Non-perturbative effective potential: Lower bounds on the Higgs mass and dynamical applications

The purpose of this work was to assess the benefits of using non-perturbative methods to phenomenological issues in field theory. The exact equations of the Wilson renormalization group (RG) and the effective action have been used, we have computed the energy gap between the first 2 levels in double-well potential. We get a very good agreement with exact solutions inferring from the numerical solving of the Schroedinger equation. RG equations lead to a convex effective potential that is consistent with theory. We have considered the Higgs sector of the standard model. It is commonly acknowledged that the Yukawa coupling between the top quark and the Higgs boson generates the instability of the electroweak vacuum at high energy. We show that this instability does not exist, it is a mere consequence of the extrapolation of the RG equations beyond their validity range. We have also used the effective potential for the description of the time history of the mean value of the quantum field. We have defined the conditions under which the dynamics of the mean value can be described in the local potential approximation by classical equations of motion in which the effective potential replaces the classical potential. (A.C.)