Functional Evolution of Free Quantum Fields

We consider the quantum dynamics of a massless scalar field in de Sitter space-time. The classical evolution is represented by a canonical transformation on the phase space for the field theory. By studying the corresponding Bogoliubov transformations, we show that the symplectic map that encodes the evolution between two instants of time cannot be unitarily implemented on any Fock space built from a SO(4)-symmetric complex structure. We will show also that, in contrast with ...

The problem of defining and constructing representations of the Canonical Commutation Relations can be systematically approached via the technique of {\it algebraic quantization}. In particular, when the phase space of the system is linear and finite dimensional, the `vertical polarization' provides an unambiguous quantization. For infinite dimensional field theory systems, where the Stone-von Neumann theorem fails to be valid, even the simplest representation, the Schroeding...

Before we ask what is the theory of quantum gravity, it is a legitimate quest to formulate a robust quantum field theory in curved spacetime (QFTCS). Several conceptual problems have raised concerns over several decades, mainly because no S-matrix formulation is yet found in QFTCS. We argue that the institutional thinking of fixing a spacetime geometry, observers, light-cones and then quantizing the fields in that "intuitively", or "classically", fixed spacetime is the origin...

Much attention has been recently devoted to the possibility that quantum gravity effects could lead to departures from Special Relativity in the form of a deformed Poincar\`e algebra. These proposals go generically under the name of Doubly or Deformed Special Relativity (DSR). In this article we further explore a recently proposed class of quantum field theories, involving noncanonically commuting complex scalar fields, which have been shown to entail a DSR-like symmetry. An ...

`How do our ideas about quantum mechanics affect our understanding of spacetime?' This familiar question leads to quantum gravity. The complementary question is also important: `How do our ideas about spacetime affect our understanding of quantum mechanics?' This short abstract of a talk given at the Gafka2004 conference contains a very brief summary of some of the author's papers on generalizations of quantum mechanics needed for quantum gravity. The need for generalization ...

Field transformations for the quantum effective action lead to different pictures of a given physical situation, as describing a given evolution of the universe by different geometries. Field transformations for functional flow equations can reveal important physical features, as the appearance of bound states. They also allow for technical simplifications. We make a critical assessment of the virtues and shortcomings of different versions of field transformations. Key issues...

In curved spacetimes, the lack of criteria for the construction of a unique quantization is a fundamental problem undermining the significance of the predictions of quantum field theory. Inequivalent quantizations lead to different physics. Recently, however, some uniqueness results have been obtained for fields in non-stationary settings. In particular, for vacua that are invariant under the background symmetries, a unitary implementation of the classical evolution suffices ...

Application of the so-called refined algebraic quantization scheme for constrained systems to the relativistic particle provides an inner product that defines a unique Fock representation for a scalar field in curved space-time. The construction can be made rigorous for a general globally hyperbolic space-time, but the quasifree state so obtained turns out to be unphysical in general. We exhibit a closely related pair of Fock representations that is also defined generically a...

For linear scalar field theories, I characterize those classical Hamiltonian vector fields which have self-adjoint operators as their quantum counterparts. As an application, it is shown that for a scalar field in curved space-time (in a Hadamard representation), a self-adjoint Hamiltonian for evolution along the unit timelike normal to a Cauchy surface exists only if the second fundamental form of the surface vanishes identically.

Familiar textbook quantum mechanics assumes a fixed background spacetime to define states on spacelike surfaces and their unitary evolution between them. Quantum theory has changed as our conceptions of space and time have evolved. But quantum mechanics needs to be generalized further for quantum gravity where spacetime geometry is fluctuating and without definite value. This paper reviews a fully four-dimensional, sum-over-histories, generalized quantum mechanics of cosmolog...