Calculation of the trace anomaly of the conformal energy-momentum tensor in Kasner spacetime by adiabatic regularization

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The anomalous trace of the energy-momentum tensor of a quantized massless conformal scalar field in a homogeneous anisotropic, spatially flat background is calculated by the method of adiabatic regularization. This method yields the same result as obtained earlier by other formal methods for a general spacetime, but has the advantage of simplicity in computation and clarity in physical interpretation. Explicit expressions are also obtained for the regularized energy density and pressure, which are useful in formulating semiclassical theories of gravity and in calculating the back reaction of quantized fields in relativistic cosmology.