Path integral games with de Sitter α-vacua

Journal Article · Tue Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of High Energy Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2025)097· OSTI ID:2868882

Miller, Noah ^[1]

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1. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States); Princeton University, NJ (United States)

The α-vacua are a 1-parameter family of quantum field vacua in de Sitter space which are invariant under the isometry group SO(1, d). In this work give a path integral construction of the de Sitter α-vacua. We explain that these states can be prepared by acting on the Bunch-Davies vacuum with a certain non-local charge operator. While most conserved charges live on a single codimension-1 manifold, we show that this particular charge lives on a pair of two codimension-1 manifolds which are antipodal mirrors of each other. The rules for the manipulation of this charge as an insertion in the path integral are explained. We further explain how this charge can be used to solve for the wavefunctionals of the α-vacua at $$\mathcal{I}$$^| (in the regime that α is small) by deforming the equator of de Sitter space to $$\mathcal{I}$$⁺/$$\mathcal{I}$$^–.

• Research Organization: Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0009988
• OSTI ID: 2868882
• Journal Information: Journal of High Energy Physics, Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 2025; ISSN 1029-8479
• Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Global Symmetries
Space-Time Symmetries
de Sitter space