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arXiv · 2210.06991

Density matrix formalism for interacting quantum fields

Christian Käding·Mario Pitschmann
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Abstract

We provide a description of interacting quantum fields in terms of density matrices for any occupation numbers in Fock space in a momentum basis. As a simple example, we focus on a real scalar field interacting with another real scalar field, and present a practicable formalism for directly computing the density matrix elements of the combined scalar-scalar system. For deriving the main formula, we use techniques from non-equilibrium quantum field theory like thermo field dynamics and the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. Our results allow for studies of particle creation/annihilation processes at finite times and other non-equilibrium processes including those found in the theory of open quantum systems.

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Christian Käding, Mario Pitschmann. 2022-10-13. Density matrix formalism for interacting quantum fields. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe8110601

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