Multiplicative anomaly and finite charge density

Abstract

When dealing with zeta-function regularized functional determinants of matrix valued differential operators, an additional term, overlooked until now and due to the multiplicative anomaly, may arise. The presence and physical relevance of this term is discussed in the case of a charged bosonic field at finite charge density and other possible applications are mentioned.

Comments: 7 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Proceedings of QCD at Finite Baryon Density Workshop, April 1998, Bielefeld, Germany