Pragmatic mode-sum regularization method for semiclassical black-hole spacetimes

Computation of the renormalized stress-energy tensor is the most serious obstacle in studying the dynamical, self-consistent, semiclassical evaporation of a black hole in 4D. The difficulty arises from the delicate regularization procedure for the stress-energy tensor, combined with the fact that in practice the modes of the field need to be computed numerically. We have developed a new method for numerical implementation of the point-splitting regularization in 4D, applicable to the renormalized stress-energy tensor as well as to ⟨{^2⟩}ₑ₄₍, namely the renormalized ⟨^2⟩. So far we have formulated two variants of this method: t-splitting (aimed for stationary backgrounds) and angular splitting (for spherically symmetric backgrounds). In this paper we introduce our basic approach, and then focus on the t-splitting variant, which is the simplest of the two (deferring the angular-splitting variant to a forthcoming paper). We then use this variant, as a first stage, to calculate ⟨{^2⟩}ₑ₄₍ in Schwarzschild spacetime, for a massless scalar field in the Boulware state. We compare our results to previous ones, obtained by a different method, and find full agreement. We discuss how this approach can be applied (using the angular-splitting variant) to analyze the dynamical self-consistent evaporation of black holes.