A massless scalar field in Robertson-Walker spacetimes:Adiabatic regularization and Green’s function

We study adiabatic regularization of a coupling massless scalar field in general spatially flat Robertson-Walker(RW)spacetimes.For the conformal coupling,the 2nd-order regularized power spectrum and 4th-order regularized stress tensor are zero,and no trace anomaly exists in general RW spacetimes.This is a new result that exceeds those found in de Sitter space.For the minimal coupling,the regularized spectra are also zero in the radiationdominant and matter-dominant stages,as well as in de Sitter space.The vanishing of these adiabatically regularized spectra is further confirmed by direct regularization of the Green's function.For a general coupling and general RW spacetimes,the regularized spectra can be negative under the conventional prescription.At a higher order of regularization,the spectra will generally become positive,but will also acquire IR divergence,which is inevitable for a massless field.To avoid the IR divergence,the inside-horizon regularization is applied.Through these procedures,nonnegative UV-and IR-convergent power spectrum and spectral energy density will eventually be achieved.