The Born-Oppenheimer Approach to the Matter-Gravity System and Unitarity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the application of the Born-Oppenheimer approach to matter-gravity systems, verifying unitarity of matter evolution in a simplified model and highlighting the role of adiabatic invariants.

Contribution

It illustrates the Born-Oppenheimer method in a minisuperspace model and compares its results with other approaches, emphasizing unitarity and adiabatic invariants.

Findings

Unitary evolution of matter verified in a simple model

Corrections to quantum field theory on semiclassical backgrounds shown

Simplifications using adiabatic invariants are discussed

Abstract

The Born-Oppenheimer approach to the matter-gravity system is illustrated and the unitary evolution for matter, in the absence of phenomena such as tunnelling or other instabilities, verified. The Born-Oppenheimer approach to the matter-gravity system is illustrated in a simple minisuperspace model and the corrections to quantum field theory on a semiclassical background exhibited. Within such a context the unitary evolution for matter, in the absence of phenomena such as tunnelling or other instabilities, is verified and compared with the results of other approaches. Lastly the simplifications associated with the use of adiabatic invariants to obtain the solution of the explicitly time dependent evolution equation for matter are evidenced.