Quantum field theory in curved spacetime is an extension of standard, Minkowski-space
quantum field theoryQuantum field theory provides a theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of systems classically parametrized by an infinite number of dynamical degrees of freedom, that is, fields and many-body systems. It is the natural and quantitative language of particle physics and...
to
curved spacetimeGeneral relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
. A general prediction of this theory is that particles can be created by time dependent gravitational fields (multigraviton pair production), or by time independent gravitational fields that contain horizons.
Thanks to the
equivalence principleIn the physics of general relativity, the equivalence principle is any of several related concepts dealing with the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, and to Albert Einstein's assertion that the gravitational "force" as experienced locally while standing on a massive body is actually...
the quantization procedure locally resembles that of
normal coordinatesIn differential geometry, normal coordinates at a point p in a differentiable manifold equipped with a symmetric affine connection are a local coordinate system in a neighborhood of p obtained by applying the exponential map to the tangent space at p...
where the
affine connectionIn the branch of mathematics called differential geometry, an affine connection is a geometrical object on a smooth manifold which connects nearby tangent spaces, and so permits tangent vector fields to be differentiated as if they were functions on the manifold with values in a fixed vector space...
at the origin is set to zero and a nonzero Riemann tensor in general once the proper (covariant) formalism is chosen; however, interesting new phenomena occur. Even in flat spacetime quantum field theory, the number of particles is not well-defined locally. For non-zero
cosmological constantIn physical cosmology, the cosmological constant was proposed by Albert Einstein as a modification of his original theory of general relativity to achieve a stationary universe...
s, on curved spacetimes quantum fields lose their interpretation as
asymptotic particleIn particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
s. Only in certain situations, such as in asymptotically flat spacetimes (zero cosmological curvature), can the notion of incoming and outgoing particle be recovered, thus enabling one to define an S-matrix. Even then, as in flat spacetime, the asymptotic particle interpretation depends on the observer (i.e., different observers may measure different numbers of asymptotic particles on a given spacetime).
Another observation is that unless the background metric has a global timelike Killing vector, there is no way way to define a vacuum or ground state canonically. The concept of a vacuum is not invariant under
diffeomorphismIn mathematics, a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism in the category of smooth manifolds. It is an invertible function that maps one differentiable manifold to another, such that both the function and its inverse are smooth.- Definition :...
s. This is because a mode decomposition of a field into positive and negative frequency modes is not invariant under diffeomorphisms. If
is a diffeomorphism, in general, the Fourier transform of
will contain negative frequencies even if
. Creation operators correspond to positive frequencies, while annihilation operators correspond to negative frequencies. This is why a state which looks like a vacuum to one observer can look like a heat bath to another accelerating with respect to the former observer.
The most striking application of the theory is
HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
's prediction that
Schwarzschild black holes radiate with a thermal spectrumHawking radiation is a thermal radiation with a black body spectrum predicted to be emitted by black holes due to quantum effects. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking, who provided a theoretical argument for its existence in 1974, and sometimes also after the physicist Jacob Bekenstein...
. A related prediction is the
Unruh effectThe Unruh effect , was first described by Stephen Fulling in 1973, Paul Davies in 1975 and Bill Unruh in 1976. It is the prediction that an accelerating observer will observe black-body radiation where an inertial observer would observe none...
: accelerated observers in the vacuum measure a thermal bath of particles.
This formalism is also used to predict the primordial density perturbation spectrum arising from
cosmic inflationIn physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation or just inflation is the theorized extremely rapid exponential expansion of the early universe by a factor of at least 1078 in volume, driven by a negative-pressure vacuum energy density. The inflationary epoch comprises the first part...
, i.e. the Bunch–Davies vacuum. Since this spectrum is measured by a variety of
cosmologicalCosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
measurements—such as the
CMBCMB can mean:*The IATA airport code for Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo – Sri Lanka's only international airport*C.M.B., the debut album of American R&B and pop group Color Me Badd...
-- if inflation is correct this particular prediction of the theory has already been verified.
The theory of quantum field theory in curved spacetime can be considered as a first approximation to
quantum gravityQuantum gravity is the field of theoretical physics which attempts to develop scientific models that unify quantum mechanics with general relativity...
. A second step towards that theory would be
semiclassical gravitySemiclassical gravity is the approximation to the theory of quantum gravity in which one treats matter fields as being quantum and the gravitational field as being classical....
, which would include the influence of particles created by a strong gravitational field on the spacetime (which is still considered classical and the equivalence principle still holds).
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