The time slice axiom in perturbative quantum field theory on globally hyperbolic spacetimes

Abstract

The time slice axiom states that the observables which can be measured within an arbitrarily small time interval suffice to predict all other observables. While well known for free field theories where the validity of the time slice axiom is an immediate consequence of the field equation it was not known whether it also holds in generic interacting theories, the only exception being certain superrenormalizable models in 2 dimensions. In this paper we prove that the time slice axiom holds at least for scalar field theories within formal renormalized perturbation theory.