This thesis consists of two papers, dealing with complementary applications of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism to describe different thermal effects in quantum fields. In the first paper, a black body of finite extent is treated as an unobserved environment in the course of a microscopic derivation of black body radiation. In the second paper, a quantum field is treated as an environment probed by a pointlike accelerating detector, which experiences the thermal Unruh effect (apparent heating of the vacuum). Issues of locality and directionality in quantum field theory are treated in both papers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41522 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Anglin, J. R. (James Robert) |
| Contributors | Myers, R. C. (advisor) |
| 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: 001397694, proquestno: NN94574, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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