It is well-known that thermal equilibrium states in quantum statistical mechanics and quantum field theory can be described in a mathematically rigorous manner by means of the so-called Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) condition, which is based on certain analyticity and periodicity properties of correlation functions. On the other hand, the characterization of non-equilibrium states which only locally have thermal properties still constitutes a challenge in quantum field theory. We discuss a recent proposal for characterization of such states by a generalized KMS condition. The connection of this proposal to a proposal by D. Buchholz, I. Ojima and H.-J. Roos for characterizing local thermal equilibrium states in quantum field theory is discussed.
CITATION STYLE
Gransee, M. (2016). Local thermal equilibrium states in relativistic quantum field theory. In Quantum Mathematical Physics: A Bridge between Mathematics and Physics (pp. 101–117). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26902-3_6
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.