Quantum mechanical path integrals in curved spaces and the type-A trace anomaly

DOI10.1007/JHEP04(2017)050zbMATH Open1378.81062arXiv1702.04247MaRDI QIDQ680655FDOQ680655

Authors: Fiorenzo Bastianelli, Olindo Corradini, Edoardo Vassura 

Publication date: 23 January 2018

Published in: Journal of High Energy Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Path integrals for particles in curved spaces can be used to compute trace anomalies in quantum field theories, and more generally to study properties of quantum fields coupled to gravity in first quantization. While their construction in arbitrary coordinates is well understood, and known to require the use of a regularization scheme, in this article we take up an old proposal of constructing the path integral by using Riemann normal coordinates. The method assumes that curvature effects are taken care of by a scalar effective potential, so that the particle lagrangian is reduced to that of a linear sigma model interacting with the effective potential. After fixing the correct effective potential, we test the construction on spaces of maximal symmetry and use it to compute heat kernel coefficients and type-A trace anomalies for a scalar field in arbitrary dimensions up to d=12. The results agree with expected ones, which are reproduced with great efficiency and extended to higher orders. We prove explicitly the validity of the simplified path integral on maximally symmetric spaces. This simplified path integral might be of further use in worldline applications, though its application on spaces of arbitrary geometry remains unclear.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.04247

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zbMATH Keywords

anomalies in field and string theoriessigma models

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Geometry and quantization, symplectic methods (81S10) Anomalies in quantum field theory (81T50) Methods of quantum field theory in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C47) String and superstring theories in gravitational theory (83E30) Path integrals in quantum mechanics (81S40)

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Cited In (8)

• Path Integrals and Quantum Anomalies
• Trace anomalies and the string-inspired definition of quantum-mechanical path integrals in curved space.
• A Monte Carlo approach to the worldline formalism in curved space
• Simplified path integral for supersymmetric quantum mechanics and type-A trace anomalies
• Resurgence of the large-charge expansion
• Path integrals and quantum anomalies
• Curvature and quantized Arnold strangeness
• The \(d=6\) trace anomaly from quantum field theory four-loop graphs in one dimension

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