RENORMALIZATION OF THE ENERGY-MOMENTUM TENSOR AND THE VALIDITY OF THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE AT FINITE TEMPERATURE

Using the techniques of finite-temperature field theory we renormalize the electromagnetic and gravitational couplings of an electron which is immersed in a heat bath with T≪me. By taking the nonrelativistic limit, we demonstrate that the inertial and gravitational masses are unequal. The implications for the equivalence principle are discussed