Real-Time Thermal Propagators and the QED Effective Action for an External Magnetic Field

The thermal averaged real-time propagator of a Dirac fermion in a static uniform magnetic field $B$ is derived. At non-zero chemical potential and temperature we find explicitly the effective action for the magnetic field, which is shown to be closely related to the Helmholz free energy of a relativistic fermion gas, and it exhibits the expected de\ Haas -- van\ Alphen oscillations. An effective QED coupling constant at finite temperature and density is derived, and compared with renormalization group results. We discuss some astrophysical implications of our results.