AG Mathematische Physik, Daan Janssen (York): Characteristic renormalization and applications to black hole formation

Daan Janssen (York)

Characteristic renormalization and applications to black hole formation

Abstract:

We present a regularization prescription for Hadamard two-point
functions defined on the boundary of a lightcone, which can be used to
analyze renormalized quantities for linear scalar fields in a curved
background. This can be applied to formulate the semi-classical Einstein
equations as a characteristic initial value problem. Furthermore, we
shall discuss how these tools may be used to estimate backreaction
effects of quantum fields near gravitationally collapsing bodies and
study formation of horizons and singularities in semi-classical gravity.