Wigner function and quantum kinetic theory in curved space-time and external fields

TL;DR

This paper develops a covariant, gauge-invariant Wigner function formalism for quantum fields in curved space-time with external fields, deriving quantum kinetic equations with curvature corrections.

Contribution

It introduces a new covariant, gauge-invariant definition of the Wigner function for quantum fields in curved space-time and external Yang-Mills fields, deriving quantum kinetic equations with curvature effects.

Findings

Quantum corrections to the Wigner function are perturbatively derived.

Quantum-curvature corrections match previous results by Winter.

The formalism applies to scalar and Dirac fields in curved backgrounds.

Abstract

A new definition of the Wigner function for quantum fields coupled to curved space--time and an external Yang--Mills field is studied on the example of a scalar and a Dirac fields. The definition uses the formalism of the tangent bundles and is explicitly covariant and gauge invariant. Derivation of collisionless quantum kinetic equations is carried out for both quantum fields by using the first order formalism of Duffin and Kemmer. The evolution of the Wigner function is governed by the quantum corrected Liouville--Vlasov equation supplemented by the generalized mass--shell constraint. The structure of the quantum corrections is perturbatively found in all adiabatic orders. The lowest order quantum--curvature corrections coincide with the ones found by Winter.