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Main Authors: Schröfl, Markus, Floerchinger, Stefan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.05795
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author Schröfl, Markus
Floerchinger, Stefan
author_facet Schröfl, Markus
Floerchinger, Stefan
contents We study the time evolution of a state of a relativistic quantum field theory restricted to a spatial subregion $Ω$. More precisely, we use the Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism to describe the dynamics of the field theory in the interior of $Ω$ arising after integrating out the degrees of freedom in the exterior. We show how the influence of the environment gets encoded in a boundary term. Furthermore, we derive a stochastic equation of motion for the field expectation value in the interior. We find that the boundary conditions obtained in this way are energy non-conserving and non-local in space and time. Our results find applications in understanding the emergence of local thermalization in relativistic quantum field theories and the relationship between quantum field theory and relativistic fluid dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_05795
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Time Evolution of Relativistic Quantum Fields in Spatial Subregions
Schröfl, Markus
Floerchinger, Stefan
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
We study the time evolution of a state of a relativistic quantum field theory restricted to a spatial subregion $Ω$. More precisely, we use the Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism to describe the dynamics of the field theory in the interior of $Ω$ arising after integrating out the degrees of freedom in the exterior. We show how the influence of the environment gets encoded in a boundary term. Furthermore, we derive a stochastic equation of motion for the field expectation value in the interior. We find that the boundary conditions obtained in this way are energy non-conserving and non-local in space and time. Our results find applications in understanding the emergence of local thermalization in relativistic quantum field theories and the relationship between quantum field theory and relativistic fluid dynamics.
title Time Evolution of Relativistic Quantum Fields in Spatial Subregions
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.05795