1996/03/25 by Esteban Calzetta, E. Calzetta, B. L. Hu +1 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.55.3536
published as Phys.Rev.D55:3536-3551,1997 · 32 pages, Latex, no figures
arxiv created 1996/03/25 · openalex publication_date 1997/03/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We explore how the existence of a field with a heavy mass influences the low energy dynamics of a quantum field with a light mass by expounding the stochastic characters of their interactions which take on the form of fluctuations in the number of (heavy field) particles created at the threshold, and dissipation in the dynamics of the light fields, arising from the back reaction of produced heavy particles. We claim that the stochastic nature of effective field theories is intrinsic, in that dissipation and fluctuations are present both above and below the threshold. Stochasticity builds up exponentially quickly as the heavy threshold is approached from below, becoming dominant once the threshold is crossed. But it also exists below the threshold and is, in principle, detectable, albeit strongly suppressed at low energies. The results derived here can be used to give a quantitative definition of the ``effectiveness'' of a theory in terms of the relative weight of the deterministic versus the stochastic behavior at different energy scales.