Boundary conditions and vacuum fluctuations in AdS\(_4\) (Q2179680)

The authors study scalar field theory in AdS spacetime which is static and non-globally hyperbolic. Using the symmetries of the AdS\(_n\), the field equation reduces to \[ Af_{\omega,\ell}=\omega^2f_{\omega,\ell} \] where \(\ell\) is an integer indicating the angular momentum of the mode represented by \(f_{\omega,\ell}\), \[ A:=-\frac{d^2}{d\rho^2}+\frac{\nu^2-\frac{1}{4}}{\cos^2\rho}+\frac{\sigma^2-\frac{1}{4}}{\sin^2\rho}, \] \(\sigma:=\ell+\frac{n-3}{2}\) and \(\nu^2\) encapsulates the effective mass of the scalar field. The operator \(A\) admits a unique self-adjoint extension for \(\nu^2\ge1\) which is positive, and a one-parameter family of positive self-adjoint extensions of \(A\) exists for \(0\le\nu^2<1\) [\textit{A. Ishibashi} and \textit{R. M. Wald}, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, No. 12, 2981--3013 (2004; Zbl 1064.83006)]. After giving a short review of these results, the authors focus on scalar fields propagating in AdS\(_4\) with \(\nu=\frac{1}{2}\) whose non-spherically symmetric modes \(\ell\neq0\) respect the Dirichlet boundary condition at the conformal boundary \(\rho=\frac{\pi}{2}\). However, for the \(\ell = 0\) mode, they allow it to satisfy the Robin condition with a parameter \(\alpha\) \[ \left[{\frac{df_{\omega,0}}{d\rho}}\Big/{f_{\omega,0}}\right]_{\rho=\frac{\pi}{2}}=-\frac{1}{\alpha}. \] Positivity requires that \[ \frac{1}{\alpha}\ge-\frac{2}{\pi}. \] The authors study and compute the expectation values of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for \(\alpha>0\) numerically.