Paramagnetic versus Diamagnetic Interaction in the SU(2) Higgs Model

We present an analytic calculation of the paramagnetic and diamagnetic contributions to the one-loop effective action in the SU(2) Higgs model. The paramagnetic contribution is produced by the gauge boson, while the diamagnetic contribution is produced by the gauge boson and the ghost. In the limit, where these particles are massless, the standard result of -12 for the ratio of the paramagnetic to the diamagnetic contribution is reproduced. If the mass of the gauge boson and the ghost become much larger than the inverse vacuum correlation lengths of the Yang-Mills vacuum, the value of the ratio goes to -8. We also find that the same values of the ratio are achieved in the deconfinement phase of the model, up to the temperatures at which the dimensional reduction occurs.