Nonequilibrium Field Theory      

Traditional applications of quantum field theory are restricted mainly to scattering processes and systems in thermal equilibrium. Nonequilibrium quantum field theory is necessary to understand initial value problems such as arise in the dynamics of the early universe, heavy-ion collisions, and the dynamics of phase transitions in general. I have been interested in this class of problems since my Ph.D. work on quantum transport theory in curved spacetimes [with then post-docs Esteban Calzetta (IAFE) and Henry Kandrup (Florida), and my Ph.D. adviser Bei-lok Hu]. Recent advances made by the Los Alamos group [my colleagues Fred Cooper, Yuval Kluger (now in bioinformatics), Emil Mottola, and ex-post-doc Juan Pablo Paz (IAFE/LANL)] include the successful implementation of the leading-order 1/N approximation in nonequilibrium theory (including the solution of the renormalization problem in this situation), understanding of effective dissipation in mean field theory, and application of the new methods to disoriented chiral condensates and to the dynamics of second order phase transitions. At present, my more technical interests are in the areas of testing approximations using quantum mechanical systems and in thinking of ways to understand the quantum-classical transition in field theory.

I have also worked on nonequilibrium field theoretic problems in condensed matter physics including dynamics of structural phase transitions in shocked materials with Avadh Saxena and Turab Lookman (T-11), Frank Alexander (CCS-3), and Karen Pao (X-5) and the theory of vortex transport with Roman Sasik (now at UCSD) and Luis Bettencourt (now with CCS-3 at LANL). A new project I am quite excited about is a collaboration with Katrin Heitmann (ISR-1), Paul Johnson, Donatella Pasqualini (EES-11), and Jim TenCate (EES-11) on understanding nonlinear and nonequilibrium processes in geomaterials. This will soon involve carrying out the only experiments in T-Division!

Papers

Links are to the Los Alamos eprint server:

  1. Nonequilibrium and Nonlinear Dynamics in Geomaterials I: The Low Strain Regime, Donatella Pasqualini, Katrin Heitmann, James A. TenCate, Salman Habib, David Higdon, and Paul A. Johnson, JGR (submitted) cond-mat/0601120
  2. Nonlinear and Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Geomaterials, James A. TenCate, Donatella Pasqualini, Salman Habib, Katrin Heitmann, and Paul A. Johnson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 065501 (2004) cond-mat/0403004
  3. Exact and Approximate Dynamics of the Quantum Mechanical O(N) Model, Bogdan Mihaila, Tara Athan, Fred Cooper, John Dawson, and Salman Habib, Phys. Rev. D 62, 125015 (2000) hep-ph/0003105
  4. Periodic Instantons in SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs Theory, G. Bonini, S. Habib, E. Mottola, C. Rebbi, R. Singleton, and P. Tinyakov, Phys. Lett. B 474, 113 (2000) hep-ph/9905243
  5. Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking in Lambda Phi^4 Field Theory, Fred Cooper, Salman Habib, Yuval Kluger, and Emil Mottola, Phys. Rev. D 55, 6471 (1997) hep-ph/9610345
  6. Winding Transitions at Finite Energy and Temperature: An O(3) Model, Salman Habib, Emil Mottola, and Peter Tinyakov, Phys. Rev. D 54, 7774 (1996) hep-ph/9608327
  7. Dissipation and Decoherence in Mean Field Theory, Salman Habib, Yuval Kluger, Emil Mottola, and Juan Pablo Paz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4660 (1996) hep-ph/9509413
  8. Finite Energy Instantons in the O(3) Non-Linear Sigma Model, Peter G. Tinyakov, Emil Mottola, and Salman Habib, Proceedings, Quarks'94 hep-ph/9411251
  9. Nonequilibrium Quantum Fields in the Large N Expansion, Fred Cooper, Salman Habib, Yuval Kluger, Emil Mottola, Juan Pablo Paz, and Paul R. Anderson, Phys. Rev. D 50, 2848 (1994) hep-ph/9405352
  10. Multiplicative Noise: Applications in Cosmology and Field Theory, Salman Habib, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 706 (1993) gr-qc/9308022
  11. Stochastic Inflation: The Quantum Phase Space Approach, Salman Habib, Phys. Rev. D 46, 2408 (1992) gr-qc/9208006
  12. Stochastic Dynamics of Coarse-Grained Quantum Fields in the Inflationary Universe, Salman Habib and Milan Mijic, UBC Report (1991)
  13. Wigner Functions and Density Matrices in Curved Spaces as Computational Tools, Salman Habib and Henry E. Kandrup, Ann. Phys. 191, 335 (1989)
  14. Quantum Kinetic Field Theory in Curved Spacetime: Covariant Wigner Function and Liouville-Vlasov Equations, Esteban Calzetta, Salman Habib, and Bei-Lok Hu, Phys. Rev. D 37, 2901 (1988)
Related Links

Nonequilibrium Working Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Santa Fe Workshop on Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions (July 15 - August 3, 1996).
Center for Nonlinear Studies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Katja Lindenberg's research in nonequilibrium phenomena at the University of California, San Diego.

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Salman Habib / LANL / revised February 2005
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