Nonlocal stress-energy tensor in time-dependent gravitational backgrounds

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Boasso, A., Mazzitelli, F. D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Boasso, A.
Mazzitelli, F. D.
author_facet Boasso, A.
Mazzitelli, F. D.
contents We analyze the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) of a massless quantum scalar field in time-dependent gravitational backgrounds. Starting from its formal expression obtained within the covariant perturbative expansion to lowest order in the curvature, we evaluate the RSET in an arbitrary number of dimensions in terms of coordinate-space distributions. For time-dependent spherically symmetric spacetimes, we derive a multipole expansion and determine its asymptotic behavior. We find that the RSET is locally nonvanishing at null infinity and depends on the detailed dynamics of the collapsing body. However, the total emitted energy vanishes at this order, meaning that the leading contribution does not account for the energy density of the created particles. Nevertheless, by enforcing stress-tensor conservation up to second order in the curvature, we show that the total radiated energy can be extracted from the first-order RSET. Finally, we compute the induced quantum corrections to the metric at large distances, which display several interesting features.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_24449
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nonlocal stress-energy tensor in time-dependent gravitational backgrounds
Boasso, A.
Mazzitelli, F. D.
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
We analyze the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) of a massless quantum scalar field in time-dependent gravitational backgrounds. Starting from its formal expression obtained within the covariant perturbative expansion to lowest order in the curvature, we evaluate the RSET in an arbitrary number of dimensions in terms of coordinate-space distributions. For time-dependent spherically symmetric spacetimes, we derive a multipole expansion and determine its asymptotic behavior. We find that the RSET is locally nonvanishing at null infinity and depends on the detailed dynamics of the collapsing body. However, the total emitted energy vanishes at this order, meaning that the leading contribution does not account for the energy density of the created particles. Nevertheless, by enforcing stress-tensor conservation up to second order in the curvature, we show that the total radiated energy can be extracted from the first-order RSET. Finally, we compute the induced quantum corrections to the metric at large distances, which display several interesting features.
title Nonlocal stress-energy tensor in time-dependent gravitational backgrounds
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.24449