Generally covariant quantization and the Dirac field

Canonical Hamiltonian field theory in curved spacetime is formulated in a manifestly covariant way. Second quantization is achieved invoking a correspondence principle between the Poisson bracket of classical fields and the commutator of the corresponding quantum operators. The Dirac theory is investigated and it is shown that, in contrast to the case of bosonic fields, in curved spacetime, the field momentum does not coincide with the generators of spacetime translations. The reason is traced back to the presence of second class constraints occurring in Dirac theory. Further, it is shown that the modification of the Dirac Lagrangian by a surface term leads to a momentum transfer between the Dirac field and the gravitational background field, resulting in a theory that is free of constraints, but not manifestly hermitian.Comment: final version, to appear in Annals Phy

Second order formalism in Poincare gauge theory

Changing the set of independent variables of Poincare gauge theory and considering, in a manner similar to the second order formalism of general relativity, the Riemannian part of the Lorentz connection as function of the tetrad field, we construct theories that do not contain second or higher order derivatives in the field variables, possess a full general relativity limit in the absence of spinning matter fields, and allow for propagating torsion fields in the general case. A concrete model is discussed and the field equations are reduced by means of a Yasskin type ansatz to a conventional Einstein-Proca system. Approximate solutions describing the exterior of a spin polarized neutron star are prsented and the possibility of an experimental detection of the torsion fields is briefly discussed.Comment: final version, to appear in IJMP

A Littlewood-Richardson rule for evaluation representations of quantum affine sl(n)

We give a combinatorial description of the composition factors of the induction product of two evaluation modules of the affine Iwahori-Hecke algebra of type GL(m). Using quantum affine Schur-Weyl duality, this yields a combinatorial description of the composition factors of the tensor product of two evaluation modules of the quantum affine algebra of type sl(n)