Two aspects of quantum field theory in curved spacetimes are discussed. First, the limits for applicability of the equivalence principle in the context of low energy effective field theories is considered. In particular, we find three classes of higher-derivative interactions for the gravitational and electromagnetic fields which produce dispersive photon propagation. One of these classes of interactions also produces birefringent propagation. This result is illustrated by calculating the energy-dependent contribution to the bending of light. In the second part, the divergences appearing in statistical black hole entropy are analysed. Using a Pauli-Villars regulator, it is shown that 't Hooft's approach to evaluating black hole entropy through a statistical-mechanical counting of states for a scalar field propagating outside the event horizon yields precisely the one-loop renormalization of the standard Bekenstein-Hawking formula, $S = { cal A}/(4G),$ where $ cal A$ is the black hole area. The calculation also yields a constant contribution to the black hole entropy, which may be associated with the one-loop renormalization of certain higher curvature terms in the gravitational action. The calculation of black hole entropy is done for a Schwarzschild black hole as well as for a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.40375 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Lafrance, René. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001538815, proquestno: NN19737, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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