Torque anomaly in quantum field theory
Abstract
The expectation values of energy density and pressure of a quantum field inside a wedge-shaped region appear to violate the expected relationship between torque and total energy as a function of angle. In particular, this is true of the well-known Deutsch-Candelas stress tensor for the electromagnetic field, whose definition requires no regularization except possibly at the vertex. Unlike a similar anomaly in the pressure exerted by a reflecting boundary against a perpendicular wall, this problem cannot be dismissed as an artifact of an ad hoc regularization.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review D
- Pub Date:
- February 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.047702
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1212.6249
- Bibcode:
- 2013PhRvD..87d7702F
- Keywords:
-
- 03.70.+k;
- 11.10.-z;
- Theory of quantized fields;
- Field theory;
- High Energy Physics - Theory;
- Mathematical Physics;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- 3 pages