Quantum Fields in Curved Space

N. D. Birrell (Author), P. C. W. Davies (Author)

9780521278584, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 February 1984

352 pages
23.3 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.52 kg

'This book is a clear and cogent introduction to a partially charted territory that has already proved remarkably fertile. The cultivation of new ideas should be greatly aided by providing graduate students with this coordinated textbook.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

This book presents a comprehensive review of the subject of gravitational effects in quantum field theory. Although the treatment is general, special emphasis is given to the Hawking black hole evaporation effect, and to particle creation processes in the early universe. The last decade has witnessed a phenomenal growth in this subject. This is the first attempt to collect and unify the vast literature that has contributed to this development. All the major technical results are presented, and the theory is developed carefully from first principles. Here is everything that students or researchers will need to embark upon calculations involving quantum effects of gravity at the so-called one-loop approximation level.

1. Introduction
2. Quantum field theory in Minkowski space
3. Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
4. Flat spacetime examples
5. Curved spacetime examples
6. Stress-tensor renormalization
7. Applications of renormalization techniques
8. Quantum black holes
9. Interacting fields
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Relativity physics [PHR]