A Nonlinear Model for Relativistic Electrons at Positive Temperature

Abstract

We study the relativistic electron-positron field at positive temperature in the Hartree-Fock-approximation. We consider both the case with and without exchange term, and investigate the existence and properties of minimizers. Our approach is non-perturbative in the sense that the relevant electron subspace is determined in a self-consistent way. The present work is an extension of previous work by Hainzl, Lewin, S\'er\'e, and Solovej where the case of zero temperature was considered.