Overview

Quantum field theory in curved spacetime has been remarkably fruitful. It can be used to explain how the large-scale structure of the universe and the anisotropies of the cosmic background radiation that we observe today first arose. Similarly, it provides a deep connection between general relativity, thermodynamics, and quantum field theory. This book develops quantum field theory in curved spacetime in a pedagogical style, suitable for graduate students. The authors present detailed, physically motivated, derivations of cosmological and black hole processes in which curved spacetime plays a key role. They explain how such processes in the rapidly expanding early universe leave observable consequences today, and how in the context of evaporating black holes, these processes uncover deep connections between gravitation and elementary particles. The authors also lucidly describe many other aspects of free and interacting quantized fields in curved spacetime.

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9780511813924

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Reviews

While readers of Birrel and Davies will certainly like this new book, newcomers and students will appreciate the breadth and the style of a treatise written by two well known scientists who have dedicated their lives to the understanding of the treatment of quantum fields in a fixed gravitational background. Massimo Giovannini, CERN Courier This is an interesting book which contains a lot of material about an important topic of theoretical physics. Michael Keyl, Mathematical Reviews

While readers of Birrel and Davies will certainly like this new book, newcomers and students will appreciate the breadth and the style of a treatise written by two well known scientists who have dedicated their lives to the understanding of the treatment of quantum fields in a fixed gravitational background. Massimo Giovannini, CERN Courier This is an interesting book which contains a lot of material about an important topic of theoretical physics. Michael Keyl, Mathematical Reviews

Author Information

Leonard Parker is a Distinguished Professor in the Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. In the 1960s, he was the first to use quantum field theory to show that the gravitational field of the expanding universe creates elementary particles from the vacuum. David J. Toms is a Reader in Mathematical Physics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Newcastle University. His research interests include the formalism of quantum field theory and its applications, and his most recent interests involve the use of quantum field theory methods in low energy quantum gravity.

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