A hypercomplex partition function for dissipative quantum field theory

Abstract

We develop a finite-temperature formulation for a hypercomplex dissipative quantum field theory [1], using the imaginary-time path-integral approach and the idempotent structure of the hypercomplex algebra. The resulting partition function naturally separates into two conjugate complex sectors whose recombination preserves the hypercomplex Hermitian structure while generating a nontrivial thermal phase. From this construction, the standard thermodynamic observables are obtained consistently, and the conventional relativistic charged Bose gas is recovered in the vanishing-dissipation limit. Beyond this equilibrium correspondence, the hypercomplex formulation reveals a distinctive perturbative hierarchy: dissipative effects first appear in the complementary phase sector, while corrections to ordinary real thermodynamic quantities arise only at higher order. These results show that dissipation can be encoded through an enlarged algebraic thermal structure without abandoning the familiar framework of relativistic finite-temperature field theory, opening a path toward broader applications of hypercomplex methods in dissipative, open, and effectively non-Hermitian quantum systems.