Renormalization of the quantum stress-energy tensor in inhomogeneous spacetimes: Adiabatic regularization method

Journal Article · Thu Feb 14 23:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.43.1262· OSTI ID:5907812

Huang, W ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 70101, Republic of China (CN)

The adiabatic regularization method, known to be a particularly efficient method for numerical study of quantum field dynamics in curved spacetimes, is applicable to evaluate the renormalized stress-energy tensor for matter in any background metric which has sufficient symmetry to allow a decomposition of the quantized field into modes. In this paper we extend this method to more general spacetimes with a small inhomogeneity which is invariant under spatial reflection. We overcome the difficulty of the mode-mixing behavior arising from the inhomogeneity of spacetime and show a possible way of obtaining the WKB solution of the time-dependent mode function under the early-time approximation. As an illustration, we investigate the renormalization of the quantum stress-energy tensor for a massive scalar field with an arbitrary curvature coupling to the inhomogeneous conformally flat spacetime. Our expressions are useful in formulating the semiclassical theory of gravity and in the numerical study of the back reaction of quantized fields in the early Universe with a small inhomogeneity.

• OSTI ID: 5907812
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA) Vol. 43:4; ISSN PRVDA; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
FIELD EQUATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
KLEIN-GORDON EQUATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METRICS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PARTICLE MODELS
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RENORMALIZATION
SCALAR FIELDS
SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION
SPACE-TIME
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TENSORS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
UNIVERSE
WAVE EQUATIONS
WKB APPROXIMATION