In this work we study the Sorkin-Johnston (SJ) vacuum in de Sitter spacetime for free scalar field theory. For the massless theory we find that the SJ vacuum can neither be obtained from the O(4) Fock vacuum of Allen and Folacci nor from the non-Fock de Sitter invariant vacuum of Kirsten and Garriga. Using a causal set discretisation of a slab of 2d and 4d de Sitter spacetime, we find the causal set SJ vacuum for a range of masses m ≥ 0 of the free scalar field. While our simulations are limited to a finite volume slab of global de Sitter spacetime, they show good convergence as the volume is increased. We find that the 4d causal set SJ vacuum shows a significant departure from the continuum Mottola-Allen α-vacua. Moreover, the causal set SJ vacuum is well-defined for both the minimally coupled massless m = 0 and the conformally coupled massless m = m c cases. This is at odds with earlier work on the continuum de Sitter SJ vacuum where it was argued that the continuum SJ vacuum is ill-defined for these masses. Our results hint at an important tension between the discrete and continuum behaviour of the SJ vacuum in de Sitter and suggest that the former cannot in general be identified with the Mottola-Allen α-vacua even for m > 0.

de Sitter (dS) cosmological horizons are known to exhibit thermodynamic properties similar to black hole horizons. In this work we study causal set dS horizons, using Sorkin’s spacetime entanglement entropy (SSEE) formula, for a conformally coupled quantum scalar field. We calculate the causal set SSEE for the Rindler-like wedge of a symmetric slab of dS spacetime in d = 2, 4 spacetime dimensions using the Sorkin–Johnston vacuum state. We find that the SSEE obeys an area law when the spectrum of the Pauli–Jordan operator is appropriately truncated in both the dS slab as well as its restriction to the Rindler-like wedge. Without this truncation, the SSEE satisfies a volume law. This is in agreement with Sorkin and Yazdi’s calculations for the causal set SSEE for nested causal diamonds in M 2 , where they showed that an area law is obtained only after truncating the Pauli–Jordan spectrum. In this work we explore different truncation schemes with the criterion that the SSEE so obtained obeys an area law.

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We calculate Sorkin's manifestly covariant, spacetime entanglement entropy (SSEE) for a massive and massless minimally coupled free Gaussian scalar field for the de Sitter horizon and Schwarzschild de Sitter horizons, respectively, in d > 2. In de Sitter spacetime we restrict the Bunch-Davies vacuum in the conformal patch to the static patch to obtain a mixed state. The finiteness of the spatial L2 norm in the static patch implies that the SSEE is well defined for each mode. We find that for this mixed state it is independent of the effective mass of the scalar field and matches results obtained by Higuchi and Yamamoto, where, a spatial density matrix was used to calculate the horizon entanglement entropy. Using a cut-off in the angular modes we show that the SSEE is proportional to the area of the de Sitter cosmological horizon. Our analysis can be carried over to the black hole and cosmological horizon in Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetime, which also has finite spatial L2 norm in the static regions. Although the explicit form of the modes is not known in this case, we use appropriate boundary conditions for a massless minimally coupled scalar field, to find the mode-wise SSEE for both the black hole and de Sitter cosmological horizons. As in the de Sitter calculation we see that SSEE is proportional to the horizon area in each case after taking a cut-off in the angular modes.

We examine the validity and scope of Johnston's models for scalar field retarded Green functions on causal sets in 2 and 4 dimensions. As in the continuum, the massive Green function can be obtained from the massless one, and hence the key task in causal set theory is to first identify the massless Green function. We propose that the 2-d model provides a Green function for the massive scalar field on causal sets approximated by any topologically trivial 2 dimensional spacetime. We explicitly demonstrate that this is indeed the case in a Riemann normal neighbourhood. In 4-d the model can again be used to provide a Green function for the massive scalar field in a Riemann normal neighbourhood which we compare to Bunch and Parker's continuum Green function. We find that the same prescription can also be used for deSitter spacetime and the conformally flat patch of anti deSitter spacetime. Our analysis then allows us to suggest a generalisation of Johnston's model for the Green function for a causal set approximated by 3 dimensional flat spacetime.