zeta-function regularization and one-loop renormalization of field fluctuations in curved space-times

A method to regularize and renormalize the fluctuations of a quantum field in a curved background in the $\zeta$-function approach is presented. The method produces finite quantities directly and finite scale-parametrized counterterms at most. These finite couterterms are related to the presence of a particular pole of the effective-action $\zeta$ function as well as to the heat kernel coefficients. The method is checked in several examples obtaining known or reasonable results. Finally, comments are given for as it concerns the recent proposal by Frolov et al. to get the finite Bekenstein-Hawking entropy from Sakharov's induced gravity theory.Comment: 9 pages, standard LaTeX, no figure

Euclidean Thermal Green Functions of Photons in Generalized Euclidean Rindler Spaces for any Feynman-like Gauge

The thermal Euclidean Green functions for Photons propagating in the Rindler wedge are computed employing an Euclidean approach within any covariant Feynman-like gauge. This is done by generalizing a formula which holds in the Minkowskian case. The coincidence of the found (\be=2\pi)-Green functions and the corresponding Minkowskian vacuum Green functions is discussed in relation to the remaining static gauge ambiguity already found in previous papers. Further generalizations to more complicated manifolds are discussed. Ward identities are verified in the general case.Comment: 12 pages, standard latex, no figures, some signs changed, more comments added, final version to appear on Int. J. Mod. Phys.

On the Dimensional Reduction Procedure

The issue related to the so-called dimensional reduction procedure is revisited within the Euclidean formalism. First, it is shown that for symmetric spaces, the local exact heat-kernel density is equal to the reduced one, once the harmonic sum has been succesfully performed. In the general case, due to the impossibility to deal with exact results, the short time heat-kernel asymptotics is considered. It is found that the exact heat-kernel and the dimensionally reduced one coincide up to two non trivial leading contributions in the short time expansion. Implications of these results with regard to dimensional-reduction anomaly are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, enlarged discussion added in Sec 3 and typos corrected. Version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Ambiguity in the evaluation of the effective action on the cone

An ambiguity in the computation of the one-loop effective action for fields living on a cone is illustrated. It is shown that the ambiguity arises due to the non-commutativity of the regularization of ultraviolet and (conical) boundary divergencies.Comment: REVTeX file, 10 pages. Comments on recent papers have been adde

Quantum fluctuations on a thick de Sitter brane

We investigate quantum fluctuations on a de Sitter (dS) brane, which has its own thickness, in order to examine whether or not the finite thickness of the brane can act as a natural cut-off for the Kaluza-Klein (KK) spectrum. We calculate the amplitude of the KK modes and the bound state by using the zeta function method after a dimensional reduction.We show that the KK amplitude is finite for a given brane thickness and in the thin wall limit the standard surface divergent behavior is recovered. The strength of the divergence in the thin wall limit depends on the number of dimensions, e.g., logarithmic on a two dimensional brane and quadratic on a four dimensional brane. We also find that the amplitude of the bound state mode and KK modes depends on the choice of renormalization scale; and for fixed renormalization scales the bound state mode is insensitive to the brane thickness both for two and four-dimensional dS branes.Comment: 23 pages, typos correcte

Dynamical Chiral Symmetry Breaking and its Restoration for an Accelerated Observer

Based on the Hawking-Unruh thermalization theorem, we investigate the phenomenon of the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and its restoration for a uniformly accelerated observer. We employ the Nambu$-$Jona-Lasinio model in Rindler coordinates, and calculate the effective potential and the gap equation. The critical coupling and the critical acceleration for symmetry restoration are obtained.Comment: 7 pages. Phys. Lett. B (2004), in pres

Massive scalar field near a cosmic string

The $\zeta$ function of a massive scalar field near a cosmic string is computed and then employed to find the vacuum fluctuation of the field. The vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor is also computed using a point-splitting approach. The obtained results could be useful also for the case of self-interacting scalar fields and for the finite-temperature Rindler space theory.Comment: 15 pages, standard LaTeX, no figures. Reference [14] correcte