Theory of a quantum noncanonical field in curved spacetimes

Much attention has been recently devoted to the possibility that quantum gravity effects could lead to departures from special relativity in the form of a deformed Poincarè algebra. These proposals go generically under the name of doubly or deformed special relativity (DSR). In this article we further explore a recently proposed class of quantum field theories, involving noncanonically commuting complex scalar fields, which have been shown to entail a DSR-like symmetry. An open issue for such theories is whether the DSR-like symmetry has to be taken as a physically relevant symmetry, or if in fact the “true” symmetries of the theory are just rotations and translations while boost invariance has to be considered broken. Here we analyze this issue by extending the known results to curved spacetime under both of the previous assumptions. We show that if the symmetry of the free theory is taken to be a DSR-like realization of the Poincaré symmetry, then it is not possible to render such a symmetry a gauge symmetry of the curved physical spacetime. However, it is possible to introduce an auxiliary spacetime which allows one to describe the theory as a standard quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Alternatively, taking the point of view that the noncanonical commutation of the fields actually implies a breakdown of boost invariance, the physical spacetime manifold has to be foliated in surfaces of simultaneity, and the field theory can be coupled to gravity by making use of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner prescription.