The unmasking of thermal Goldstone bosons

TL;DR

This paper revisits how Goldstone bosons manifest in a thermal environment within relativistic quantum field theory, revealing specific zero-mass contributions in thermal correlation functions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that thermal correlation functions include distinct zero-mass contributions associated with Goldstone bosons in spontaneously broken internal symmetries.

Findings

Identification of zero-mass contributions in thermal correlation functions

Clarification of Goldstone boson modes at finite temperature

Reinterpretation of Goldstone bosons in thermal quantum field theory

Abstract

The problem of extracting the modes of Goldstone bosons from a thermal background is reconsidered in the framework of relativistic quantum field theory. It is shown that in the case of spontaneous breakdown of an internal bosonic symmetry a recently established decomposition of thermal correlation functions contains certain specific contributions which can be attributed to a particle of zero mass.