The Universal One-Loop Effective Action with Gravity

Abstract

We complete the so-called Universal One-Loop Effective Action (UOLEA) with effects of gravity and provide a systematic approach to incorporate higher dimensional operators in curved spacetime. The functional determinant stemming from the path integral is computed using the Covariant Derivative Expansion (CDE), in a momentum representation that does not rely on a specific choice of coordinate to be defined, as it often is. This very simple and efficient approach also manifests an interesting novelty as it allows to integrate out chiral fermions in curved spacetime in a direct manner. The presented method would very well fit in a code that performs CDE, offering the possibility to integrate out at one-loop fields on a curved spacetime background, including spin-2 fields, like the graviton. Eventually these results should provide an interesting way to study low energy effects of UV completions of gravity.