Gauge invariance and the effective potential: The Abelian Higgs model

Abstract

The gauge invariance of the effective potential in the Abelian Higgs model is examined. The Nielsen identities, which ensure gauge independence of the effective potential and other physical quantities, are shown to hold at finite temperature and in the presence of the chemical potential. It is also shown that, as a consequence of the Nielsen identities, the standard order parameter for symmetry breaking, namely the scalar field vacuum expectation value, has a non-zero parametric dependence on the gauge choice employed. These are then verified to one loop at finite temperature. High-temperature symmetry breaking is considered. In the leading high-temperature limit, the potential agrees with the previous calculations.