Scalar field effective potentials in de Sitter spacetime
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866909044761952256 |
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| author | García-Consuegra, Lucas Vicente Rajantie, Arttu |
| author_facet | García-Consuegra, Lucas Vicente Rajantie, Arttu |
| contents | We investigate two different definitions of a scalar field effective potential in quantum field theory in de Sitter spacetime: the standard textbook definition, and the constraint effective potential proposed by O'Raifeartaigh et al. in 1986. While these definitions are equivalent in Minkowski spacetime, they differ significantly in de Sitter. We demonstrate this by computing them both explicitly at one-loop order in perturbation theory. It is well known that the perturbative expansion of the standard effective potential fails converge for light fields. In contrast, the constraint effective potential does not suffer from this infrared problem, and it can therefore be computed using perturbation theory. We discuss the physical interpretation of the two effective potentials. In particular, we provide evidence supporting an earlier conjecture that the constraint effective potential is the correct one to use in the stochastic Starobinsky-Yokoyama theory. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_23076 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Scalar field effective potentials in de Sitter spacetime García-Consuegra, Lucas Vicente Rajantie, Arttu High Energy Physics - Theory Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology We investigate two different definitions of a scalar field effective potential in quantum field theory in de Sitter spacetime: the standard textbook definition, and the constraint effective potential proposed by O'Raifeartaigh et al. in 1986. While these definitions are equivalent in Minkowski spacetime, they differ significantly in de Sitter. We demonstrate this by computing them both explicitly at one-loop order in perturbation theory. It is well known that the perturbative expansion of the standard effective potential fails converge for light fields. In contrast, the constraint effective potential does not suffer from this infrared problem, and it can therefore be computed using perturbation theory. We discuss the physical interpretation of the two effective potentials. In particular, we provide evidence supporting an earlier conjecture that the constraint effective potential is the correct one to use in the stochastic Starobinsky-Yokoyama theory. |
| title | Scalar field effective potentials in de Sitter spacetime |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Theory Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23076 |