Effective potential analysis for 5D SU(2) gauge theories at finite temperature and radius

Abstract

We calculate the one loop effective potential for a 5D SU(2) gauge field theory at finite temperature $T=1/β$ and radius R=1/M. This calculation is performed, for the first time, in the case of background fields with two constant components $A^{3}_{y}$ (directed towards the compact extra dimension with radius R) and $A^{3}_τ$ (directed towards the compact Euclidean time with radius $β$). This model possesses two discrete symmetries known as Z_{M}(2) and Z_{T}(2). The corresponding phase diagram is presented in Ref. 4. However the arguments which lead to this diagram are mainly qualitative. We present a detailed analysis, from our point of view, for this phase diagram, and we support our arguments performing lattice simulations for a simple phenomenological model with two scalar fields interacting through the previously calculated potential.