Nonequilibrium Fields: Exact and Truncated Dynamics

Abstract

The nonperturbative real-time evolution of quantum fields out of equilibrium is often solved using a mean-field or Hartree approximation or by applying effective action methods. In order to investigate the validity of these truncations, we implement similar methods in classical scalar field theory and compare the approximate dynamics with the full nonlinear evolution. Numerical results are shown for the early-time behaviour, the role of approximate fixed points, and thermalization.