Background-independent one-loop renormalization of tensor and scalar primordial spectra
High Energy Physics - Theory
2026-07-07 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
We present a background-independent renormalization framework for one-loop primordial spectra. We apply it to two observables: the scalar-induced tensor spectrum sourced by a minimally coupled spectator field, and the scalar spectrum generated by potential self-interactions. In both cases, the UV part of the loops is isolated and, using the universal WKB behavior of the internal modes, the UV poles are extracted analytically and absorbed into local counterterms without having to specify either the background evolution or the full dynamics of the field running in the loop. This yields finite model-independent expressions for the renormalized spectra amenable to numerical analysis.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.06042,
title = {Background-independent one-loop renormalization of tensor and scalar primordial spectra},
author = {Guillermo Ballesteros and Jesús Gambín Egea and Flavio Riccardi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.06042},
year = {2026}
}