English

Dispersive derivation of the trace anomaly

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2008-02-03 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We present a simple derivation of the one-loop trace anomaly in spinor QED through dispersion relations, avoiding completely any ultraviolet regularization. The anomaly can be expressed as a convergent sum rule for the imaginary part of a relevant formfactor. In the massless limit, the imaginary part produces a delta-function singularity at zero external momentum squared. Such a treatment reveals an "infrared face" of the trace anomaly, in striking similarity with the well-known case of the axial anomaly.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/9701397,
  title  = {Dispersive derivation of the trace anomaly},
  author = {J. Horejsi and M. Schnabl},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/9701397},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

12 pages LATEX, minor changes in references