Quantum field theory on curved backgrounds

Abstract

Quantum field theory is an extremely successful piece of theoretical physics. Based on few general principles, it describes with an incredibly good precision large parts of particle physics. But also in other fields, in particular in solid state physics, it yields important applications. At present, the only problem which seems to go beyond the general framework of quantum field theory is the incorporation of gravity. Quantum field theory on curved backgrounds aims at a step toward solving this problem by neglecting the back reaction of the quantum fields on the spacetime metric. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.