Parameterization Invariance and the Resolution of the Unitary Gauge Puzzle

We examine the calculation of the critical temperature $T_c$ for the restoration of a spontaneously broken symmetry. Motivated by a set of recently developed gauge dependence identities, we give a gauge and parameterization independent definition of this temperature in terms of the physical mass of the scalar particle as determined by the propagator pole. As an explicit illustration, we consider the Abelian Higgs model in the unitary gauge, where the usual definition of the critical temperature based upon the effective potential leads to an erroneous result. We show how the gauge invariant definition reproduces the correct result as found in the ``renormalizable’’ parameterizations.