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This book tackles quantum gravity via the so-called background field method and its effective action functional. The author presents an explicitly covariant and effective technique to calculate the de Witt coefficients and to analyze the Schwinger-de Wit asymptotic expansion of the effective action. He also investigates the ultraviolet behaviour of higher-derivative quantum gravity.
The book addresses theoretical physicists, graduate students as well as researchers, but should also be of interest to physicists working in mathematical or elementary particle physics.
List of contents
Background Field Method in Quantum Field Theory.- Technique for Calculation of De Witt Coefficients.- Partial Summation of Schwinger-De Witt Expansion.- Higher-Derivative Quantum Gravity.- Conclusion.
Report
"This monograph rightly belongs to a series 'Lecture notes in Physics', as it represents a well-written review of main results by the author, who is a recognized expert on heat kernel techniques in quantum gravity. [...] The results exposed in this book reflect the major contributions of the author to differential geometry and the theory of differential operators. They have many applications in quantum field theory with background fields, and indeed, the book can be used as a text for a short graduate course in the heat kernel techniques and their quantum gravity." (Mathematical Reviews 2003a)
