Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Individual

Statistical field theory is of great interest to physicists. Many exciting problems in physics today can only be studied using statistical field theory. One example is the quark gluon plasma which can be formed in a high energy collision of heavy ions. Such a plasma, or soup, of the elementary constituents of matter can teach us a lot about fundamental particle interactions.  Another example is the study of the early universe, where matter and energy existed at high temperatures.The study of statistical theories at finite temperature is mathematically complex. One of the major problems is that standard approximation techniques, like perturbation theory, are not applicable in their usual forms. Another problem is that fact that standard calculational techniques asume that the system has reached equilibrium, an assumption that is not justified for many of the problems we want to study. The traditional techniques of field theory must be modified to handle situations of this type.