R. Percacci
We construct the spin-projection operators for a theory containing a symmetric two-index tensor and a general three-index tensor. We then use them to analyse, at linearized level, the most general action for a metric-affine theory of…
We discuss theories of gravity with independent metric (or frame field) and connection, from the point of view of effective field theory. We count the parity-even Lagrangian terms of dimension up to four and give explicit bases for the…
We discuss the possibility to define exact RG equations for a UV regulated Wilsonian action based on a proper time (PT) regulator function. We start from a functional mapping which shows how each particular flow equation (and RG scheme) is…
It is shown that the one-loop effective action of unimodular gravity is the same as that of ordinary gravity, restricted to unimodular metrics. The only difference is in the treatment of the global scale degree of freedom and of the…
We compute the one-loop divergences in a theory of gravity with Lagrangian of the general form $f(R,R_{\mu\nu}R^{\mu\nu})$, on an Einstein background. We also establish that the one-loop effective action is invariant under a duality that…
We compute the one-loop effective action in unimodular gravity, starting from two different classical formulations of the theory. We find that the effective action is the same in both cases, and agrees with the one of General Relativity.
We compute the one-loop divergences in a higher-derivative theory of gravity including Ricci tensor squared and Ricci scalar squared terms, in addition to the Hilbert and cosmological terms, on an (generally off-shell) Einstein background.…
We perform a general computation of the off-shell one-loop divergences in Einstein gravity, in a two-parameter family of path integral measures, corresponding to different ways of parametrizing the graviton field, and a two-parameter family…
Just as string T-duality originates from transforming field equations into Bianchi identities on the string worldsheet, so it has been suggested that M-theory U-dualities originate from transforming field equations into Bianchi identities…
We study the target-space duality transformations in $p$--branes as transformations which mix the worldvolume field equations with Bianchi identities. We consider an $(m+p+1)$-dimensional spacetime with $p+1$ dimensions compactified, and a…
We generalize to dimension $p>1$ the notion of string structure and discuss the related obstruction. We apply our results to a model of bosonic $p$-branes propagating on a principal $G$-bundle, coupled to a Yang--Mills field and an…
Using canonical methods, we study the invariance properties of a bosonic $p$--brane propagating in a curved background locally diffeomorphic to $M\times G$, where $M$ is spacetime and $G$ a group manifold. The action is that of a gauged…
There have been some speculations about the existence of critical unitary O(N)-invariant scalar field theories in dimensions 4<d<6 and for large N. Using the functional renormalization group equation, we show that in the lowest order of the…
We compute the one-loop beta functions of the cosmological constant, Newton's constant and the topological mass in topologically massive supergravity in three dimensions. We use a variant of the proper time method supplemented by a simple…
Any theory can be made Weyl invariant by introducing a dilaton. It is shown how to construct renormalization group equations for gravity that maintain this property. Explicit calculations are given only in the simplest approximation, namely…
We consider a model in which Goldstone bosons, described by a SU(N) chiral nonlinear sigma model, are coupled to an N-plet of colored fermions by means of a Yukawa interaction. We study the one-loop renormalization group flow and show that…
We calculate the running of the three coupling constants in cosmological, topologically massive 3d gravity. We find that \nu, the dimensionless coefficient of the Chern-Simons term, has vanishing beta function. The flow of the cosmological…
We consider matter fields conformally coupled to a background metric and dilaton and describe in detail a quantization procedure and related renormalization group flow that preserve Weyl invariance. Even though the resulting effective…
In these lectures I review the status of gravity from the point of view of the gauge principle and renormalization, the main tools in the toolbox of theoretical particle physics. In the first lecture I start from the old question "in what…
We discuss general theories of N scalar fields with O(N) symmetry. In addition to the standard case of linearly realized symmetry there are also examples that carry nonlinear realizations, with the topology of a cylinder $R\times S^{N-1}$…