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Claudio Dappiaggi

Publications and source records attributed to Claudio Dappiaggi.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2014

Electromagnetism, local covariance, the Aharonov-Bohm effect and Gauss' law

We quantise the massless vector potential A of electromagnetism in the presence of a classical electromagnetic (background) current, j, in a generally covariant way on arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetimes M. By carefully following general principles and procedures we clarify a number of topological issues. First we combine the interpretation of A as a connection on a principal U(1)-bundle with the perspective of general covariance to deduce a physical gauge equivalence relation, which is intimately related to the Aharonov-Bohm effect. By Peierls' method we subsequently find a Poisson bracket on the space of local, affine observables of the theory. This Poisson bracket is in general degenerate, leading to a quantum theory with non-local behaviour. We show that this non-local behaviour can be fully explained in terms of Gauss' law. Thus our analysis establishes a relationship, via the Poisson bracket, between the Aharonov-Bohm effect and Gauss' law (a relationship which seems to have gone unnoticed so far). Furthermore, we find a formula for the space of electric monopole charges in terms of the topology of the underlying spacetime. Because it costs little extra effort, we emphasise the cohomological perspective and derive our results for general p-form fields A (p < dim(M)), modulo exact fields. In conclusion we note that the theory is not locally covariant, in the sense of Brunetti-Fredenhagen-Verch. It is not possible to obtain such a theory by dividing out the centre of the algebras, nor is it physically desirable to do so. Instead we argue that electromagnetism forces us to weaken the axioms of the framework of local covariance, because the failure of locality is physically well-understood and should be accommodated.

math-ph↗
arXiv2014

A C*-algebra for quantized principal U(1)-connections on globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds

The aim of this work is to complete our program on the quantization of connections on arbitrary principal U(1)-bundles over globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. In particular, we show that one can assign via a covariant functor to any such bundle an algebra of observables which separates gauge equivalence classes of connections. The C*-algebra we construct generalizes the usual CCR-algebras since, contrary to the standard field-theoretic models, it is based on a presymplectic Abelian group instead of a symplectic vector space. We prove a no-go theorem according to which neither this functor, nor any of its quotients, satisfies the strict axioms of general local covariance. As a byproduct, we prove that a morphism violates the locality axiom if and only if a certain induced morphism of cohomology groups is non-injective. We then show that fixing any principal U(1)-bundle, there exists a suitable category of sub-bundles for which a quotient of our functor yields a quantum field theory in the sense of Haag and Kastler. We shall provide a physical interpretation of this feature and we obtain some new insights concerning electric charges in locally covariant quantum field theory.

math-ph↗
arXiv2013

Quantized Abelian principal connections on Lorentzian manifolds

We construct a covariant functor from a category of Abelian principal bundles over globally hyperbolic spacetimes to a category of *-algebras that describes quantized principal connections. We work within an appropriate differential geometric setting by using the bundle of connections and we study the full gauge group, namely the group of vertical principal bundle automorphisms. Properties of our functor are investigated in detail and, similar to earlier works, it is found that due to topological obstructions the locality property of locally covariant quantum field theory is violated. Furthermore, we prove that, for Abelian structure groups containing a nontrivial compact factor, the gauge invariant Borchers-Uhlmann algebra of the vector dual of the bundle of connections is not separating on gauge equivalence classes of principal connections. We introduce a topological generalization of the concept of locally covariant quantum fields. As examples, we construct for the category of principal U(1)-bundles two natural transformations from singular homology functors to the quantum field theory functor that can be interpreted as the Chern class and the electric charge. In this case we also prove that the electric charges can be consistently set to zero, which yields another quantum field theory functor that satisfies all axioms of locally covariant quantum field theory.

math-ph↗
arXiv2013

Quantum Field Theory on Curved Backgrounds -- A Primer

Goal of this review is to introduce the algebraic approach to quantum field theory on curved backgrounds. Based on a set of axioms, first written down by Haag and Kastler, this method consists of a two-step procedure. In the first one, a suitable algebra of observables is assigned to a physical system, which is meant to encode all algebraic relations among observables, such as commutation relations, while, in the second step, one must select an algebraic state in order to recover the standard Hilbert space interpretation of a quantum system. As quantum field theories possess infinitely many degrees of freedom, many unitarily inequivalent Hilbert space representations exist and the power of such approach is the ability to treat them all in a coherent manner. We will discuss in detail the algebraic approach for free fields in order to give to the reader all necessary information to deal with the recent literature, which focuses on the applications to specific problems, mostly in cosmology.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2013

