Equivalence of the adiabatic expansion and Hadamard renormalization for a charged scalar field

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the equivalence of adiabatic and Hadamard renormalization methods for a charged scalar field in certain spacetime dimensions, clarifying their relationship and limitations.

Contribution

It establishes the equivalence of the adiabatic and DeWitt-Schwinger approaches in even-dimensional spacetimes for a charged scalar field.

Findings

In 2 and 4 dimensions, the expansions are identical.

In 3 dimensions, DeWitt-Schwinger contains unnecessary higher-order terms.

The equivalence holds in even dimensions, but odd dimensions require further study.

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 (SET), 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 DeWitt-Schwinger expansion contains terms of adiabatic order four which are not necessary for the renormalization of the SET and hence absent in the adiabatic expansion. The equivalence of the DeWitt-Schwinger 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.