Time evolution of relativistic quantum fields in spatial subregions

IF 5.3 2区物理与天体物理 Q1 Physics and Astronomy

Physical Review D Pub Date : 2025-01-08 DOI:10.1103/physrevd.111.025009

Markus Schröfl, Stefan Floerchinger

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

We study the time evolution of a state of a relativistic quantum field theory restricted to a spatial subregion Ω. More precisely, we use the Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism to describe the dynamics of the field theory in the interior of Ω arising after integrating out the degrees of freedom in the exterior. We show how the influence of the environment gets encoded in a boundary term. Furthermore, we derive a stochastic equation of motion for the field expectation value in the interior. We find that the boundary conditions obtained in this way are energy nonconserving and nonlocal in space and time. Our results find applications in understanding the emergence of local thermalization in relativistic quantum field theories and the relationship between quantum field theory and relativistic fluid dynamics.

Published by the American Physical Society

2025

查看原文本刊更多论文

空间子区域中相对论量子场的时间演化

我们研究了一个被限制在空间子区域Ω的相对论量子场论状态的时间演化。更准确地说，我们使用费曼-弗农影响泛函形式来描述在积分出外部自由度后产生的Ω内部场论的动力学。我们展示了环境的影响是如何在边界项中编码的。在此基础上，导出了内部场期望值的随机运动方程。我们发现用这种方法得到的边界条件在空间和时间上都是非能量守恒和非局域的。我们的结果在理解相对论量子场论中局部热化的出现以及量子场论与相对论流体动力学之间的关系方面具有应用价值。2025年由美国物理学会出版

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Physical Review D 物理-天文与天体物理

CiteScore

9.20

自引率

36.00%

发文量

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Physical Review D (PRD) is a leading journal in elementary particle physics, field theory, gravitation, and cosmology and is one of the top-cited journals in high-energy physics. PRD covers experimental and theoretical results in all aspects of particle physics, field theory, gravitation and cosmology, including: Particle physics experiments, Electroweak interactions, Strong interactions, Lattice field theories, lattice QCD, Beyond the standard model physics, Phenomenological aspects of field theory, general methods, Gravity, cosmology, cosmic rays, Astrophysics and astroparticle physics, General relativity, Formal aspects of field theory, field theory in curved space, String theory, quantum gravity, gauge/gravity duality.