Phi^4 Kinks: Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Some recent investigations of the thermal equilibrium properties of kinks in a $1+1$-dimensional, classical $Φ^4$ field theory are reviewed. The distribution function, kink density, correlation function, and certain thermodynamic quantities were studied both theoretically and via large scale simulations. A simple double Gaussian variational approach within the transfer operator formalism was shown to give good results in the intermediate temperature range where the dilute gas theory is known to fail.