Canonical quantization of the covariant fields on de Sitter space–times

Abstract

The properties of the covariant quantum fields on de Sitter space–times are investigated focusing on the isometry generators and Casimir operators in order to establish the equivalence among the covariant representations and the unitary irreducible ones of the de Sitter isometry group. For the Dirac quantum field, it is shown that the spinor covariant representation, transforming the Dirac field under de Sitter isometries, is equivalent with a direct sum of two unitary irreducible representations of the [Formula: see text] group, transforming alike the particle and antiparticle field operators in momentum representation. Their basis generators and Casimir operators are written down finding that the covariant representations are equivalent with unitary irreducible ones from the principal series whose canonical weights are determined by the fermion mass and spin.