Cross Section and Effective Potential in Asymptotically Free Scalar Field Theories

Abstract

In an effort to understand the physical implications of the newly discovered non-trivial directions in scalar field theory, we compute lowest order scattering amplitudes, cross sections, and the 1-loop effective potential. To lowest order, the primary effect of the nonpolynomial nature of the theories is a renormalization of the field. The high energy scaling of the 2-->2 cross section is studied and found to differ significantly from that of pure phi^4 theory. From the 1-loop effective potential we determine that in some cases radiative corrections destroy classical symmetry breaking, resulting in a phase boundary between symmetry broken and unbroken theories. No radiatively induced symmetry breaking is observed.