Quantum fields on curved spacetimes and a new look at the Unruh effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized canonical quantization approach for linear quantum fields on curved spacetimes, enabling the construction of pure and mixed states, and offers a novel derivation of the Unruh effect based on invariance principles.

Contribution

It presents a new, unified framework for quantizing fields on curved backgrounds, extending standard methods and providing a fresh derivation of the Unruh effect.

Findings

Unified quantization scheme for curved spacetimes

Construction of pure and mixed states with the new method

New invariance-based derivation of the Unruh effect

Abstract

We describe a new viewpoint on canonical quantization of linear fields on a general curved background that encompasses and generalizes the standard treatment of canonical QFT given in textbooks. Our method permits the construction of pure states and mixed stated with the same technique. We apply our scheme to the study of Rindler QFT and we present a new derivation of the Unruh effect based on invariance arguments.