Charge Renormalization due to Graviton Loops

Abstract

The leading term in the gauge coupling beta function comes due to interaction of gauge field with gravitons. It is shown to be a universal quantity for all gauge theories. At one-loop it is found to be zero in four dimensions. This is independent of the gravity action with metric as the field variable, gauge fixing condition and regularization scheme. This term being universally same for all gauge groups is further studied in the case of abelian gauge theories, where due to self-duality this term is shown to be zero to all loops, on-shell. Consequences of this are discussed.