English

Massless Scalar Field Propagator in a Quantized Space-Time

High Energy Physics - Theory 2008-11-26 v1

Abstract

We consider in detail the analytic behaviour of the non-interacting massless scalar field two-point function in H.S. Snyder's discretized non-commuting spacetime. The propagator we find is purely real on the Euclidean side of the complex p2p^2 plane and goes like 1/p21/p^2 as p20p^2\to 0 from either the Euclidean or Minkowski side. The real part of the propagator goes smoothly to zero as p2p^2 increases to the discretization scale 1/a21/a^2 and remains zero for p2>1/a2p^2>1/a^2. This behaviour is consistent with the termination of single-particle propagation on the ultraviolet side of the discretization scale. The imaginary part of the propagator, consistent with a multiparticle-production branch discontinuity, is finite and continuous on the Minkowski side, slowly falling to zero when 1/a2<p2<1/a^2<p^2<\infty. Finally, we argue that the spectral function for the multiparticle states appears to saturate as p2p^2 probes just beyond the 1/a21/a^2 discretization scale. We speculate on the cosmological consequences of such a spectral function.

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-th/0603117,
  title  = {Massless Scalar Field Propagator in a Quantized Space-Time},
  author = {V. Elias and T. G. Steele},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0603117},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

6 pages, 1 eps figure embedded in manuscript

R2 v1 2026-07-22T15:35:18.046Z