider the conformal scalar field theory with $\lambda \phi^4$ self-interaction in Rindler and Minkowskian coordinates at finite temperature planckian distribution for the exact modes. The solution of the one-loop Dyson-Schwinger equation is found to the order in $\lambda^{3/2}$. Appearance of the thermal (Debye) mass is shown. Unlike the physical mass, the thermal one gives a gap in the energy spectrum in the quantization in the Rindler coordinates. The difference between such calculations in Minkowski and Rindler coordinates for the exact modes is discussed. It is also shown that states with a temperature lower than the Unruh one are unstable. It is proved that for the canonical Unruh temperature the thermal mass is equal to zero. The contribution to the quantum average of the stress-energy tensor is also calculated, it remains traceless even in the presence of the thermal mass.