Convenient versus unique effective action formalism in 2d dilaton-Maxwell quantum gravity

The structure of one-loop divergences of two-dimensional dilaton-Maxwell quantum gravity is investigated in two formalisms: one using a convenient effective action and the other a unique effective action. The one-loop divergences (including surface divergences) of the convenient effetive action are calculated in three different covariant gauges: (i) De Witt, (ii) Ω-degenerate De Witt, and (iii) simplest covariant. The on-shell effective action is given by surface divergences only (finiteness of theS-matrix), which yet depend upon the gauge condition choice. Off-shell renormalizability is discussed and classes of renormalizable dilaton and Maxwell potentials are found which coincide in the cases of convenient and unique effective actions. A detailed comparison of both situations, i.e. convenient vs. unique effective action, is given. As an extension of the procedure, the one-loop effective action in two-dimensional dilaton-Yang-Mills gravity is calculated.     

Effective action studies of quantum Hall skyrmions

We discuss effective action studies of quantum Hall spin textures both at edges and in the bulk. The effective action energy functional is minimized by numerically integrating the equations of motion. We compare the numerical results with analytical expressions valid for small and with results obtained from Hartree–Fock calculations. The Hartree–Fock energies are lower than the effective action energies, but for small the agreement is very good.     

The Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action for quantum gravity

The Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action for gauge theories is reviewed and then discussed in the context of N-dimensional quantum gravity and quantum Kaluza-Klein theory. The formalism gives an effective action which is gauge-independent and gauge and field-parametrization invariant. These features are illustrated for the vacuum energy of N-dimensional gravity. The Bunch-Parker local momentum space approach is used to calculate also the induced Ricci scalar term in the expansion of the effective action in powers of the curvature. The effective field equations are applied to the self-consistent dimensional reduction of five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory. A solution exists, but is found to be physically unacceptable.     

Vilkovisky-de Witt effective action in quantum field theory in curved spacetime

The potentialities of the application of the Vilkovisky-de Witt effective action in quantum field theory in curved spacetime are discussed. A number of examples is given, in which this effective action eliminates problems related to the standard effective action.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 107–110, April, 1990.The author thanks I. L. Buchbinder for discussion of the work.     

Anatomy of one-loop effective action in non-commutative scalar field theories

The one-loop effective action of non-commutative scalar field theory with cubic self-interaction is studied. Utilizing the worldline formulation, both the planar and non-planar parts of the effective action are computed explicitly. We find complete agreement of the result with the Seiberg–Witten limit of a string worldsheet computation and with the standard Feynman diagrammatics. We prove that, in the low-energy and large non-commutativity limit, the non-planar part of the effective action is simplified enormously and is resummable into a quadratic action of scalar open Wilson line operators. Received: 22 July 2001 / Revised version: 19 October 2001 / Published online: 7 December 2001     

Effective actions and large-N limits

The saddlepoint action for a large-N theory is given as an effective action for composite operators. This effective action is computed explicitly forO(N) models and as a series in large-N invariants for matrix models. In the latter case, the use of the first term of the series is found to give good numerical agreement with the exact solutions of the solvable models.     

N = 4 SYM low-energy effective action in N = 4 harmonic superspace

We apply the N = 4 harmonic superspace with USp(4) harmonic variables for describing the N = 4 SYM low-energy effective action. Scale invariance and gauge symmetry fix the leading term in the low-energy effective action uniquely, up to a constant. The value of the remaining constant can be fixed by the topological quantization condition for the Wess-Zumino term which is present in the component structure of this action.     

Unique effective action in two-dimensional quantum gravity with nonlocal action

The gauge dependence of the effective action in two-dimensional induced quantum gravity is investigated. A unique effective action is found, and its dependence on the metric of the configuration space is studied.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 97–100, January, 1992.     

Unique effective action in Kaluza-Klein quantum theories and spontaneous compactification

The one-loop unique effective action by Vilkovisky in the d = 5 Einstein gravity and R²-gravity on the space M₄×S₁ is calculated, where M₄ is the Minkowski space and S₁ is a one-dimensional sphere. Also, the one-loop unique effective action for d-dimensional Einstein gravity on M₄×T_d−4 is calculated. The results of the calculation of the standard effective action are compared with those in the same theories.     

Quantum effects in five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory

The role of quantum effects in five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory is discussed. We concentrate in particular on the evaluation of terms in the one-loop effective action which look like the Maxwell action. A detailed discussion of the reduction of the five-dimensional gravitational action to an equivalent four-dimensional form is given. Self-consistent solutions of the form R⁴ x S¹ are examined. We consider how the inclusion of quantized matter fields into the five-dimensional theory can change results based only on quantum gravitational effects. The importance of including the induced Maxwell term is stressed. It is also noted how a finite renormalization of the one-loop effective action is important.     

Derivation of the effective action of a dilute Fermi gas in the unitary limit of the BCS–BEC crossover

The effective action describing the gapless Nambu–Goldstone, or Anderson–Bogoliubov, mode of a zero-temperature dilute Fermi gas at unitarity is derived up to next-to-leading order in derivatives from the microscopic theory. Apart from a next-to-leading order term that is suppressed in the BCS limit, the effective action obtained in the strong-coupling unitary limit is proportional to that obtained in the weak-coupling BCS limit.     

