This article is cited in 3 papers

Breaking of conformal symmetry and quantization in curved spacetime

A. A. Grib, V. M. Mostepanenko, V. M. Frolov


Abstract: The quantum theory of a self-interacting massless scalar field is considered in “expanding” and Rindler coordinates in Minkowski spacetime. It is shown that in such a theory there is spontaneous breaking of conformal symmetry (and, in the case of a complex field, of gauge symmetry as well). This leads to the appearance of nonzero vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor of the field and to a corresponding change in the spacetime geometry. The geometry of a self-consistent model is found.

Received: 20.12.1977

 English version: Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 1978, 37:3, 1065–1070

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