The Batalin Vilkovisky (BV) quantization provides a general procedure for
calculating anomalies associated to gauge symmetries. Recent results show that
even higher loop order contributions can be calculated by introducing an
appropriate regularization-renormalization scheme. However, in its standard
form, the BV quantization is not sensible to quantum violations of the
classical conservation of Noether currents, the so called global anomalies. We
show here that the BV field antifield method can be extended in such a way that
the Ward identities involving divergencies of global Abelian currents can be
calculated from the generating functional, a result that would not be obtained
by just associating constant ghosts to global symmetries. This extension,
consisting of trivially gauging the global Abelian symmetries, poses no extra
obstruction to the solution of the master equation, as it happens in the case
of gauge anomalies. We illustrate the procedure with the axial model and also
calculating the Adler Bell Jackiw anomaly.Comment: We emphasized the fact that our procedure only works for the case of
Abelian global anomalies. Section 3 was rewritten and some references were
added. 12 pages, LATEX. Revised version that will appear in Phys. Rev.
