2005/02/01 by Christopher J. Fewster, Fewster, Christopher J.
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical Physics (math-ph) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #math-ph #math.MP
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.math-ph/0502002
Submitted to the proceedings of the symposium "Rigorous Quantum Field Theory" held in honour of Jacques Bros, Paris 2004
arxiv created 2005/02/01 · openalex publication_date 2005/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We give a brief review of quantum energy inequalities (QEIs) and then discuss two lines of work which suggest that QEIs are closely related to various natural properties of quantum field theory which may all be regarded as stability conditions. The first is based on joint work with Verch, and draws connections between microscopic stability (microlocal spectrum condition), mesoscopic stability (QEIs) and macroscopic stability (passivity). The second direction considers QEIs for a countable number of massive scalar fields, and links the existence and scaling properties of QEIs to the spectrum of masses. The upshot is that the existence of a suitable QEI with polynomial scaling is a sufficient condition for the model to satisfy the Buchholz--Wichmann nuclearity criterion. We briefly discuss on-going work with Ojima and Porrmann which seeks to gain a deeper understanding of this relationship.