Path integral for the relativistic particle in curved space

The propagator for a single relativistic particle in a (D+1)-dimensional curved background is obtained by evaluating the canonical path integral in the true 2D-dimensional phase space. Since only paths moving forward in time are integrated, the resulting propagator depends on how the time is chosen;...

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Autor principal: Ferraro, R.
Formato: JOUR
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_05562821_v45_n4_p1198_Ferraro
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Sumario:The propagator for a single relativistic particle in a (D+1)-dimensional curved background is obtained by evaluating the canonical path integral in the true 2D-dimensional phase space. Since only paths moving forward in time are integrated, the resulting propagator depends on how the time is chosen; i.e., it depends on the reference system. In order for the propagator to satisfy the properties of a unitary theory, the time must be attached to a Killing vector. Although the measure is unique (it is the Liouville measure), the skeletonization of the phase-space functional action is ambiguous. One such ambiguity is exploited to obtain different propagators obeying the Klein-Gordon equation with different couplings to quantities related to the shape of the reference system (spatial curvature, etc.). © 1992 The American Physical Society.