Renormalization of higher-derivative quantum gravity

Abstract

Gravitational actions which include terms quadratic in the curvature tensor are renormalizable. The necessary Slavnov identities are derived from Becchi-Rouet-Stora (BRS) transformations of the gravitational and Faddeev-Popov ghost fields. In general, non-gauge-invariant divergences do arise, but they may be absorbed by nonlinear renormalizations of the gravitational and ghost fields (and of the BRS transformations). Fortunately, these artifactual divergences may be eliminated by letting the coefficient of the harmonic gauge-fixing term tend to infinity, thus considerably simplifying the renormalization procedure. Coupling to other renormalizable fields may then be handled in a straightforward manner.