Thermal Abundances of Heavy Particles

Abstract

Matsumoto and Yoshimura [hep-ph/9910393] have argued that there are loop corrections to the number density of heavy particles (in thermal equilibrium with a gas of light particles) that are not Boltzmann suppressed by a factor of e^(-M/T) at temperatures T well below the mass M of the heavy particle. We argue, however, that their definition of the number density does not correspond to a quantity that could be measured in a realistic experiment. We consider a model where the heavy particles carry a conserved U(1) charge, and the light particles do not. The fluctuations of the net charge in a given volume then provide a measure of the total number of heavy particles in that same volume. We show that these charge fluctuations are Boltzmann suppressed (to all orders in perturbation theory). Therefore, we argue, the number density of heavy particles is also Boltzmann suppressed.