A sharpened nuclearity condition for massless fields

A recently proposed phase space condition which comprises information about the vacuum structure and timelike asymptotic behavior of physical states is verified in massless free field theory. There follow interesting conclusions about the momentum transfer of local operators in this model.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX. As appeared in Letters in Mathematical Physic

On Infravacua and Superselection Theory

In the DHR theory of superselection sectors, one usually considers states which are local excitations of some vacuum state. Here, we extend this analysis to local excitations of a class of "infravacuum" states appearing in models with massless particles. We show that the corresponding superselection structure, the statistics of superselection sectors and the energy-momentum spectrum are the same as with respect to the vacuum state. (The latter result is obtained with a novel method of expressing the shape of the spectrum in terms of properties of local charge transfer cocycles.) These findings provide evidence to the effect that infravacua are a natural starting point for the analysis of the superselection structure in theories with long-range forces.Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages, spelling errors correcte

On Infravacua and the Localisation of Sectors

A certain class of superselection sectors of the free massless scalar field in 3 space dimensions is considered. It is shown that these sectors, which cannot be localised with respect to the vacuum, acquire a much better localisation, namely in spacelike cones, when viewed in front of suitable ``infravacuum'' backgrounds. These background states coincide, essentially, with a class of states introduced by Kraus, Polley and Reents as models for clouds of infrared radiation.Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages, minor corrections in order to conform with published versio

Nuclearity and Thermal States in Conformal Field Theory

We introduce a new type of spectral density condition, that we call L^2-nuclearity. One formulation concerns lowest weight unitary representations of SL(2,R) and turns out to be equivalent to the existence of characters. A second formulation concerns inclusions of local observable von Neumann algebras in Quantum Field Theory. We show the two formulations to agree in chiral Conformal QFT and, starting from the trace class condition for the semigroup generated by the conformal Hamiltonian L_0, we infer and naturally estimate the Buchholz-Wichmann nuclearity condition and the (distal) split property. As a corollary, if L_0 is log-elliptic, the Buchholz-Junglas set up is realized and so there exists a beta-KMS state for the translation dynamics on the net of C*-algebras for every inverse temperature beta>0. We include further discussions on higher dimensional spacetimes. In particular, we verify that L^2-nuclearity is satisfied for the scalar, massless Klein-Gordon field.Comment: 37 pages, minor correction

Warped Convolutions, Rieffel Deformations and the Construction of Quantum Field Theories

Warped convolutions of operators were recently introduced in the algebraic framework of quantum physics as a new constructive tool. It is shown here that these convolutions provide isometric representations of Rieffel's strict deformations of C*-dynamical systems with automorphic actions of R^n, whenever the latter are presented in a covariant representation. Moreover, the device can be used for the deformation of relativistic quantum field theories by adjusting the convolutions to the geometry of Minkowski space. The resulting deformed theories still comply with pertinent physical principles and their Tomita-Takesaki modular data coincide with those of the undeformed theory; but they are in general inequivalent to the undeformed theory and exhibit different physical interpretations.Comment: 34 page

Phase space properties of charged fields in theories of local observables

Within the setting of algebraic quantum field theory a relation between phase-space properties of observables and charged fields is established. These properties are expressed in terms of compactness and nuclearity conditions which are the basis for the characterization of theories with physically reasonable causal and thermal features. Relevant concepts and results of phase space analysis in algebraic quantum field theory are reviewed and the underlying ideas are outlined.Comment: 33 pages, no figures, AMSTEX, DESY 94-18

There are No Causality Problems for Fermi's Two Atom System

A repeatedly discussed gedanken experiment, proposed by Fermi to check Einstein causality, is reconsidered. It is shown that, contrary to a recent statement made by Hegerfeldt, there appears no causality paradoxon in a proper theoretical description of the experiment.Comment: 6 pages, latex, DESY 94-02

Deformations of Fermionic Quantum Field Theories and Integrable Models

Considering the model of a scalar massive Fermion, it is shown that by means of deformation techniques it is possible to obtain all integrable quantum field theoretic models on two-dimensional Minkowski space which have factorizing S-matrices corresponding to two-particle scattering functions S_2 satisfying S_2(0) = -1. Among these models there is for example the Sinh-Gordon model. Our analysis provides a complement to recent developments regarding deformations of quantum field theories. The deformed model is investigated also in higher dimensions. In particular, locality and covariance properties are analyzed.Comment: 20 page

Geometric modular action for disjoint intervals and boundary conformal field theory

In suitable states, the modular group of local algebras associated with unions of disjoint intervals in chiral conformal quantum field theory acts geometrically. We translate this result into the setting of boundary conformal QFT and interpret it as a relation between temperature and acceleration. We also discuss aspects ("mixing" and "charge splitting") of geometric modular action for unions of disjoint intervals in the vacuum state.Comment: Dedicated to John E. Roberts on the occasion of his 70th birthday; 24 pages, 3 figure