Bulg. J. Phys. vol.33 no.s3 (2006), pp. 071-79
On Hot Bangs and the Arrow of Time: Local Equilibrium States in Relativistic QFT
D. Buchholz
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
go backInstitut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
Abstract. We report on recent progress towards a general characterization of local equilibrium states and the determination of their space-time patterns within the microscopic setting of relativistic quantum field theory. Applying this method to a simple class of models, it turns out that the corresponding local equilibrium states can only exist in subregions of Minkowski space, unless they are in global equilibrium, and they generically exhibit local singularities in the temperature (hot bangs) as well as some information about the arrow of time.