Impact of a uniform magnetic field and nonzero temperature on explicit chiral symmetry breaking in QED: Arbitrary hierarchy of energy scales

Abstract

Employing the Schwinger's proper-time method, we calculate the $<\bar{\psi} \psi>$-condensate for massive Dirac fermions of charge $e$ interacting with a uniform magnetic field in a heat bath. We present general results for arbitrary hierarchy of the energy scales involved, namely, the fermion mass $m$, the magnetic field strength $\sqrt{eB}$ and temperature $T$. Moreover, we study particular regimes in detail and reproduce some of the results calculated or anticipated earlier in the literature. We also discuss possible applications of our findings.