Investigamos certas propriedades físicas da teoria de campos a temperatura finita. Mostramos que, na presença de campos externos bosonicos, o limite de altas temperaturas das funções de Green pode ser obtido supondo que todas as componentes dos momentos externos sao nulas, para todas as funções de Green 1PI em ordem de um laco e em ordem de dois laços para a auto-energia. No contexto do método do campo de fundo, este resultado implica que a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo externo bosonico pode ser obtida calculando a pressão na presença de um campo externo independente do espaço-tempo, no limite de altas temperaturas. Aplicamos este resultado para obter a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo de Maxwell interagindo com um plasma da QED em ordem de dois laços. Obtivemos também a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo gravitacional interagindo com um campo escalar real livre, e com um plasma da QED em ordem de dois laços. / We have investigated some physical proprieties of nite temperature field theory. We have shown that, in the presence of an external bosonic field, the high temperature limit of the static Green\'s functions can be obtained assuming that all components of the external momenta are zero. This was shown to be the case for all 1PI Green\'s functions, at one-loop order, as well as for the self-energy, at two-loop order. In the context of the background field method, this result implies that the static efective Lagrangian of an external field can be obtained computing the pressure in the presence of an external field which is independent of the space-time, in the high temperature limit. We have applied this result in order to obtain the efective Lagrangian of an external Maxwell field interacting with a QED plasma at two-loop order. We have also obtained the efective Lagrangian of the gravitational field interacting with a free neutral scalar field, as well as with a QED plasma at two-loop order.

Investigamos certas propriedades físicas da teoria de campos a temperatura finita. Mostramos que, na presença de campos externos bosonicos, o limite de altas temperaturas das funções de Green pode ser obtido supondo que todas as componentes dos momentos externos sao nulas, para todas as funções de Green 1PI em ordem de um laco e em ordem de dois laços para a auto-energia. No contexto do método do campo de fundo, este resultado implica que a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo externo bosonico pode ser obtida calculando a pressão na presença de um campo externo independente do espaço-tempo, no limite de altas temperaturas. Aplicamos este resultado para obter a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo de Maxwell interagindo com um plasma da QED em ordem de dois laços. Obtivemos também a lagrangiana efetiva estática de um campo gravitacional interagindo com um campo escalar real livre, e com um plasma da QED em ordem de dois laços. / We have investigated some physical proprieties of nite temperature field theory. We have shown that, in the presence of an external bosonic field, the high temperature limit of the static Green\'s functions can be obtained assuming that all components of the external momenta are zero. This was shown to be the case for all 1PI Green\'s functions, at one-loop order, as well as for the self-energy, at two-loop order. In the context of the background field method, this result implies that the static efective Lagrangian of an external field can be obtained computing the pressure in the presence of an external field which is independent of the space-time, in the high temperature limit. We have applied this result in order to obtain the efective Lagrangian of an external Maxwell field interacting with a QED plasma at two-loop order. We have also obtained the efective Lagrangian of the gravitational field interacting with a free neutral scalar field, as well as with a QED plasma at two-loop order.

We examine the Rayleigh–Bénard convection as modelled by the Boussinesq equation. Our aim is at deriving bounds for the heat enhancement factor in the vertical direction, the Nusselt number, which reproduce physical scalings. In the first part of the dissertation, we examine the the simpler model when the acceleration of the fluid is neglected (Pr=∞) and prove the non-optimality of the temperature background field method by showing a lower bound for the Nusselt number associated to it. In the second part we consider the full model (Pr<∞) and we prove a new upper bound which improve the existing ones (for large Pr numbers) and catches a transition at Pr~Ra^(1/3).

We examine the Rayleigh–Bénard convection as modelled by the Boussinesq equation. Our aim is at deriving bounds for the heat enhancement factor in the vertical direction, the Nusselt number, which reproduce physical scalings. In the first part of the dissertation, we examine the the simpler model when the acceleration of the fluid is neglected (Pr=∞) and prove the non-optimality of the temperature background field method by showing a lower bound for the Nusselt number associated to it. In the second part we consider the full model (Pr<∞) and we prove a new upper bound which improve the existing ones (for large Pr numbers) and catches a transition at Pr~Ra^(1/3).