Application of Microlocal Analysis to the Theory of Quantum Fields Interacting with a Gravi.pdfVIP

7 Application of Microlocal Analysis to the Theory of 9 9 Quantum Fields Interacting with a Gravitational 1 n Field a J 0 1 Wolfgang Junker 1 v It is explained how techniques from microlocal analysis can be used to settle some 9 3 long-standing questions that arise in the study of the interaction of quantum matter 0 fields with a classical gravitational background field. 1 0 7 9 / 1 Introduction h t - p Quantum field theory (QFT) is the theory of elementary particles and their e fundamental interactions. The very successful standard model which describes h : the electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions of the observed elementary v i particles does however not incorporate gravity. The quantisation of gravity X (“quantum gravity”) is a very difficult problem which is presently still far r from its solution. An easier, but only approximate approach to the interaction a of matter and gravitational fields is the “semiclassical theory” (or “QFT in curved spacetimes”) where the gravitational field is described classically as a 4-dim. Lorentzian manifold (M,g) and only the matter fields are quantized to operator valued Wightman fields. This theory, which we will describe in the following more closely, should have a wide range of physical applicability, from quantum effects in the early universe to the Hawking radiation of massive stars collapsing to a black hole, and should also lead to a better understanding of the local features of standard QFT (for a g