Torque Anomaly in Quantum Field Theory


Abstract in English

The expectation values of energy density and pressure of a quantum field inside a wedge-shaped region appear to violate the expected relationship between torque and total energy as a function of angle. In particular, this is true of the well-known Deutsch--Candelas stress tensor for the electromagnetic field, whose definition requires no regularization except possibly at the vertex. Unlike a similar anomaly in the pressure exerted by a reflecting boundary against a perpendicular wall, this problem cannot be dismissed as an artifact of an ad hoc regularization.

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