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 = a0. In the case a0 = 0, these states fulfil a strict KMS condition on the boundary of the spacetime, which is either a cosmologi- cal horizon or a Big Bang hypersurface. Furthermore, in the conformally invariant case, they are conformal KMS states on the full spacetime. How- ever, 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 tech- nique 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.

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

PINAMONTI, NICOLA
2011-01-01

Abstract

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 = a0. In the case a0 = 0, these states fulfil a strict KMS condition on the boundary of the spacetime, which is either a cosmologi- cal horizon or a Big Bang hypersurface. Furthermore, in the conformally invariant case, they are conformal KMS states on the full spacetime. How- ever, 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 tech- nique 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.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/282841
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 18
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 16
social impact