Quantum fluctuations in conformally flat and Schwarschild spacetimes

Abstract

A general technique is described for dealing with the quantum fluctuations between conformally flat space-times. The second part of the paper deals with the Schwarschild space-time. It is shown there that this space-time is stable against fluctuations of mass, but transitions between two space-times of different masses can be obtained via conformal fluctuations. Purely conformal fluctuations of the Schwarschild metric are, however, damped at the event horizon. Similar conclusions are drawn about the Reissner-Nordstrom space-time.