Finite-temperature Gaussian effective potential from a variational principle

15 April 1991

journal article
research article
Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review D

Vol. 43 (8) , 2736-2738
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.43.2736

Abstract

Writing the partition function for a scalar quantum field theory as a functional integral, it follows that the finite-temperature Gaussian effective potential is an upper limit to the free energy of the system. Explicit results are given for the anharmonic oscillator at finite temperature.

Keywords

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