Quantum gravity in more than four dimensions

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:5017412

Vaz, C

Ever since its inception, Einstein's general relativity has been considered a most remarkable theory. It is generally believed today, that the classical theory is well understood. Nevertheless, in the pursuit of a deeper understanding of physics in terms of a grand unification of forces, one would like to quantize the theory, thus bringing it under the known forces of nature. The author will address the possibility that space-time is of dimension greater that four. In the pursuit of Einstein's dream of a unification of physical interactions, many interesting ideas have been developed. Beginning with Weyl and Kaluza, we have progressed to strings and superstrings. The thing that is common to all these theories is the requirement of a space-time of more than four dimensions. While Kaluza's theory implicitly assumes that Einstein's gravity is classically correct in any number of dimensions, superstring phenomenology may suggest otherwise. Generalizations to Einstein's gravity are indicated, and the gravitational Casimir energy is explicitly approximate on a background configuration M{sup 4} {times} S{sup 6}, on a ten dimensional space-time. Weyl invariance is particularly interesting to the quantum gravitationalist. One finds that energy momentum tensor of the Weyl invariant quantum field picks up an anomalous trace, which is related to particle production by the curved background. He therefore computes the conformal anomaly for a conformally coupled scalar field and considers some of its consequences. He then suggest that the conformal anomaly, when combined with the perfect fluid hypothesis, can be used to determine the complete energy momentum tensor of the quantum field in certain backgrounds.

• Research Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5017412
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645400* -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
657003 -- Theoretical & Mathematical Physics-- Relativity & Gravitation
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BLACK HOLES
FIELD THEORIES
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
KALUZA-KLEIN THEORY
MANY-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUANTUM GRAVITY
SCALAR FIELDS
SPACE-TIME
TENSORS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
WEYL UNIFIED THEORY