Quantum field theory on affine bundles

We develop a general framework for the quantization of bosonic and fermionic field theories on affine bundles over arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetimes. All concepts and results are formulated using the language of category theory, which allows us to prove that these models satisfy the principle of general local covariance. Our analysis is a preparatory step towards a full-fledged quantization scheme for the Maxwell field, which emphasises the affine bundle structure of the bundle of principal U(1)-connections. As a by-product, our construction provides a new class of exactly tractable locally covariant quantum field theories, which are a mild generalization of the linear ones. We also show the existence of a functorial assignment of linear quantum field theories to affine ones. The identification of suitable algebra homomorphisms enables us to induce whole families of physical states (satisfying the microlocal spectrum condition) for affine quantum field theories by pulling back quasi-free Hadamard states of the underlying linear theories.

math-ph↗
arXiv2013

Hadamard States for the Vector Potential on Asymptotically Flat Spacetimes

We develop a quantization scheme for the vector potential on globally hyperbolic spacetimes which realizes it as a locally covariant conformal quantum field theory. This result allows us to employ on a large class of backgrounds, which are asymptotically flat at null infinity, a bulk-to-boundary correspondence procedure in order to identify for the underlying field algebra a distinguished ground state which is of Hadamard form.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2012

Quantization of Maxwell's equations on curved backgrounds and general local covariance

We develop a quantization scheme for Maxwell's equations without source on an arbitrary four dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime. The field strength tensor is the key dynamical object and it is not assumed a priori that it descends from a vector potential. It is shown that, in general, the associated field algebra can contain a non trivial centre and, on account of this, such a theory cannot be described within the framework of general local covariance unless further restrictive assumptions on the topology of the spacetime are made.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2012

Rigorous construction and Hadamard property of the Unruh state in Schwarzschild spacetime

The discovery of the radiation properties of black holes prompted the search for a natural candidate quantum ground state for a massless scalar field theory on Schwarzschild spacetime, here considered in the Eddington-Finkelstein representation. Among the several available proposals in the literature, an important physical role is played by the so-called Unruh state which is supposed to be appropriate to capture the physics of a black hole formed by spherically symmetric collapsing matter. Within this respect, we shall consider a massless Klein-Gordon field and we shall rigorously and globally construct such state, that is on the algebra of Weyl observables localised in the union of the static external region, the future event horizon and the non-static black hole region. Eventually, out of a careful use of microlocal techniques, we prove that the built state fulfils, where defined, the so-called Hadamard condition; hence, it is perturbatively stable, in other words realizing the natural candidate with which one could study purely quantum phenomena such as the role of the back reaction of Hawking's radiation. From a geometrical point of view, we shall make a profitable use of a bulk-to-boundary reconstruction technique which carefully exploits the Killing horizon structure as well as the conformal asymptotic behaviour of the underlying background. From an analytical point of view, our tools will range from Hormander's theorem on propagation of singularities, results on the role of passive states, and a detailed use of the recently discovered peeling behaviour of the solutions of the wave equation in Schwarzschild spacetime.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2011

Remarks on the Reeh-Schlieder property for higher spin free fields on curved spacetimes

The existence of states enjoying a weak form of the Reeh-Schlieder property has been recently established on curved backgrounds and in the framework of locally covariant quantum field theory. Since only the example of a real scalar field has been discussed, we extend the analysis to the case of massive and massless free fields either of spin 1/2 or of spin 1. In the process, it is also shown that both the vector potential and the Proca field can be described as a locally covariant quantum field theory.

math-ph↗
arXiv2011

Local causal structures, Hadamard states and the principle of local covariance in quantum field theory

In the framework of the algebraic formulation, we discuss and analyse some new features of the local structure of a real scalar quantum field theory in a strongly causal spacetime. In particular we use the properties of the exponential map to set up a local version of a bulk-to-boundary correspondence. The bulk is a suitable subset of a geodesic neighbourhood of any but fixed point p of the underlying background, while the boundary is a part of the future light cone having p as its own tip. In this regime, we provide a novel notion for the extended *-algebra of Wick polynomials on the said cone and, on the one hand, we prove that it contains the information of the bulk counterpart via an injective *-homomorphism while, on the other hand, we associate to it a distinguished state whose pull-back in the bulk is of Hadamard form. The main advantage of this point of view arises if one uses the universal properties of the exponential map and of the light cone in order to show that, for any two given backgrounds M and M' and for any two subsets of geodesic neighbourhoods of two arbitrary points, it is possible to engineer the above procedure such that the boundary extended algebras are related via a restriction homomorphism. This allows for the pull-back of boundary states in both spacetimes and, thus, to set up a machinery which permits the comparison of expectation values of local field observables in M and M'.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Approximate KMS states for scalar and spinor fields in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes

We construct and discuss Hadamard states for both scalar and Dirac spinor fields in a large class of spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes characterised by an initial phase either of exponential or of power-law expansion. The states we obtain can be interpreted as being in thermal equilibrium at the time when the scale factor a has a specific value a=a_0. In the case a_0=0, these states fulfil a strict KMS condition on the boundary of the spacetime, which is either a cosmological horizon, or a Big Bang hypersurface. Furthermore, in the conformally invariant case, they are conformal KMS states on the full spacetime. However, they provide a natural notion of an approximate KMS state also in the remaining cases, especially for massive fields. On the technical side, our results are based on a bulk-to-boundary reconstruction technique already successfully applied in the scalar case and here proven to be suitable also for spinor fields. The potential applications of the states we find range over a broad spectrum, but they appear to be suited to discuss in particular thermal phenomena such as the cosmic neutrino background or the quantum state of dark matter.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2010

Dark Energy from Quantum Matter

We study the backreaction of free quantum fields on a flat Robertson-Walker spacetime. Apart from renormalization freedom, the vacuum energy receives contributions from both the trace anomaly and the thermal nature of the quantum state. The former represents a dynamical realisation of dark energy, while the latter mimics an effective dark matter component. The semiclassical dynamics yield two classes of asymptotically stable solutions. The first reproduces the concordance model in a suitable regime. The second lacks a classical counterpart, but is in excellent agreement with recent observations.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2010

Deformations of quantum field theories on spacetimes with Killing vector fields

The recent construction and analysis of deformations of quantum field theories by warped convolutions is extended to a class of curved spacetimes. These spacetimes carry a family of wedge-like regions which share the essential causal properties of the Poincare transforms of the Rindler wedge in Minkowski space. In the setting of deformed quantum field theories, they play the role of typical localization regions of quantum fields and observables. As a concrete example of such a procedure, the deformation of the free Dirac field is studied.

math-ph↗
arXiv2009

The extended algebra of observables for Dirac fields and the trace anomaly of their stress-energy tensor

We discuss from scratch the classical structure of Dirac spinors on an arbitrary globally hyperbolic, Lorentzian spacetime, their formulation as a locally covariant quantum field theory, and the associated notion of a Hadamard state. Eventually, we develop the notion of Wick polynomials for spinor fields, and we employ the latter to construct a covariantly conserved stress-energy tensor suited for back-reaction computations. We shall explicitly calculate its trace anomaly in particular.

math-ph↗
arXiv2008

Distinguished quantum states in a class of cosmological spacetimes and their Hadamard property

In a recent paper, we proved that a large class of spacetimes, not necessarily homogeneous or isotropous and relevant at a cosmological level, possesses a preferred codimension one submanifold, i.e., the past cosmological horizon, on which it is possible to encode the information of a scalar field theory living in the bulk. Such bulk-to-boundary reconstruction procedure entails the identification of a preferred quasifree algebraic state for the bulk theory, enjoying remarkable properties concerning invariance under isometries (if any) of the bulk and energy positivity, and reducing to well-known vacua in standard situations. In this paper, specialising to open FRW models, we extend previously obtained results and we prove that the preferred state is of Hadamard form, hence the backreaction on the metric is finite and the state can be used as a starting point for renormalisation procedures. That state could play a distinguished role in the discussion of the evolution of scalar fluctuations of the metric, an analysis often performed in the development of any model describing the dynamic of an early Universe which undergoes an inflationary phase of rapid expansion in the past.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2008

Stable cosmological models driven by a free quantum scalar field

In the mathematically rigorous analysis of semiclassical Einstein's equations, the renormalisation of the stress-energy tensor plays a crucial role. We address such a topic in the case of a scalar field with both arbitrary mass and coupling with gravity in the hypothesis that the underlying algebraic quantum state is of Hadamard type. Particularly, if we focus on highly symmetric solutions of the semiclassical Einstein's equations, the envisaged method displays a de Sitter type behaviour even without an a priori introduced cosmological constant. As a further novel result we shall show that these solutions turn out to be stable.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2007

BCFT and Ribbon Graphs as tools for open/closed string dualities

In the framework of simplicial models, we construct and we fully characterize a scalar boundary conformal field theory on a triangulated Riemann surface. The results are analysed from a string theory perspective as tools to deal with open/closed string dualities.

hep-th↗