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Title: Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes

Abstract

We address the question of unitary implementation of the dynamics for scalar fields in cosmological scenarios. Together with invariance under spatial isometries, the requirement of a unitary evolution singles out a rescaling of the scalar field and a unitary equivalence class of Fock representations for the associated canonical commutation relations. Moreover, this criterion provides as well a privileged quantization for the unscaled field, even though the associated dynamics is not unitarily implementable in that case. We discuss the relation between the initial data that determine the Fock representations in the rescaled and unscaled descriptions, and clarify that the S-matrix is well defined in both cases. In our discussion, we also comment on a recently proposed generalized notion of unitary implementation of the dynamics, making clear the difference with the standard unitarity criterion and showing that the two approaches are not equivalent.

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F. 04510 (Mexico)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22560274
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Annals of Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 363; Journal Issue: Complete; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2015 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0003-4916
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COMMUTATION RELATIONS; COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; COSMOLOGY; FOCK REPRESENTATION; IMPLEMENTATION; QUANTIZATION; QUANTUM FIELD THEORY; S MATRIX; SCALAR FIELDS; SPACE-TIME; UNITARITY

Citation Formats

Cortez, Jerónimo, Mena Marugán, Guillermo A., E-mail: mena@iem.cfmac.csic.es, and Velhinho, José M., E-mail: jvelhi@ubi.pt. Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/J.AOP.2015.09.016.
Cortez, Jerónimo, Mena Marugán, Guillermo A., E-mail: mena@iem.cfmac.csic.es, & Velhinho, José M., E-mail: jvelhi@ubi.pt. Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AOP.2015.09.016
Cortez, Jerónimo, Mena Marugán, Guillermo A., E-mail: mena@iem.cfmac.csic.es, and Velhinho, José M., E-mail: jvelhi@ubi.pt. 2015. "Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AOP.2015.09.016.
@article{osti_22560274,
title = {Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes},
author = {Cortez, Jerónimo and Mena Marugán, Guillermo A., E-mail: mena@iem.cfmac.csic.es and Velhinho, José M., E-mail: jvelhi@ubi.pt},
abstractNote = {We address the question of unitary implementation of the dynamics for scalar fields in cosmological scenarios. Together with invariance under spatial isometries, the requirement of a unitary evolution singles out a rescaling of the scalar field and a unitary equivalence class of Fock representations for the associated canonical commutation relations. Moreover, this criterion provides as well a privileged quantization for the unscaled field, even though the associated dynamics is not unitarily implementable in that case. We discuss the relation between the initial data that determine the Fock representations in the rescaled and unscaled descriptions, and clarify that the S-matrix is well defined in both cases. In our discussion, we also comment on a recently proposed generalized notion of unitary implementation of the dynamics, making clear the difference with the standard unitarity criterion and showing that the two approaches are not equivalent.},
doi = {10.1016/J.AOP.2015.09.016},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22560274}, journal = {Annals of Physics},
issn = {0003-4916},
number = Complete,
volume = 363,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Tue Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}