Speaker
Description
In this talk I present a first-principles construction of the thermal partition function for scalar quantum field theories in finite volume, with an emphasis on mathematical control and physical consistency. Motivated by small systems in high-energy collisions, such as the quark-gluon plasma produced at the LHC and RHIC, we investigate how finite system size modifies thermodynamic observables within Thermal Field Theory.
We formulate field eigenstates on a spatial lattice, showing that a discretized setting is required for a well-defined construction of the path integral measure. Within this framework, we derive the lattice dispersion relation and demonstrate that it obstructs a straightforward continuum limit, necessitating a careful extraction of physical results. We then construct the thermal path integral in finite volume in a fully controlled manner, naturally incorporating finite-size effects such as vacuum energy corrections analogous to the Casimir effect. This approach enables the computation of finite-size corrections to thermodynamic quantities; we present preliminary results for the pressure and outline a pathway toward extensions to gauge theories and QCD.
| Apply for student award at which level: | PhD |
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| Consent on use of personal information: Abstract Submission | Yes, I ACCEPT |