Self-consistently Improved Finite Temperature Effective Potential for Gauge Theories

Abstract

The finite temperature effective potential of the Abelian Higgs Model is studied using the self-consistent composite operator method, which sums up the contributions of daisy and superdaisy diagrams. The effect of the momentum dependence of the effective masses is estimated by using a Rayleigh-Ritz variational approximation.

Comments: 29 pages, 7 figures not included, Plain Tex, BUHEP-93-12, to appear in Physical Review D49. (additional comments on renormalization and a more quantitative comparison with previous results have been included, one more figure, two new references, two references updated)