The Sorkin-Johnston State in a Patch of the Trousers Spacetime

A quantum scalar field in a patch of a fixed, topology-changing, \(1+1\) dimensional "trousers" spacetime is studied using the Sorkin-Johnston formalism. The isometry group of the patch is the dihedral group, the symmetry group of the square. The theory is shown to be pathological in a way...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Buck, Michel, Dowker, Fay, Jubb, Ian, Sorkin, Rafael
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 16.02.2017
Subjects
Dimensional changes
Physics - General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Physics - High Energy Physics - Theory
Relativity
Spacetime
Symmetry
Topology
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Summary:A quantum scalar field in a patch of a fixed, topology-changing, \(1+1\) dimensional "trousers" spacetime is studied using the Sorkin-Johnston formalism. The isometry group of the patch is the dihedral group, the symmetry group of the square. The theory is shown to be pathological in a way that can be interpreted as the topology change giving rise to a divergent energy, in agreement with previous results. In contrast to previous results, it is shown that the infinite energy is localised not only on the future light cone of the topology changing singularity, but also on the past cone, due to the time reversal symmetry of the Sorkin-Johnston state.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1609.03573