Ulm 2004 – scientific programme

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PV: Plenarvorträge

PV IX

PV IX: Plenary Talk

Wednesday, March 17, 2004, 10:00–11:00, H22

The current status of quantum fields in curved spacetime — •Rainer Verch — MPI für Mathematik, Leipzig

In this talk, I will report on the developments in quantum field theory in curved spacetime which, during the past 10 years, have led to impressive progress. These developments are centered around concepts like the microlocal spectrum condition, quantum energy inequalities and local general covariance. With the help of these concepts, it has been possible to formulate and complete the renormalization program of perturbative quantum field theory on generic spacetime backgrounds, and to arrive at strong structural theorems like PCT and the connection between spin and statistics. Furthermore, some insight into the qualitative behavior of semiclassical gravity has been gained, showing that the occurrence of exotic spacetime scenarios, e.g. closed timelike curves, is suppressed by the dynamical stability of quantum fields.