This paper presents the extension from flat spacetime into curved spacetime of the area of theoretical investigation that has been known as topological gauge field theory. The extension here presented is based upon a new derivation of the expression for topological charge for bosons and fermions in flat spacetime, a derivation which has been presented elsewhere [1]. This new approach was developed because the established instanton solution could not be extended to curved spacetime. The new approach can be extended to curved spacetime by coupling the major equations of relativistic quantum mechanics to the scalar curvature. The coupling here presented, and results obtained about the quantization of topological charge, had not been possible with the earlier established instanton solution.
In this article we give sufficient conditions for the generalized Dirac operator to obey the incomplete Huygens principle, as well as necessary and sufficient conditions to obey the Huygens principle by the Dirac operator in the curved spacetime of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker models of cosmology.
Using complexified quaternions, a formalism without Lorentz frames, and therefore also without vierbeins, for dealing with tensor and spinor fields in curved spacetime is presented. A local U(1) gauge symmetry, which, it is speculated, might be related to electromagnetism, emerges naturally.
The split property expresses a strong form of independence of spacelike separated regions in algebraic quantum field theory. In Minkowski spacetime, it can be proved under hypotheses of nuclearity. An expository account is given of nuclearity and the split property, and connections are drawn to the theory of quantum energy inequalities. In addition, a recent proof of the split property for quantum field theory in curved spacetimes is outlined, emphasising the essential ideas.
In this paper an axiomatic formulation of the Schwinger Model in curved spacetime is considered. The mathematical approach utilized is that specified by Hollands and Wald in [1]. We will attempt to present the theory in this context, exhibiting the operator product expansions (OPEs) that define the theory in a follow-on paper.
We consider Dirac equation in $(2+1)$ dimensional curved spacetime in the presence of a scalar potential. It is then shown that the zero energy states are degenerate and they can be obtained when the momentum $k_y$ in the $y$ direction satisfies certain constraints involving the mass parameter and the scalar potential coupling.
The connection between spin and statistics is examined in the context of locally covariant quantum field theory. A generalization is proposed in which locally covariant theories are defined as functors from a category of framed spacetimes to a category of $*$-algebras. This allows for a more operational description of theories with spin, and for the derivation of a more general version of the spin-statistics connection in curved spacetimes than previously available. The proof involves a "rigidity argument" that is also applied in the standard setting of locally covariant quantum field theory t…
The Dirac equation in curved spacetimes is formulated using coordinate-free notation. A Lagrangean density which corresponds to the subject equation is presented. The subject equation is invariant under a local rotation of the coframe. The current is independent of the local orientation of the coframe and it is conserved. The subject equation has an equivalent formulation which uses the Christoffel gamma. The stress-energy tensor is calculated.
States of a generic quantum field theory on a curved spacetime are considered which satisfy the KMS condition with respect to an evolution associated with a complete (Killing) vector field. It is shown that at any point where the vector field is spacelike, such states cannot satisfy a certain microlocal condition which is weaker than the microlocal spectrum condition in the case of asymptotically free fields.
The theory of free Majorana-Weyl spinors is the prototype of conformal field theory in two dimensions in which the gravitational anomaly and the Weyl anomaly obstruct extending the flat spacetime results to curved backgrounds. In this paper, we investigate a quantization scheme in which the short distance singularity in the two-point function of chiral fermions on a two dimensional curved spacetime is given by the Green's function corresponding to the classical field equation. We compute the singular term in the Green's function explicitly and observe that the short distance limit is not well-…
We present the fundamental solutions for the spin-1/2 fields propagating in the spacetimes with power type expansion/contraction and the fundamental solution of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation. The derivation of these fundamental solutions is based on formulas for the solutions to the generalized Euler-Poisson-Darboux equation, which are obtained by the integral transform approach.
This is a survey of the author's recent work rather than a broad survey of the literature. The survey is concerned with the global in time solutions of the Cauchy problem for matter waves propagating in the curved spacetimes, which can be, in particular, modeled by cosmological models. We examine the global in time solutions of some class of semililear hyperbolic equations, such as the Klein-Gordon equation, which includes the Higgs boson equation in the Minkowski spacetime, de Sitter spacetime, and Einstein & de Sitter spacetime. The crucial tool for the obtaining those results is a new appro…
We write the Dirac equation in curved 4-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime using concepts from the analysis of partial differential equations as opposed to geometric concepts.
We analyze the Casalbuoni-Brink-Schwarz superparticle model on a 2-dimensional curved spacetime as a super Finsler metric defined on a (2,2)-dimensional supermanifold. We propose a nonlinear Finsler connection which preserves this Finsler metric and calculates it explicitly. The equations of motion of the superparticle are reconstructed in the form of auto-parallel equations expressed by the super nonlinear connection.