Direct construction of the effective action of chiral gauge fermions in the anomalous sector

The anomaly implies an obstruction to a fully chiral covariant calculation of the effective action in the abnormal-parity sector of chiral theories. The standard approach then is to reconstruct the anomalous effective action from its covariant current. In this work, we use a recently introduced formulation which allows one to directly construct the non-trivial chiral invariant part of the effective action within a fully covariant formalism. To this end we develop an appropriate version of Chan’s approach to carry out the calculation within the derivative expansion. The result to four derivatives, i.e., to leading order in two and four dimensions and next-to-leading order in two dimensions, is explicitly worked out. Fairly compact expressions are found for these terms.     

Functional integral equation for the complete effective action in quantum field theory

Based on a methodological analysis of the effective action approach, certain conceptual foundations of quantum field theory are reconsidered to establish a quest for an equation for the effective action. Relying on the functional integral formulation of Lagrangian quantum field theory, we propose a functional integral equation for the complete effective action which can be understood as a certain fixed-point condition. This is motivated by a critical attitude toward the distinction, artificial from an experimental point of view, between classical and effective action. While for free field theories nothing new is accomplished, for interacting theories the concept differs from the established paradigm. The analysis of this new concept concentrates on gauge field theories, treating QED as the prototype model. An approximative approach to the functional integral equation for the complete effective action of QED is exploited to obtain certain nonperturbative information about the quadratic kernels of the action. As a particular application the approximate calculation of the QED coupling constant α is explicitly studied. It is understood as one of the characteristics of a fixed point given as a solution of the functional integral equation proposed. Finally, within the present approach the vacuum energy problem is considered, as are possible implications for the concept of induced gravity.     

Gauge-Invariant and Gauge-Fixing Independent Effective Action in One-Loop Quantum Gravity

The one-parameter dependent family of the gauge invariant and gauge fixing independent effective actions is considered in one-loop approximation. The one-loop unique effective action (chosing as the representative of this family) in d = 4 Einstein quantum gravity with scalar field and Brans-Dicke quantum theory in flat space, in d = 4 Einstein gravity on De Sitter background, in higher derivative gravity on d-dimensional torus compactified background is calculated. The configuration-space metric dependence of the unique effective action in these calculations is investigated. The appearing problems (the configuration-space metric dependence of the physical quantities like induced gravitational constant) are discussed.     

Unique effective action in two dimensional induced quantum gravity

The gauge dependence of the effective action in two dimensional induced gravity with non-local action is investigated. The unique effective action in this theory on flat background is also discussed. The configuration-space metric dependence of the unique effective action is studied.On leave from Tomsk Pedagogical Inst., Tomsk, Russia Address after 1.08.92: Dept. of Physics, Hiroshima Univ., Higashi-Hiroshima 724, Japan     

Abelian and non‐abelian D‐brane effective actions

In this Ph.D. thesis, accepted at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, we review and elaborate on a method to find the D‐brane effective action, based on BPS equations. Firstly, both for the Yang‐Mills action and the Born‐Infeld action it is shown that these configurations are indeed BPS, i.e. solutions to these equations saturate a Bogomolny bound and leave some supersymmetry unbroken. Next, we use the BPS equations as a tool to construct the D‐brane effective action and require that (a deformation of) these equations should still imply the equations of motion in more general cases. In the abelian case we managed to calculate all order in α′ four‐derivative corrections to the effective action and the BPS equations while in the non‐abelian case we obtained the effective action up to order α′⁴. Furthermore, we discuss a check based on the spectrum of strings stretching between intersecting branes. Finally, this Ph.D. thesis also discusses the construction of a boundary superspace which would be the first step to use the method of Weyl invariance in N = 2 superspace in order to again construct the D‐brane effective action. A more detailed summary of each section can be found in the introduction.     

Induced Rigid String Action from Fermions

By adding the Dirac action on the world sheet, an effective action is obtained by integrating over the four-dimensional fermion fields pulled back to the world sheet. This action consists of the Nambu–Goto area term with a right dimensionful constant in front, extrinsic curvature action, and the topological Euler characteristic term. The divergent coefficients in front of these terms are absorbed in the rigid string action without fermions.     

Aspects of effective action for super Chern-Simons-Matter models

We develop the superfield background field method and study the effective action in the N = 2, d3 supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter systems. The one-loop low-energy effective action for non-Abelian supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory is computed to order F ⁴ by use of N = 2 superfield heat kernel techniques.     

Superfield approach to the construction of effective action in quantum field theory with extended supersymmetry

We review the current state of research on the construction of effective actions in supersymmetric quantum field theory. Special attention is paid to gauge models with extended supersymmetry in the superfield approach. The advantages of formulation of such models in harmonic superspace for the calculation of effective action are emphasized. Manifestly supersymmetric and manifestly gauge-invariant methods for constructing the low-energy effective actions and deriving the corrections to them are considered and the possibilities to obtain the exact solutions are discussed. The calculations of one-loop effective actions in N = 2 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory with hypermultiplets and in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory are analyzed in detail. The relationship between the effective action in supersymmetric quantum field theory and the low-energy limit in superstring theory is discussed.