Semiclassical approximation meets Keldysh–Schwinger diagrammatic technique: scalar $$\varphi ^4$$

Abstract We study the evolution of the non-equilibrium quantum fields from a highly excited initial state in two approaches: the standard Keldysh–Schwinger diagram technique and the semiclassical expansion. We demonstrate explicitly that these two approaches coincide if the coupling constant g and the Plank constant $$\hbar $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>ħ</mml:mi> </mml:math> are simultaneously small. Also, we discuss loop diagrams of the perturbative approach, which are summed up by the leading order term of the semiclassical expansion. As an example, we consider shear viscosity for the scalar field theory at the leading semiclassical order. We introduce the new technique that unifies both semiclassical and diagrammatic approaches and open the possibility to perform the resummation of the semiclassical contributions.