Finite-temperature behavior of the (2+1)D Georgi-Glashow model with and without quarks

Abstract

(2+1)-dimensional Georgi-Glashow model and its SU(N)-generalization are explored at nonzero temperatures and in the regime when the Higgs boson is not infinitely heavy. The finiteness of the Higgs-boson mass leads to various novel effects. Those include the appearance of two separate phase transitions and of the upper bound on the parameter of the weak-coupling approximation, necessary to maintain the stochasticity of the Higgs vacuum. The modification of the finite-temperature behavior of the model emerging due to the introduction of massless quarks is also discussed.

Comments: Talk given at the Workshop "Continuous Advances in QCD 2002/ARKADYFEST (honoring the 60th birthday of Prof. Arkady Vainshtein)" (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 17-23 May 2002) and at the Congress in theoretical physics "Cortona 2002" (Cortona, Italy, 29 May - 1 June 2002); 14 pages, LaTeX2e, uses ws-procs9x6.cls, no figures