Propagators and commutators in general relativity

1962 ◽  
Vol 270 (1342) ◽  
pp. 342-345 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
General Relativity ◽  
Relativity Theory ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
General Relativity Theory ◽  
Free Fields

In this contribution, my purpose is to study a new mathematical instrument introduced by me in 1958-9: the tensor and spinor propagators. These propagators are extensions of the scalar propagator of Jordan-Pauli which plays an important part in quantum-field theory. It is possible to construct, with these propagators, commutators and anticommutators for the various free fields, in the framework of general relativity theory (see Lichnerowicz 1959 a, b, c , 1960, 1961 a, b, c ; and for an independent introduction of propagators DeWitt & Brehme 1960).

scholarly journals QUANTUM FIELD THEORY ON CURVED BACKGROUNDS — A PRIMER

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (17) ◽  
pp. 1330023 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCO BENINI ◽  
CLAUDIO DAPPIAGGI ◽  
THOMAS-PAUL HACK
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Hilbert Space ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Algebraic Approach ◽  
Quantum Field Theories ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
System A ◽  
Step Procedure ◽  
Free Fields

Goal of this paper is to introduce the algebraic approach to quantum field theory on curved backgrounds. Based on a set of axioms, first written down by Haag and Kastler, this method consists of a two-step procedure. In the first one, it is assigned to a physical system a suitable algebra of observables, which is meant to encode all algebraic relations among observables, such as commutation relations. In the second step, one must select an algebraic state in order to recover the standard Hilbert space interpretation of a quantum system. As quantum field theories possess infinitely many degrees of freedom, many unitarily inequivalent Hilbert space representations exist and the power of such approach is the ability to treat them all in a coherent manner. We will discuss in detail the algebraic approach for free fields in order to give the reader all necessary information to deal with the recent literature, which focuses on the applications to specific problems, mostly in cosmology.

Some quantum field theory aspects of the superspace quantization of general relativity

1976 ◽  
Vol 351 (1665) ◽  
pp. 209-232 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
General Relativity ◽  
Perturbation Theory ◽  
Constraint Equation ◽  
Mathematical Structure ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Canonical Commutation Relations ◽  
Commutation Relations ◽  
The Status

An investigation is started into a possible mathematical structure of the Wheeler-DeWitt superspace quantization of general relativity. The emphasis is placed throughout on quantum field theory aspects of the problem and topics discussed include canonical commutation relations in a triad basis, the status of the constraint equation and the rôle played by perturbation theory.

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