Cutting rules on a cylinder and simplified diagrammatic approach to $CP$ violation in quantum kinetic theory

Abstract: We briefly explain a novel diagrammatic method for including thermal corrections in $CP$ asymmetric reaction rates entering the quantum Boltzmann equation. In thermal equilibrium, the asymmetries have to cancel precisely due to the $S$-matrix unitarity and $CPT$ invariance. Such cancelations are easy to track in zero-temperature leading-order calculations. However, accounting for medium effects requires modification of the on-shell part of propagators and, consequently, the $CP$ violating rates. In the literature, the correct form of the statistical factors in the asymmetry source term has been obtained employing the real-time-formalism of non-equilibrium field theory in a certain approximation. We demonstrate that the same results can be obtained by summing an infinite sequence of zero-temperature asymmetries. Those are derived from cuttings of forward diagrams drawn on a cylindrical surface, while thermal corrections come from windings of their propagators. The procedure is entirely diagrammatic, and the $CPT$ and unitarity cancelations are formulated for thermally corrected reaction rate asymmetries. The simplification achieved is the primary focus of our work. The aspect of infrared finiteness in higher-order corrections will also be discussed.