Quantum dynamics of phase transitions in broken symmetry $\lambda {\phi }^4$ field theory

We perform a detailed numerical investigation of the dynamics of a single component “explicitly broken symmetry” $\lambda {\phi }^4$ field theory in 1+1 dimensions, using a Schwinger-Dyson equation truncation scheme based on ignoring vertex corrections. In an earlier paper, we called this the bare vertex approximation (BVA). We assume here that the initial state is described by a Gaussian density matrix peaked around some nonzero value of $〈\phi \mathrm{}\left(0\right)\mathrm{}〉,$ and characterized by a single particle Bose-Einstein distribution function at a given temperature. We compute the evolution of the system using three different approximations: the Hartree approximation, the BVA, and a related two-particle irreducible (2PI) $1/N$ expansion, as a function of coupling strength and initial temperature. In the Hartree approximation, the static phase diagram shows that there is a first order phase transition for this system. As we change the initial starting temperature of the system, we find that the BVA relaxes to a new final temperature and exhibits behavior consistent with a second order phase transition. We find that the average fields equilibrate for arbitrary initial conditions in the BVA, unlike the behavior exhibited by the Hartree approximation, and we illustrate how $〈\phi \mathrm{}\left(t\right)\mathrm{}〉$ and $〈\chi \mathrm{}\left(t\right)\mathrm{}〉$ depend on the initial temperature and on the coupling constant. The Fourier transform of the two-point functions at late times can be fitted by a Bose-Einstein distribution function whose temperature is independent of momentum. We interpret this as evidence for thermalization.