Anharmonic Waves in Field Theory

Abstract

This work starts from the premise that sinusoidal plane waves cease to be solutions of field theories when turning on an interaction. A nonlinear interaction term generates harmonics analogous to those observed in nonlinear optical media. This calls for a generalization to anharmonic waves in both classical and quantum field theory. Three simple requirements make anharmonic waves compatible with relativistic field theory and quantum physics. Some non-essential concepts have to be abandoned, such as orthogonality, the superposition principle, and the existence of single-particle energy eigenstates. The most general class of anharmonic waves allows for a zero frequency term in the Fourier series, which corresponds to a quantum field with a non-zero vacuum expectation value. Anharmonic quantum fields are defined by generalizing the expansion of a field operator into creation and annihilation operators. This method provides a framework for handling exact quantum fields, which define exact single particle states.