Quantum Fields in Curved Space by N. D. Birrell, P. C. W. Davies

Quantum Fields in Curved Space N. D. Birrell, P. C. W. Davies ebook
ISBN: 0521278589, 9780521278584
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Page: 348
Format: djvu

As a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University, he worked with Stephen Hawking in cosmology, quantum field theory in curved space time and quantum theories of gravitation. Or indeed the Quantum Field, Higgs Field, New Luminiferous Ether, or whatever else we may end up calling it. Since the gravitational field is determined by the curvature of spacetime, that would mean on small scales, space would not be continuous and smooth, but rather would be violently curved and fluctuating up and down. Then, there is the problem of quantization. This is where Einstein's general theory of relativity rules. Einstein reportedly got the inspiration for this imaginative leap in It is now known that Newton's universal gravitation does not fully describe the effects of gravity when the gravitational field is very strong, or when objects move at very high speed in the field. Davies: Quantum Fields in Curved Space (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1986) Chap. This curvature is very small, and its effects are hardly noticable in everyday life and over small distances. Einstein later worked out how the force of gravity is not quite a force, but rather an artifact of the natural movement of objects through curved four-dimensional spacetime. An interesting approach to the black hole information paradox is contained in a recent preprint: "Black holes Conserve Information in Curved-Space Quantum Field Theory", by Christoph Adami and Greg L. Well, the issue is that professor Wisdom's 'breaststroke' is not particularly effective to overcome earth's gravity, as it relies on the local curvature of spacetime. Taking this into effect, then, requires, at the very least, a massive rewriting of quantum mechanics, as it could no longer treat space and time as fixed parameters. As an addendum, it is also interesting to note that Hawking radiation is a direct consequence of quantum field theory in curved space-time.