Scattering of Quantum Particles in de Sitter Spacetime I: The Formalism

Abstract

We develop a formalism for computing the scattering amplitudes in maximally symmetric de Sitter spacetime with compact spatial dimensions. We describe quantum states by using the representation theory of de Sitter symmetry group and link the Hilbert space to geodesic observers. The positive and negative ``energy'' wavefunctions are uniquely determined by the requirement that in observer's neighborhood, short wavelengths propagate as plane waves with positive and negative frequencies, respectively; they define a unique ``Euclidean'' (a.k.a.\ Bunch-Davies) de Sitter invariant vacuum, common to all inertial observers. By following the same steps as in Minkowski spacetime, we show that the scattering amplitudes are given by a generalized Dyson's formula. Compared to the flat case, they describe the scattering of wavepackets with the frequency spectrum determined by geometry. The frequency spread shrinks as the masses and/or momenta become larger than the curvature scale. Asymptotically, de Sitter amplitudes agree with the amplitudes evaluated in Minkowski spacetime.