Finite Temperature Field Theory on the Moyal Plane

E. Akofor, A. P. Balachandran

Published 2009-07-06Version 1

In this paper, we initiate the study of finite temperature quantum field theories (QFT's) on the Moyal plane. Such theories violate causality which influences the properties of these theories. In particular, causality influences the fluctuation-dissipation theorem: as we show, a disturbance in a space-time region $M_1$ creates a response in a space-time region $M_2$ space-like with respect to $M_1$ ($M_1\times M_2$). The relativistic Kubo formula with and without noncommutativity is discussed in detail, and the modified properties of relaxation time and the dependence of mean square fluctuations on time are derived. In particular, the Sinha-Sorkin result \cite{sorkin-sinha} on the logarithmic time dependence of the mean square fluctuations is discussed in our context. We derive an exact formula for the noncommutative susceptibility in terms of the susceptibility for the corresponding commutative case. It shows that noncommutative corrections in the four-momentum space have remarkable periodicity properties as a function of the four-momentum $k$. They have direction dependence as well and vanish for certain directions of the spatial momentum. These are striking observable signals for noncommutativity. The Lehmann representation is also generalized to any value of the noncommutativity parameter $\theta^{\mu\nu}$ and finite temperatures.