Effective Field Theory and Applications: Weak Field Observables from Scattering Amplitudes in Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

In this chapter, we will review the field-theoretic treatment of General Relativity based on an effective field theory extension of the Einstein-Hilbert action. This pragmatic route to low-energy quantum effects in gravity critically underpins miscellaneous investigations of phenomenological and quantum extensions of General Relativity. We discuss how it allows quantum field theory to be a theoretical laboratory for testing Einstein's theory of gravity and demonstrate the current state of the art of an efficient and practical scheme for evaluating the classical components of perturbative weak-field scattering amplitudes until the fourth post-Minkowskian order. Such results complement numerical predictions in Einstein's theory of gravity.