Proofs of two statements are provided in this paper. First, the authors prove that the formalism of the pseudo-Hermitian quantum mechanics allows describing the Dirac particles motion in arbitrary stationary gravitational fields. Second, it is proved that using the Parker weight operator and the subsequent transition to the η-representation gives the transformation of the Schroedinger equation for nonstationary metric, when the evolution operator becomes self-conjugate. The scalar products in the η-representation are flat, which makes possible the use of a standard apparatus for the Hermitian quantum mechanics. Based on the results of this paper the authors draw a conclusion about solution of the problem of uniqueness and self-conjugacy of Dirac Hamiltonians in arbitrary gravitational fields including those dependent on time. The general approach is illustrated by the example of Dirac Hamiltonians for several stationary metrics, as well as for the cosmologically flat and the open Friedmann models.
The Fock quantization of free fields propagating in cosmological backgrounds is in general not unambiguously defined due to the non-stationarity of the spacetime. For the case of a scalar field in cosmological scenarios it is known that the criterion of unitary implementation of the dynamics serves to remove the ambiguity in the choice of Fock representation (up to unitary equivalence). Here, applying the same type of arguments and methods previously used for the scalar field case, we discuss the issue of the uniqueness of the Fock quantization of the Dirac field in the closed FRW spacetime pr…
We address the issue of the infinite ambiguity that affects the construction of a Fock quantization of a Dirac field propagating in a cosmological spacetime with flat compact sections. In particular, we discuss a physical criterion that restricts to a unique possibility (up to unitary equivalence) the infinite set of available vacua. We prove that this desired uniqueness is guaranteed, for any possible choice of spin structure on the spatial sections, if we impose two conditions. The first one is that the symmetries of the classical system must be implemented quantum mechanically, so that the …
In generic curved spacetimes, the unavailability of a natural choice of vacuum state introduces a serious ambiguity in the Fock quantization of fields. In this review, we study the case of fermions described by a Dirac field in several cosmological spacetimes, and present recent results about well-motivated criteria that ensure the uniqueness in the selection of a vacuum up to unitary transformations. These criteria are based on two requirements. First, the invariance of the vacuum under the symmetries of the Dirac equations in the considered spacetime. Second, the unitary implementability of …
We present a privileged Fock quantization of a massive Dirac field in a closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology, partially selected by the criteria of invariance of the vacuum under the symmetries of the field equations, and unitary implementation of the dynamics. When quantizing free scalar fields in homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes with compact spatial sections, these criteria have been shown to pick out a unique Fock representation (up to unitary equivalence). Here, we employ the same criteria for fermion fields and explore whether that uniqueness result can be extended to the case …
We study the Fock quantization of a free Dirac field in 2+1-dimensional backgrounds which are conformally ultrastatic, with a time-dependent conformal factor. As it is typical for field theories, there is an infinite ambiguity in the Fock representation of the canonical anticommutation relations. Different choices may lead to unitarily inequivalent theories that describe different physics. To remove this ambiguity one usually requires that the vacuum be invariant under the unitary transformations that implement the symmetries of the equations of motion. However, in non-stationary backgrounds, …
