Feynman's functional formulation of statistical mechanics is used to study general-relativistic quantum field theories at finite temperature. The techniques are then applied to gauge theories. The partition function Tre^-βH is discovered to be a gauge-dependent quantity which is meaningless in most gauges. Instead, we define a physically meaningful partition function which is gauge-invariant and only equal to Tre^-βH in certain "physical" gauges. Feynman rules for this partition function and for finite-temperature Green's functions are derived for a general gauge.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Claude W. Bernard (1974) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: