Working Paper Article Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

# A Physically-Motivated Quantisation of the Electromagnetic Field on Curved Spacetimes

Version 1 : Received: 6 July 2019 / Approved: 8 July 2019 / Online: 8 July 2019 (04:45:45 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Maybee, B.; Hodgson, D.; Beige, A.; Purdy, R. A Physically-Motivated Quantisation of the Electromagnetic Field on Curved Spacetimes. Entropy 2019, 21, 844. Maybee, B.; Hodgson, D.; Beige, A.; Purdy, R. A Physically-Motivated Quantisation of the Electromagnetic Field on Curved Spacetimes. Entropy 2019, 21, 844.

Journal reference: Entropy 2019, 21, 844
DOI: 10.3390/e21090844

## Abstract

Recently, Bennett et al. [Eur. J. Phys. 37:014001, 2016] presented a physically-motivated and explicitly gauge-independent scheme for the quantisation of the electromagnetic field in flat Minkowski space. In this paper we generalise this field quantisation scheme to curved spacetimes. Working within the standard assumptions of quantum field theory and only postulating the physicality of the photon, we derive the Hamiltonian, $\hat H$, and the electric and magnetic field observables, $\hat {\bf E}$ and $\hat {\bf B}$, without having to invoke a specific gauge. As an example, we quantise the electromagnetic field in the spacetime of an accelerated Minkowski observer, Rindler space, and demonstrate consistency with other field quantisation schemes by reproducing the Unruh effect.

## Subject Areas

quantum electrodynamics; relativistic quantum information

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