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Quantized fields propagating in plane-wave spacetimes

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Abstract

This paper contains an account of the interaction of a quantized massive scalar field with the classicalc number gravitational field of a plane sandwich wave of arbitrary profile and polarization. It is shown that the time varying gravitational field of the wave produces no particles and the Feynman propagator for the problem is calculated exactly. This is used to show that any reasonable regularization of the vacuum expectation value of the energy momentum tensor of the field must vanish. This means that a gravitational wave far from its source will propagate without hindrance by quantum effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, CB3 9EW, Cambridge, U.K.

    G. W. Gibbons

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  1. G. W. Gibbons
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Communicated by J. Ehlers

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Gibbons, G.W. Quantized fields propagating in plane-wave spacetimes. Commun.Math. Phys. 45, 191–202 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01629249

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01629249

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