World-Line Path Integral for the Propagator Expressed as an Ordinary Integral: Concept and Applications

Abstract

The (Feynman) propagator $G(x_2,x_1)$ encodes the entire dynamics of a massive, free scalar field propagating in an arbitrary curved spacetime. The usual procedures for computing the propagator -- either as a time ordered correlator or from a partition function defined through a path integral -- requires introduction of a field $\phi(x)$ and its action functional $A[\phi(x)]$. An alternative, more geometrical, procedure is to define a propagator in terms of the world-line path integral which only uses curves, $x^i(s)$, defined on the manifold. I show how the world-line path integral can be reinterpreted as an ordinary integral by introducing the concept of effective number of quantum paths of a given length. Several manipulations of the world-line path integral become algebraically tractable in this approach. In particular, I derive an explicit expression for the propagator $G_{\rm QG}(x_2,x_1)$, which incorporates the quantum structure of spacetime through a zero-point-length, in terms of the standard propagator $G_{\rm std}(x_2,x_1)$, in an arbitrary curved spacetime. This approach also helps to clarify the interplay between the path integral amplitude and the path integral measure in determining the form of the propagator. This is illustrated with several explicit examples.