The Large N Limit and the High Temperature Phase Transition for the \phi^4 Theory

We study, with various methods (standard large N evaluation of the functional integral for the effective potential, solution of the Schwinger-Dyson equations), the high temperature phase transition for the $N$-component $\phi^4$ theory in the large $N$ limit. Our results fully confirm a previous investigation of the problem, for arbitrary $N$, with the method of the average potential which employs renormalization group ideas. The phase transition is of the second order with an effectively three-dimensional critical behaviour.