birrell and davies quantum fields in curved space

#BIRRELL AND DAVIES QUANTUM FIELDS IN CURVED SPACE HOW TO#
#BIRRELL AND DAVIES QUANTUM FIELDS IN CURVED SPACE UPDATE#

An interesting aside introduces the tetrad (or, vierbein) formalism (page 83). (4) The exceptional Sixth Chapter is preceded by the exceptional Third Chapter: '.the high-frequency behavior of the field is independent of the quantum state or the global structure of the spacetime, and depends purely on the local geometry.' (page 36). Is also emphasized in Wald's 1994 text, Quantum Field Theory in Curved SpaceTime and Black Hole Thermodynamics (see, page 60). That is a point which is re-visited time and time again in this monograph. '.only in exceptional circumstances does the particle concept in curved space quantum field theory correspond closely to the intuitive physical picture of a subatomic particle.' (page 150). (3) What do we find here ? ' An exhaustive account of regularization and renormalization techniques.' This, Chapter Six, an invaluable asset ! Prerequisites to the book are an acquaintance with Track One of MTW and the simpler aspects of Bjorken and Drell. This book has a rich-ten page-Reference list, an invaluable asset.

#BIRRELL AND DAVIES QUANTUM FIELDS IN CURVED SPACE UPDATE#

Printing (1984) has corrections and a brief update to the Preface regards interacting fields. (2) If perusing the book, keep in mind: the conventions for metric are opposite (+,-,-,-) to Misner, Thorne, Wheeler (-,+,+,+). Indeed, read the Preface: 'The treatment is intended to be both pedagogical and archival.' On both accounts, a goal admirably achieved. While the content is technical, the physical explanations are lucidly expounded. (1) If you are familiar with Physicist Paul Davies, you already know that his writing style is exemplary. How appropriate it is that two exceptional Cambridge University Press publications-Nonequilibrium Quantum Field Theory (2008, Calzetta and Hu) and Quantum Field Theory in Curved SpaceTime (2009, Parker and Toms)-refer to this book of Birrell and Davies. How appropriate it is that Cambridge University Press brought forth this publication nearly ten years after Hawking and Ellis' classic monograph. Thus, I take this opportunity to lament the passing, and honor the legacy of: his study of quantum black holes and the discovery of their thermal emission is a cornerstone of this book.'

#BIRRELL AND DAVIES QUANTUM FIELDS IN CURVED SPACE HOW TO#

Doing quantum field theory when gravity is present has instigated a huge amount of research, related to the still unsolved problem of just how to quantize the gravitational field. particle detectors in such situations are not related to the quantity of matter present in a region as they are in the flat-space case. The most important thing to carry away from this book is that the idea of a particle in curved space quantum field theory is not very well-formulated, i.e. The idea of an 'effective' action, which has been exploited with zeal in the flat spacetime case, appears here also. The reader gets a good dose of these in the book in the discussion on the renormalization of the stress. The renormalization procedures in quantum field theory are further complicated in curved spacetime via the 'trace' or 'conformal' anomalies. However, cosmological and astrophysical interests drives this research, as well as more practical considerations arising from the Casimir effect. Therefore, it might seem a bit disconcerting to some for researchers to add further complications to quantum field theory by casting them in curved backgrounds. Even the physics of interacting quantum fields is still poorly understood in flat spacetime, especially in its ability to predict a bound state. Quantum field theory in flat spacetime is difficult enough, and it is still not entirely understood from a mathematical perspective. It is expected that anyone reading this book will have a background in quantum field theory in flat space, but one could still perhaps read it without such a background. This book could still be use to motivate this research.

On the other hand, interest in the Casimir effect and the behavior of quantum fields at boundaries is still very much alive. Due to the influence of superstring and M-theory on high energy physics at the present time, fewer researchers are studying the problems as they are cast in this book. At the time of publication of this book, there was growing interest in how to formulate quantum field theory in spactimes with curved metrics with the intent of studying to what extent a non-flat curvature would change the properties and behavior of quantum fields as compared to the Minkowski case.The authors give an introduction to this research and they do a good job in that regard.

Birrell and davies quantum fields in curved space