Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology

Abstract We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases, the path integral measure must be carefully defined...

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Main Authors: Kevin Falls, Mario Herrero-Valea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2019-07-01
Series:European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7070-3
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author Kevin Falls
Mario Herrero-Valea
author_facet Kevin Falls
Mario Herrero-Valea
author_sort Kevin Falls
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases, the path integral measure must be carefully defined and that the requirement of diffeomorphism invariance forces it to depend non-trivially on the fields. As a consequence, the measure will transform also non-trivially between different frames and it will induce a new finite contribution to the Quantum Effective Action that we name frame discriminant. This new contribution must be taken into account in order to assess the dynamics and physical consequences of a given theory. We apply our result to scalar-tensor theories described in the Einstein and Jordan frame, where we find that the frame discriminant can be thought as inducing a scale-invariant regularization scheme in the Jordan frame.
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spelling doaj.art-4c2e9ec0eda84ccbbb0acb5aa7bf28cc2022-12-21T18:41:44ZengSpringerOpenEuropean Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields1434-60441434-60522019-07-0179711810.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7070-3Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmologyKevin Falls0Mario Herrero-Valea1Scuola Internazionale di Studi Superiori Avanzati (SISSA)Institute of Physics, LPPC École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneAbstract We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases, the path integral measure must be carefully defined and that the requirement of diffeomorphism invariance forces it to depend non-trivially on the fields. As a consequence, the measure will transform also non-trivially between different frames and it will induce a new finite contribution to the Quantum Effective Action that we name frame discriminant. This new contribution must be taken into account in order to assess the dynamics and physical consequences of a given theory. We apply our result to scalar-tensor theories described in the Einstein and Jordan frame, where we find that the frame discriminant can be thought as inducing a scale-invariant regularization scheme in the Jordan frame.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7070-3
spellingShingle Kevin Falls
Mario Herrero-Valea
Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields
title Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
title_full Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
title_fullStr Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
title_full_unstemmed Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
title_short Frame (in)equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
title_sort frame in equivalence in quantum field theory and cosmology
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7070-3
work_keys_str_mv AT kevinfalls frameinequivalenceinquantumfieldtheoryandcosmology
AT marioherrerovalea frameinequivalenceinquantumfieldtheoryandcosmology