Functional determinants in quantum field theory
Nov, 2007Citations per year
Abstract: (arXiv)
Functional determinants of differential operators play a prominent role in theoretical and mathematical physics, and in particular in quantum field theory. They are, however, difficult to compute in non-trivial cases. For one dimensional problems, a classical result of Gel'fand and Yaglom dramatically simplifies the problem so that the functional determinant can be computed without computing the spectrum of eigenvalues. Here I report recent progress in extending this approach to higher dimensions (i.e., functional determinants of partial differential operators), with applications in quantum field theory.Note:
- Plenary talk at QTS5 (Quantum Theory and Symmetries)/ 16 pp, 2 figs
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