Toward quantization of inhomogeneous field theory

Abstract

We explore the quantization of a $$(1+1)$$ -dimensional inhomogeneous scalar field theory in which Poincaré symmetry is explicitly broken. We show the ‘classical equivalence’ between a scalar field theory on curved spacetime background and its corresponding inhomogeneous scalar field theory. This implies that a hidden connection may exist among some inhomogeneous field theories, which corresponds to general covariance in field theory on curved spacetime. Based on the classical equivalence, we propose how to quantize a specific field theory with broken Poincaré symmetry inspired by standard field theoretic approaches, canonical and algebraic methods, on curved spacetime. Consequently, we show that the Unruh effect can be realized in inhomogeneous field theory and propose that it may be tested by a condensed matter experiment. We suggest that an algebraic approach is appropriate for the quantization of a generic inhomogeneous field theory.