A field theory characterization of interacting adiabatic particles in cosmology

Abstract

We explore the adiabatic particle excitations of an interacting field in a cosmological background. By following the time-evolution of the quantum state corresponding to the particle excitation, we show how the basic properties characterizing the particle propagation can be recovered from the two-point propagators. As an application, we study the background-induced dissipative effects on the propagation of a two-level atom in an expanding universe.