Abstract
The interpretation of the effective potential as an energy density is critiqued. can be found from the effective potential by a careful treatment of the potential’s dependence on the metric. The subtleties involved are discussed using several examples for clarification. We have clarified the physical meaning of the effective potential; in general it should not be interpreted as the energy density of a system.
- Received 30 October 1987
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.37.1694
©1988 American Physical Society