Nonperturbative infrared effects for light scalar fields in de Sitter space

Abstract

We study the phi^4 scalar field theory in de Sitter space using the 2PI effective action formalism. This formalism enables us to investigate the nonperturbative quantum effects. We use the mean field and gap equations and calculate the physical mass and effective potential. We find that nonperturbative infrared effects on de Sitter space produce a curvature-induced mass and work to restore the broken Z_2 symmetry.

Comments: 14 pages, 3 figures, section 2 revised, discussion in section 4 changed, results not changed