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Abstract

Leptogenesis is a model for the dynamical generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry. This process takes place in the early universe at very high temperatures and a deviation from equilibrium is a fundamental requirement for the formation of the asymmetry. The equations used for its description originate from classical Boltzmann equations (BEs), which were refined using thermal propagators. In view of the basic restrictions of BEs, it is desirable to develop a systematic approach which uses non-equilibrium QFT as starting point. In this thesis modified BEs are used which are derived from first principles in the Kadanoff-Baym formalism. This is done for a simple toy model which is sufficiently intricate to study popular scenarios such as thermal leptogenesis in analogy to the phenomenological theory. This approach uncovers the structure of the corrected BEs and leads to a new result for the form of the thermal contributions to the CP-violating parameter, so that the established one must be reconsidered. It turns out that the different approaches can be reconciled. The new form predicts an enhancement of the asymmetry. The quantitative implications of the medium corrections within the toy model are studied numerically in terms of the full BEs.