Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime

Leonard Parker is a Distinguished Professor in the Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. In the 1960s, he was the first to use quantum field theory to show that the gravitational field of the expanding universe creates elementary particles from the vacuum. David J. Toms is a Reader in Mathematical Physics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Newcastle University. His research interests include the formalism of quantum field theory and its applications, and his most recent interests involve the use of quantum field theory methods in low energy quantum gravity.

• Preface; Conventions and notation; 1. Quantum fields in Minkowski spacetime; 2. Basics of quantum fields in curved spacetimes; 3. Expectation values quadratic in fields; 4. Particle creation by black holes; 5. The one-loop effective action; 6. The effective action: non-gauge theories; 7. The effective action: gauge theories; Appendixes; References; Index.

"While readers of Birrel and Davies will certainly like this new book, newcomers and students will appreciate the breadth and the style of a treatise written by two well known scientists who have dedicated their lives to the understanding of the treatment of quantum fields in a fixed gravitational background." Massimo Giovannini, CERN Courier