FINITE-TEMPERATURE BEHAVIOR OF THE (2+1)D GEORGI-GLASHOW MODEL WITH AND WITHOUT QUARKS

(2+1)-dimensional Georgi-Glashow model and its SU(N)-generalization are explored at nonzero temperatures and in the regime when the Higgs boson is not infinitely heavy. The finiteness of the Higgs-boson mass leads to various novel effects. Those include the appearance of two separate phase transitions and of the upper bound on the parameter of the weak-coupling approximation, necessary to maintain the stochasticity of the Higgs vacuum. The modification of the finite-temperature behavior of the model emerging due to the introduction of massless quarks is also discussed.