Quantum field thermalization in expanding backgrounds
Abstract
The 2PI effective action formalism for quantum fields out of equilibrium is set up in an expanding (Friedmann-Robertson-Walker) background. We write down and solve the evolution equations for a phi4 model at NLO in a coupling expansion. We comment on issues of renormalization, lattice discretization and the range of applicability of the approach. A number of example calculations are presented, including thermalization and (p)reheating. Generalizations to more complicated systems and applications are discussed.
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