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The quantum theory of the free Maxwell field on the de Sitter expanding universe. (English) Zbl 1213.83141

Summary: The theory of the free Maxwell field in two moving frames on the de Sitter spacetime is investigated pointing out that the conserved momentum and energy operators do not commute to each other. This leads us to consider new plane waves solutions of the Maxwell equation which are eigenfunctions of the energy operator. Such particular solutions complete the theory in which only the solutions of given momentum were considered so far. The energy eigenfunctions can be obtained thanks to our new time-evolution picture proposed previously for the scalar and Dirac fields. Considering both these types of modes, it is shown that the second quantization of the free electromagnetic potential in the Coulomb gauge can be done in a canonical manner as in special relativity. The principal conserved one-particle operators associated to Killing vectors are derived, concentrating on the energy, momentum and total angular momentum operators.

MSC:

83F05 Relativistic cosmology
83C50 Electromagnetic fields in general relativity and gravitational theory
83C47 Methods of quantum field theory in general relativity and gravitational theory
81T20 Quantum field theory on curved space or space-time backgrounds
83C22 Einstein-Maxwell equations