7,083 research outputs found
Quantum Effective Action in Spacetimes with Branes and Boundaries
We construct quantum effective action in spacetime with branes/boundaries.
This construction is based on the reduction of the underlying Neumann type
boundary value problem for the propagator of the theory to that of the much
more manageable Dirichlet problem. In its turn, this reduction follows from the
recently suggested Neumann-Dirichlet duality which we extend beyond the tree
level approximation. In the one-loop approximation this duality suggests that
the functional determinant of the differential operator subject to Neumann
boundary conditions in the bulk factorizes into the product of its Dirichlet
counterpart and the functional determinant of a special operator on the brane
-- the inverse of the brane-to-brane propagator. As a byproduct of this
relation we suggest a new method for surface terms of the heat kernel
expansion. This method allows one to circumvent well-known difficulties in heat
kernel theory on manifolds with boundaries for a wide class of generalized
Neumann boundary conditions. In particular, we easily recover several lowest
order surface terms in the case of Robin and oblique boundary conditions. We
briefly discuss multi-loop applications of the suggested Dirichlet reduction
and the prospects of constructing the universal background field method for
systems with branes/boundaries, analogous to the Schwinger-DeWitt technique.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Effective action and heat kernel in a toy model of brane-induced gravity
We apply a recently suggested technique of the Neumann-Dirichlet reduction to
a toy model of brane-induced gravity for the calculation of its quantum
one-loop effective action. This model is represented by a massive scalar field
in the -dimensional flat bulk supplied with the -dimensional kinetic
term localized on a flat brane and mimicking the brane Einstein term of the
Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model. We obtain the inverse mass expansion of
the effective action and its ultraviolet divergences which turn out to be
non-vanishing for both even and odd spacetime dimensionality . For the
massless case, which corresponds to a limit of the toy DGP model, we obtain the
Coleman-Weinberg type effective potential of the system. We also obtain the
proper time expansion of the heat kernel in this model associated with the
generalized Neumann boundary conditions containing second order tangential
derivatives. We show that in addition to the usual integer and half-integer
powers of the proper time this expansion exhibits, depending on the dimension
, either logarithmic terms or powers multiple of one quarter. This property
is considered in the context of strong ellipticity of the boundary value
problem, which can be violated when the Euclidean action of the theory is not
positive definite.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, new references added, typos correcte
Spectral action for torsion with and without boundaries
We derive a commutative spectral triple and study the spectral action for a
rather general geometric setting which includes the (skew-symmetric) torsion
and the chiral bag conditions on the boundary. The spectral action splits into
bulk and boundary parts. In the bulk, we clarify certain issues of the previous
calculations, show that many terms in fact cancel out, and demonstrate that
this cancellation is a result of the chiral symmetry of spectral action. On the
boundary, we calculate several leading terms in the expansion of spectral
action in four dimensions for vanishing chiral parameter of the
boundary conditions, and show that is a critical point of the action
in any dimension and at all orders of the expansion.Comment: 16 pages, references adde
Further functional determinants
Functional determinants for the scalar Laplacian on spherical caps and
slices, flat balls, shells and generalised cylinders are evaluated in two,
three and four dimensions using conformal techniques. Both Dirichlet and Robin
boundary conditions are allowed for. Some effects of non-smooth boundaries are
discussed; in particular the 3-hemiball and the 3-hemishell are considered. The
edge and vertex contributions to the coefficient are examined.Comment: 25 p,JyTex,5 figs. on request
Heat Kernel Expansion for Semitransparent Boundaries
We study the heat kernel for an operator of Laplace type with a
-function potential concentrated on a closed surface. We derive the
general form of the small asymptotics and calculate explicitly several
first heat kernel coefficients.Comment: 16 page
Diffeomorphism invariant eigenvalue problem for metric perturbations in a bounded region
We suggest a method of construction of general diffeomorphism invariant
boundary conditions for metric fluctuations. The case of dimensional
Euclidean disk is studied in detail. The eigenvalue problem for the Laplace
operator on metric perturbations is reduced to that on -dimensional vector,
tensor and scalar fields. Explicit form of the eigenfunctions of the Laplace
operator is derived. We also study restrictions on boundary conditions which
are imposed by hermiticity of the Laplace operator.Comment: LATeX file, no figures, no special macro
Asymptotics of relative heat traces and determinants on open surfaces of finite area
The goal of this paper is to prove that on surfaces with asymptotically cusp
ends the relative determinant of pairs of Laplace operators is well defined. We
consider a surface with cusps (M,g) and a metric h on the surface that is a
conformal transformation of the initial metric g. We prove the existence of the
relative determinant of the pair under suitable
conditions on the conformal factor. The core of the paper is the proof of the
existence of an asymptotic expansion of the relative heat trace for small
times. We find the decay of the conformal factor at infinity for which this
asymptotic expansion exists and the relative determinant is defined. Following
the paper by B. Osgood, R. Phillips and P. Sarnak about extremal of
determinants on compact surfaces, we prove Polyakov's formula for the relative
determinant and discuss the extremal problem inside a conformal class. We
discuss necessary conditions for the existence of a maximizer.Comment: This is the final version of the article before it gets published. 51
page
Multiple reflection expansion and heat kernel coefficients
We propose the multiple reflection expansion as a tool for the calculation of
heat kernel coefficients. As an example, we give the coefficients for a sphere
as a finite sum over reflections, obtaining as a byproduct a relation between
the coefficients for Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. Further, we
calculate the heat kernel coefficients for the most general matching conditions
on the surface of a sphere, including those cases corresponding to the presence
of delta and delta prime background potentials. In the latter case, the
multiple reflection expansion is shown to be non-convergent.Comment: 21 pages, corrected for some misprint
Heat-kernel coefficients for oblique boundary conditions
We calculate the heat-kernel coefficients, up to , for a U(1) bundle on
the 4-Ball for boundary conditions which are such that the normal derivative of
the field at the boundary is related to a first-order operator in boundary
derivatives acting on the field. The results are used to place restrictions on
the general forms of the coefficients. In the specific case considered, there
can be a breakdown of ellipticity.Comment: 9 pages, JyTeX. One reference added and minor corrections mad
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