2004/12/31 by J. J. McKenzie-Smith, J. J. Mckenzie-Smith, Wade Naylor
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Applied mathematics #Computer science #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Expression (computer science) #Function (biology) #Geometry #Limit (mathematics) #Mathematical analysis #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Partition function (quantum field theory) #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Scalar (mathematics) #Scalar field #Statistical physics #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2005.02.010
published as Phys.Lett. B610 (2005) 159-164 · 5 pages, 1 figure, revtex4, typos corrected. To appear in Phys. Lett. B
arxiv created 2005/02/15 · openalex publication_date 2005/02/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a method for evaluating the partition function in a varying external field. Specifically, we look at the case of a non-interacting, charged, massive scalar field at finite temperature with an associated chemical potential in the background of a delta-function potential. Whilst we present a general method, valid at all temperatures, we only give the result for the leading order term in the high temperature limit. Although the derivative expansion breaks down for inhomogeneous backgrounds we are able to obtain the high temperature expansion, as well as an analytic expression for the zero point energy, by way of a different approximation scheme, which we call the local Born approximation (LBA).