Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Preface to the paperback edition
- Conventions and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Quantum field theory in Minkowski space
- 3 Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
- 4 Flat spacetime examples
- 5 Curved spacetime examples
- 6 Stress-tensor renormalization
- 7 Applications of renormalization techniques
- 8 Quantum black holes
- 9 Interacting fields
- References
- Index
5 - Curved spacetime examples
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Preface to the paperback edition
- Conventions and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Quantum field theory in Minkowski space
- 3 Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
- 4 Flat spacetime examples
- 5 Curved spacetime examples
- 6 Stress-tensor renormalization
- 7 Applications of renormalization techniques
- 8 Quantum black holes
- 9 Interacting fields
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter is devoted to a direct application of the curved spacetime quantum field theory developed in chapter 3. We treat particle creation by time-dependent gravitational fields by examing a variety of expanding and contracting cosmological models. Most of the models are special cases of the Robertson–Walker homogeneous isotropic spacetimes, chosen either for their simplicity, or special interest in illuminating certain aspects of the formalism.
All the main cases that have appeared in the literature are collected here. The Milne universe (technically flat spacetime) and de Sitter space are especially useful for illustrating the role of adiabaticity in assessing the physical reasonableness of a quantum state. De Sitter space also enjoys the advantage of being the only time-dependent cosmological model for which both the particle creation effects and the vacuum stress (deferred until §6.4) have been explicitly evaluated by all known techniques.
A small but important section, §5.5, presents a classification scheme that relates the vacuum states in conformally-related spacetimes. This topic too has a ‘thermal’ aspect to it. It will turn out to be of relevance for the computation of 〈Tµν〉 in Robertson–Walker spacetimes in chapter 6 and chapter 7.
The final section is an attempt to go beyond the simple Robertson–Walker models and treat the subject of anisotropy in cosmology. This is an issue of central importance in modern cosmological theory, because the observed high degree of isotropy in the universe is without adequate explanation.
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- Information
- Quantum Fields in Curved Space , pp. 118 - 149Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982