Nadal-Gisbert, S., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2023). Low-energy states and CPT invariance at the big bang. Phys. Rev. D, 107(8), 085018–16pp.
Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the quantum vacuum in a radiation-dominated and CPT -invariant universe by further imposing the quantum states to be ultraviolet regular i.e., satisfying the Hadamard/adiabatic condition. For scalar fields, this is enforced by constructing the vacuum via the states of low-energy proposal. For spin -12 fields, we extend this proposal for a FLRW spacetime and apply it for the radiation-dominated and CPT -invariant universe. We focus on minimizing the smeared energy density around the big bang and give strong evidence that the resulting states satisfy the Hadamard/adiabatic condition. These states are then self -consistent candidates as effective big bang quantum vacuum from the field theory perspective.
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Pla, S., & Winstanley, E. (2023). Equivalence of the adiabatic expansion and Hadamard renormalization for a charged scalar field. Phys. Rev. D, 107(2), 025004–22pp.
Abstract: We examine the relationship between three approaches (Hadamard, DeWitt-Schwinger, and adiabatic) to the renormalization of expectation values of field operators acting on a charged quantum scalar field. First, we demonstrate that the DeWitt-Schwinger representation of the Feynman Green's function is a particular case of the Hadamard representation. Next, we restrict attention to a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe with time-dependent, purely electric, background electromagnetic field, considering two-, three-, and four-dimensional space-times. Working to the order required for the renormalization of the stress-energy tensor, we find the adiabatic and DeWitt-Schwinger expansions of the Green's function when the space-time points are spatially separated. In two and four dimensions, the resulting DeWitt-Schwinger and adiabatic expansions are identical. In three dimensions, the DeWittSchwinger expansion contains terms of adiabatic order 4 that are not necessary for the renormalization of the stress-energy tensor and hence absent in the adiabatic expansion. The equivalence of the DeWittSchwinger and adiabatic approaches to renormalization in the scenario considered is thereby demonstrated in even dimensions. In odd dimensions the situation is less clear and further investigation is required in order to determine whether adiabatic renormalization is a locally covariant renormalization prescription.
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Beltran-Palau, P., Ferreiro, A., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2019). Breaking of adiabatic invariance in the creation of particles by electromagnetic backgrounds. Phys. Rev. D, 100(8), 085014–12pp.
Abstract: Particles are spontaneously created from the vacuum by time-varying gravitational or electromagnetic backgrounds. It has been proven that the particle number operator in an expanding universe is an adiabatic invariant. In this paper we show that, in some special cases, the expected adiabatic invariance of the particle number fails in presence of electromagnetic backgrounds. In order to do this, we consider as a prototype a Sauter-type electric pulse. Furthermore, we also show a close relation between the breaking of the adiabatic invariance and the emergence of the axial anomaly.
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Beltran-Palau, P., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2020). Adiabatic regularization for Dirac fields in time-varying electric backgrounds. Phys. Rev. D, 101(10), 105014–15pp.
Abstract: The adiabatic regularization method was originally proposed by Parker and Fulling to renormalize the energy-momentum tensor of scalar fields in expanding universes. It can be extended to renormalize the electric current induced by quantized scalar fields in a time-varying electric background. This can be done in a way consistent with gravity if the vector potential is considered as a variable of adiabatic order one. Assuming this, we further extend the method to deal with Dirac fields in four space-time dimensions. This requires a self-consistent ansatz for the adiabatic expansion, in presence of a prescribed time-dependent electric field, which is different from the conventional expansion used for scalar fields. Our proposal is consistent, in the massless limit, with the conformal anomaly. We also provide evidence that our proposed adiabatic expansion for the fermionic modes parallels the Schwinger-DeWitt adiabatic expansion of the two-point function. We give the renormalized expression of the electric current and analyze, using numerical and analytical tools, the pair production induced by a Sauter-type electric pulse. We also analyze the scaling properties of the current for a large field strength.
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Ferreiro, A., & Pla, S. (2022). Adiabatic regularization and preferred vacuum state for the lambda phi^4 field theory in cosmological spacetimes. Phys. Rev. D, 106(6), 065015–12pp.
Abstract: We extend the method of adiabatic regularization by introducing an arbitrary parameter μfor a scalar field with quartic self-coupling in a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker spacetime at one-loop order. The subtraction terms constructed from this extended version allow us to define a preferred vacuum state at a fixed time ri 1/4 ri0 for this theory. We compute this vacuum state for two commonly used background fields in cosmology, specially in the context of preheating. We also give a possible prescription for an adequate value for mu.
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