Quantum fields in an expanding universe

Sep, 1999
15 pages
Published in:
  • Class.Quant.Grav. 16 (1999) 3923-3935
e-Print:

Citations per year

199920052011201720232013
Abstract: (arXiv)
We extend our analysis for scalar fields in a Robertson-Walker metric to the electromagnetic field and Dirac fields by the method of invariants. The issue of the relation between conformal properties and particle production is re-examined and it is verified that the electromagnetic and massless spinor actions are conformal invariant, while the massless conformally coupled scalar field is not. For the scalar field case it is pointed out that the violation of conformal simmetry due to surface terms, although ininfluential for the equation of motion, does lead to effects in the quantized theory.
  • space-time: Robertson-Walker
  • field theory: scalar
  • electromagnetic field
  • spin: 1/2
  • invariance: conformal
  • particle: production