Relativistic invariance of the vacuum

Abstract

Relativistic invariance of the vacuum is (or follows from) one of the Wightman axioms, which is commonly believed to be true. Without these axioms, here we present a direct and general proof of continuous relativistic invariance of all real-time vacuum correlations of fields, not only scattering (forward in time), based on closed time path formalism. The only assumptions are basic principles of relativistic quantum field theories: the relativistic invariance of the Lagrangian, of the form including known interactions (electromagnetic, weak and strong), and standard rules of quantization. The proof is in principle perturbative leaving a possibility of spontaneous violation of invariance. Time symmetry is, however, manifestly violated. © 2013 The Author(s).