The Boltzmann Equation in Classical and Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

Improving upon the previous treatment by Mueller and Son, we derive the Boltzmann equation that results from a classical scalar field theory. This is obtained by starting from the corresponding quantum field theory and taking the classical limit with particular emphasis on the path integral and perturbation theory. A previously overlooked Van-Vleck determinant is shown to control the tadpole type of self-energy that can still appear in the classical perturbation theory. Further comments on the validity of the approximations and possible applications are also given.

22 pages, 3 eps figures. Version to appear in Physical Review C

References in corpus (3)

• Introduction to Nonequilibrium Quantum Field Theory
• On the equivalence between the Boltzmann equation and classical field theory at large occupation numbers
• Classical approximation of the Boltzmann equation in high energy QCD

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