On gauge-independence in quantum gravity

Abstract

We prove gauge-independence of one-loop path integral for on-shell quantum gravity obtained in a framework of modified geometric approach. We use projector on pure gauge directions constructed via quadratic form of the action. This enables us to formulate the proof entirely in terms of determinants of non-degenerate elliptic operators without reference to any renormalization procedure. The role of the conformal factor rotation in achieving gauge-independence is discussed. Direct computations on $CP^2$ in a general three-parameter background gauge are presented. We comment on gauge dependence of previous results by Ichinose.