Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: We calculate the divergent part of the one-loop effective action in curved spacetime for a particular class of second-order vector field operators with a degenerate principal part. The principal symbol of these operators has the structure of a longitudinal projector. In this case, standard heat-kernel techniques are not directly applicable. We present a method which reduces the problem to a nondegenerate scalar operator for which standard heat-kernel techniques are available. Interestingly, this method leads to the identification of an effective metric structure in the longitudinal sector. The one-loop divergences are compactly expressed in terms of invariants constructed from this metric.
Authors: Michael S. Ruf, Christian F. Steinwachs
Institution: University of Freiburg
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Award: G3884375913
OpenAlex ID: W2890821059