arXiv · hep-th/9909086
The Dimensional-Reduction Anomaly
Abstract
In a wide class of D-dimensional spacetimes which are direct or semi-direct sums of a (D-n)-dimensional space and an n-dimensional homogeneous ``internal'' space, a field can be decomposed into modes. As a result of this mode decomposition, the main objects which characterize the free quantum field, such as Green functions and heat kernels, can effectively be reduced to objects in a (D-n)-dimensional spacetime with an external dilaton field. We study the problem of the dimensional reduction of the effective action for such spacetimes. While before renormalization the original D-dimensional effective action can be presented as a ``sum over modes'' of (D-n)-dimensional effective actions, this property is violated after renormalization. We calculate the corresponding anomalous terms explicitly, illustrating the effect with some simple examples.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
V. Frolov, P. Sutton, A. Zelnikov. 1999-10-09. The Dimensional-Reduction Anomaly. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.61.024021
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.