Catalysis and inverse electric catalysis in a scalar theory

Abstract

In this article we explore the phase diagram associated to the symmetry breaking of a scalar self interacting theory, induced by temperature and the presence of an external electric field. For such purpose, first we obtain the boson propagator, in the presence of a constant external electric field, both in the weak and strong field strength limits. Novel expansions are derived for the effective potential, valid for the whole range of temperature. We found inverse electric catalysis for the weak field region, whereas for strong fields electric catalysis emerges, i.e. a situation where the critical temperature diminishes as function of the strength of the electric field. These behaviors, in the weak and strong intensity sectors, are valid for all possible values of temperature.

Renormalons in a scalar self interacting theory: thermal, thermomagnetic and thermoelectric corrections for all values of temperature

“…We are going to introduce the propagator taking first only the external electric field into account, incorporating then, later, finite temperature effects. The bosonic propagator in Euclidean space is given by [42]…”

“…. Since we will be interested in the weak electric field region where eE m 2 , by expanding the previous expression we get up to order O(E 2 ) [42] iD…”

“…The relevance of the appearance of such an electric field has been considered in the discussion of the phase diagram of some QFT models as, for example, a two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model [41]. Quite recently, now in the context of a λΦ 4 theory, we have explored, through a discussion of the effective potential, the emergence of catalysis or inverse electric-catalysis for any value of temperature [42].…”