2002/06/30 by Edward Teo, K. F. Wong · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.66.064007
published as Phys.Rev. D66 (2002) 064007 · 17 pages, 4 figures; final version to appear in PRD
arxiv created 2002/07/23 · openalex publication_date 2002/09/13 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The quantum interest conjecture of Ford and Roman asserts that any negative-energy pulse must necessarily be followed by an overcompensating positive-energy one within a certain maximum time delay. Furthermore, the minimum amount of over-compensation increases with the separation between the pulses. In this paper we first study the case of a negative-energy square pulse followed by a positive-energy one for a minimally coupled, massless scalar field in two-dimensional Minkowski space. We obtain explicit expressions for the maximum time delay and the amount of over-compensation needed, using a previously developed eigenvalue approach. These results are then used to give a proof of the quantum interest conjecture for massless scalar fields in two dimensions, valid for general energy distributions.