Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Within the background field formalism of quantum gravity, I show that if the quantum fluctuations are limited to diffeomorphic gauge transformations rather than the physical degrees of freedom, as in conventional quantum field theory, all the quantum corrections vanish on shell and the effective action is equivalent to the classical action. In principle, the resulting theory is finite and unitary, and requires no renormalization. I also show that this is the unique parameterization that renders the path integral independent of the on-shell condition for the background field, a form of background independence. Thus, a connection is established between background independence and renormalizability and unitarity.
Source: Modern Physics Letters A
Author: Brian Slovick
Institution: SRI International
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3173300724