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Main Authors: De, Shounak, Landau, Yakov
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10846
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author De, Shounak
Landau, Yakov
author_facet De, Shounak
Landau, Yakov
contents In this work, we initiate the study of light-ray operators in four-dimensional de Sitter space focusing on null integrals of the stress tensor. In Minkowski space, the null integral of the stress tensor unifies several ostensibly different constructions, functioning simultaneously as the energy flux operator, the angular contribution to a conserved charge, the averaged null energy operator, and the light transform of the stress tensor. However, we show that the de Sitter analogs of these various interpretations do not necessarily coincide but rather lead to distinct, observer-dependent light-ray operators. We construct four such de Sitter analogs and analyze their matrix elements in a free, conformally coupled scalar theory, showing that they exhibit the expected symmetry and positivity properties.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10846
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle De Sitter Light-Ray Operators
De, Shounak
Landau, Yakov
High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
In this work, we initiate the study of light-ray operators in four-dimensional de Sitter space focusing on null integrals of the stress tensor. In Minkowski space, the null integral of the stress tensor unifies several ostensibly different constructions, functioning simultaneously as the energy flux operator, the angular contribution to a conserved charge, the averaged null energy operator, and the light transform of the stress tensor. However, we show that the de Sitter analogs of these various interpretations do not necessarily coincide but rather lead to distinct, observer-dependent light-ray operators. We construct four such de Sitter analogs and analyze their matrix elements in a free, conformally coupled scalar theory, showing that they exhibit the expected symmetry and positivity properties.
title De Sitter Light-Ray Operators
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10846