An analytic approach to the stress energy tensor in quantum field theory

Abstract: We discuss a framework for quantum fields in curved spacetimes that possess a stress energy tensor as a connection one form on a suitable moduli space of metrics. In generic spacetimes the existence of such a tensor is thought to be a replacement for the existence of symmetries that the Minkowski theory relies on. It is shown that the local time-slice property and the implementability of local isometries is a consequence of the existence of a stress energy tensor that is a local field. We prove that the Klein-Gordon field, in an irreducible Fock representation in which the ground state is Hadamard, is an example. In this example we show that the scattering matrix for compactly supported metric perturbations exists in the Fock space and is smooth on a dense set with respect to the perturbation parameter. This generalises results by Dimock and Wald.