A uniqueness criterion for the Fock quantization of scalar fields with time-dependent mass

Abstract

A major problem in the quantization of fields in curved spacetimes is the ambiguity in the choice of a Fock representation for the canonical commutation relations. There exists infinite number of choices leading to different physical predictions. In stationary scenarios, a common strategy is to select a vacuum (or a family of unitarily equivalent vacua) by requiring invariance under the spacetime symmetries. When stationarity is lost, a natural generalization consists in replacing time invariance by unitarity in the evolution. We prove that when the spatial sections are compact, the criterion of a unitary dynamics, together with the invariance under the spatial isometries, suffices to select a unique family of Fock quantizations for a scalar field with time-dependent mass. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.