Thermal Field Theory in a wire: Applications of Thermal Field Theory methods to the propagation of photons in a one-dimensional plasma

Understand

We apply the Thermal Field Theory (TFT) methods to study the propagation of photons in a plasma wire, that is, a system in which the electrons are confined to a one-dimensional tube or wire, but are otherwise free.

• We find the appropriate expression for the photon \emph{free-field} propagator in such a medium, and write down the dispersion relation in terms of the free-field propagator and the photon self-energy.
• The self-energy is then calculated in the one-loop approximation and the corresponding dispersion relation is determined and studied in some detail.
• Our work differs from previous work on this subject in that we do not adopt any specific electronic wave functions in the coordinates that are transverse to the idealized wire, or rely on particular features of the electronic structure.