Conformal-symmetry breaking and cosmological particle creation in lambdaphi/sup 4/ theory

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 1980 · Phys. Rev., D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.22.322· OSTI ID:5295393

Birrell, N D; Davies, P C.W.

We show that creation of field quanta can occur even in conformally trivial situations, contrary to popular belief. This conformal-symmetry breaking owes its existence to the so-called conformal anomaly in the field stress tensor which, in the case of interacting fields in curved space-time, contains state-dependent, nongeometrical, and other terms which are associated with particle generation. The effect is explicitly demonstrated for massless lambdaphi/sup 4/ theory in a Robertson-Walker space-time.

• Research Organization: Department of Mathematics, King's College, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
• OSTI ID: 5295393
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev., D; (United States), Vol. 22:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PHI4-FIELD THEORY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
CONFORMAL GROUPS
LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATTER
METRICS
RENORMALIZATION
SPACE-TIME
UNIVERSE
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
LIE GROUPS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SYMMETRY GROUPS
645400* - High Energy Physics- Field Theory
640106 - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Cosmology