One-loop divergences for $f(R)$ gravity

Abstract

We calculate the divergent part of the one-loop effective action for $f(R)$ gravity on an arbitrary background manifold. Our result generalizes previous results for quantum corrections in $f(R)$ gravity, which have been limited to spaces of constant curvature. We discuss a new technical aspect connected to operators with degenerate principal symbol. Our result has important applications in cosmology and allows to study the quantum equivalence between $f(R)$ theories and scalar-tensor theories.