A functional approach to soft graviton scattering and BMS charges. (18th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wilson-Gerow, Jordan; DeLisle, Colby; Stamp, Philip
• Is Part Of: Classical and quantum gravity. Volume 35:Number 16(2018:Aug.)
• Publication Date: 2018-07-18
• Subjects: BMS -- quantum decoherence -- information loss -- scattering -- gravitational memory; Quantum gravity -- Periodicals; Gravitation -- Periodicals; Relativity (Physics) -- Periodicals; Space and time -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 521.1
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/aacfef
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-9381

Abstract

Abstract: We consider the interaction between a matter system and soft gravitons. We use a functional eikonal expansion to deal with the infrared divergences, and introduce a 'composite generating functional' which allows us to calculate a decoherence functional for the time evolution of the system. These techniques allow us to formulate scattering problems in a way which deals consistently with infrared effects, as well as being manifestly diffeomorphism invariant. We show how the asymptotic form of the decoherence functional can be written in terms of the infinitely many conserved charges associated with asymptotic BMS symmetries, and allow us to address the question of how much information is lost during the scattering.