RESUMMATIONS IN HOT SCALAR ELECTRODYNAMICS

The gauge-boson sector of perturbative scalar electrodynamics is inves tigated in detail as a testing ground for resummation methods in hot g auge theories. It also serves as a simple non-trivial reference system for the non-Abelian gluon plasma. The complete next-to-leading order contributions to the polarization tenser are obtained within the resum mation scheme of Braaten and Pisarski. The simpler scheme proposed rec ently by Arnold and Espinosa is shown to apply to static quantities on ly, whereas Braaten-Pisarski resummation turns out to need modificatio n for collective phenomena close to the light-cone. Finally, a recentl y proposed resummation of quasi-particle damping contributions is asse ssed critically. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.