Introduction to thermal field theory
Abstract
Description
Within the next few years experiments at RHIC and the LHC will seek to create in the laboratory a quark-gluon plasma, the phase of matter in which the Universe was initially created. It is believed that the plasma will survive long enough to reach thermal equilibrium. I give an introduction to the formalism of thermal field theory, the combination of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory needed to describe the plasma in thermal equilibrium, in a way that tries to keep close to the physics it describes.
Lectures given in February 1997 at the IX Jorge Andre Swieca Summer School, Campos do Jordao, Brazil 13 pages plain tex, figures embedded with epsf [Sign error corrected in equation (16)]
Lectures given in February 1997 at the IX Jorge Andre Swieca Summer School, Campos do Jordao, Brazil 13 pages plain tex, figures embedded with epsf [Sign error corrected in equation (16)]