Thermal Effects in Low-Temperature QED

Abstract

QED is studied at low temperature ($T\ll m$, where $m$ is the electron mass) and zero chemical potential. By integrating out the electron field and the nonzero bosonic Matsubara modes, we construct an effective three-dimensional field theory that is valid at distances $R\gg 1/T$. As applications, we reproduce the ring-improved free energy and calculate the Debye mass to order $e^5$.

Comments: 20 pages, 4 figures, revtex