Induced parity breaking term in arbitrary odd dimensions at finite temperature - art. no. 085012

We calculate the exact parity-odd part of the effective action (Gamma(odd)( 2d+1)) for massive Dirac fermions in 2d + 1 dimensions at finite temperatur e, for a certain class of gauge field configurations. We consider first Abe lian external gauge fields, and then we deal with the case of a non-Abelian gauge group containing an Abelian U(1) subgroup. For both cases, it is pos sible to show that the result depends on topological invariants of the gaug e field configurations, and that the gauge transformation properties of Gam ma(odd)(2d+1) depend only on those invariants and on the winding number of the gauge transformation. [S0556-2821(99)04506-3].