Spectral functions for composite fields and viscosity in hot scalar field theory

Abstract

We derive a spectral representation for the two-point Green function for arbitrary composite field operators in Thermo Field Dynamics (TFD). A simple way for calculating the spectral density within TFD is pointed out and compared with known results from the imaginary time formalism. The method is applied to hot $ϕ^4$ theory. We give a compact derivation of the one-loop contribution to the shear viscosity and show that it is dominated by low-momentum plasmons.

REVTeX, 17 pages, 5 uuencoded ps-figures