This is a quick review on some technology concerning the local zeta function applied to Quantum Field Theory in curved static (thermal) spacetime to regularize the stress-energy tensor and the field fluctuations.
We develop a renormalisation scheme for time--ordered products in interacting field theories on curved spacetimes which consists of an analytic regularisation of Feynman amplitudes and a minimal subtraction of the resulting pole parts. This scheme is directly applicable to spacetimes with Lorentzian signature, manifestly generally covariant, invariant under any spacetime isometries present and constructed to all orders in perturbation theory. Moreover, the scheme captures correctly the non--geometric state--dependent contribution of Feynman amplitudes and it is well--suited for practical compu…
We develop a theory of the Klein-Gordon equation on curved spacetimes. Our main tool is the method of (non-autonomous) evolution equations on Hilbert spaces. This approach allows us to treat low regularity of the metric, of the electromagnetic potential and of the scalar potential. Our main goal is a construction of various kinds of propagators needed in quantum field theory.
This monograph provides a largely self--contained and broadly accessible exposition of two cosmological applications of algebraic quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime: a fundamental analysis of the cosmological evolution according to the Standard Model of Cosmology and a fundamental study of the perturbations in Inflation. The two central sections of the book dealing with these applications are preceded by sections containing a pedagogical introduction to the subject as well as introductory material on the construction of linear QFTs on general curved spacetimes with and without gaug…
The Dirac wave function in a curved spacetime is usually defined as a quadruplet of scalar fields. It can alternatively be defined as a four-vector field. We describe these two representations in a common geometrical framework and we prove theorems that relate together the different representations and the different choices of connections. In particular, the standard Dirac equation in a curved spacetime, with any choice of the tetrad field, is equivalent to a particular realization of the Dirac equation for a vector wave function, in the same spacetime.
In this paper we investigate analytically the conformal symmetry influence on the next-to-leading order radiative quantum corrections to critical exponents for massless O($N$) $λϕ^{4}$ scalar field theories in curved spacetime. We renormalize the theory by applying the BPHZ method. We find that the critical exponents are the same as that of flat spacetime, at least at the loop order considered. We argue that this result agrees perfectly with the universality hypothesis.
We review a few rigorous and partly unpublished results on the regularisation of the stress-energy in quantum field theory on curved spacetimes: 1) the symmetry of the Hadamard/Seeley-DeWitt coefficients in smooth Riemannian and Lorentzian spacetimes 2) the equivalence of the local $ζ$-function and the Hadamard-point-splitting procedure in smooth static spacetimes 3) the equivalence of the DeWitt-Schwinger- and the Hadamard-point-splitting procedure in smooth Riemannian and Lorentzian spacetimes.
We extend Derrick's theorem to the case of a generic irrotational curved spacetime adopting a strategy similar to the original proof. We show that a static relativistic star made of real scalar fields is never possible regardless of the geometrical properties of the (static) spacetimes. The generalised theorem offers a tool that can be used to check the stability of localised solutions of a number of types of scalar fields models as well as of compact objects of theories of gravity with a non-minimally coupled scalar degree of freedom.
We study classical scalar field theories on noncommutative curved spacetimes. Following the approach of Wess et al. [Classical Quantum Gravity 22 (2005), 3511 and Classical Quantum Gravity 23 (2006), 1883], we describe noncommutative spacetimes by using (Abelian) Drinfel'd twists and the associated *-products and *-differential geometry. In particular, we allow for position dependent noncommutativity and do not restrict ourselves to the Moyal-Weyl deformation. We construct action functionals for real scalar fields on noncommutative curved spacetimes, and derive the corresponding deformed wave …
In this overview article we present a formalism suitable for constructing models of QFT's on curved spacetimes. The leading principle is the emphasis on local properties. It turns out that this requires a reformulation of the standard QFT framework which also yields a new perspective for the theories on Minkowski space. The aim of the present work is to provide an introduction into the framework, which should be accessible for both mathematical physicists and mathematicians.
We study the geometrical-optics expansion for circularly-polarized electromagnetic waves propagating on a curved spacetime in general relativity. We show that higher-order corrections to the Faraday and stress-energy tensors may be found via a system of transport equations, in principle. At sub-leading order, the stress-energy tensor possesses terms proportional to the wavelength whose sign depends on the handedness of the circular polarization. Due to such terms, the direction of energy flow is not aligned with the gradient of the eikonal phase, in general, and the wave may carry a transverse…
