Axiomatic quantum field theory in curved spacetime (Q981687)

It is generally accepted that the Wightman axioms describe fundamental properties of quantum fields in general. However, they rely on a flat, i.e., Minkowski space-time as background metric. To extend the standard framework Robert Wald (1990), Klaus Fredenhagen (1996) and coworkers started to investigate general quantum field theory with an arbitrary globally hyperbolic space-time as background, inspired by Hawking's work on black holes. This important pioneering work turned out to be extremely ambitious as far as the mathematics is concerned. However, it became obvious that there is no unique natural notion of a vacuum state, nor are there particles in the usual sense. The physics is thus formulated in terms of local observables as opposed to the notion of S-matrices. Hollands and Wald propose an entirely local framework in which the existence of an operator product expansion (OPE) becomes a fundamental status, so that essentially all properties of the quantum fields are determined by it. It is claimed here that the OPE is necessary and sufficient to define an interacting quantum field theory. The authors formulate axioms for the OPE coefficients that replace the Wightman axioms. These include a local covariance assumption using further background structures, i.e., time and space orientations, a microlocal spectrum condition, an associativity condition, and the requirement that the coefficient of the identity in the OPE, when the product of a field with its adjoint is formed, have positive scaling degree. They also prove versions of the spin-statistics theorem and the PCT theorem.