Path-integral formula for local thermal equilibrium

Abstract

We develop a complete path-integral formulation of relativistic quantum fields in local thermal equilibrium, which brings about the emergence of thermally induced curved spacetime. The resulting action is shown to have full diffeomorphism invariance and gauge invariance in thermal spacetime with imaginary-time independent backgrounds. This leads to the notable symmetry properties of emergent thermal spacetime: Kaluza–Klein gauge symmetry, spatial diffeomorphism symmetry, and gauge symmetry. A thermodynamic potential in local thermal equilibrium, or the so-called Massieu–Planck functional, is identified as a generating functional for conserved currents such as the energy–momentum tensor and the electric current.