Gauge invariance and finite temperature effective actions of Chern-Simons gauge theories with fermions

We discuss the behavior of theories of fermions coupled to Chern-Simons gauge fields with a non-abelian gauge group in three dimensions and at finite temperature. Using non-perturbative arguments and gauge invariance, and in contradiction with perturbative results, we show that the coefficient of the Chern-Simons term of the effective actions for the gauge fields at finite temperature can be at most an integer function of the temperature. This is in a sense a generalized no-renormalization theorem. We also discuss the case of abelian theories and give indications that a similar condition should hold there too. We discuss consequences of our results to the thermodynamics of anyon superfluids and fractional quantum Hall systems.