This concise text introduces techniques from quantum mechanics, especially scattering theory, to compute the effects of an external background on a quantumfield in general, and on the properties of the quantum vacuum in particular. This approach can be succesfully used in an increasingly large number of situations, ranging from the study of solitons in field theory and cosmology to thedetermination of Casimir forces in nano-technology. The method introduced andapplied in this book is shown to give an unambiguous connection to perturbation theory, implementing standard renormalization conditions even for non-perturbative backgrounds. It both gives new theoretical insights, for example illuminating longstanding questions regarding Casimir stresses, and also provides an efficient analytic and numerical tool well suited to practical calculations. INDICE: Introduction.- Review of Scattering Theory.- Quantum Field Theory and the Spectral Method.- Applications in One Space Dimension.- Spectral Analysis of Charges.- Hedgehog Configurations in d=3+1.- Boundary Conditions and Casimir Forces.- String Type Configurations.- Quantum Corrections to Q-Balls.- References.- Index.
- ISBN: 978-3-642-00138-3
- Editorial: Springer
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 190
- Fecha Publicación: 01/04/2009
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés