Anomalies from an effective field theory perspective

Abstract

The path-integral measure of a gauge-invariant fermion theory is transformed under the chiral transformation and leads to an elegant derivation of the anomalous chiral Ward-Takahashi identities, as we know from the seminal work of Fujikawa. We present in this work an alternative and illuminating way to calculate the Jacobian in the path-integral measure from the Covariant Derivative Expansion technique used in Effective Field Theory. We present several ways to customize the crucial regularization such that the anomaly is located in the desired current, which is unprecedented within the path integral approach. We are then able to derive, in a transparent and unified way the covariant, consistent, gravitational and scale anomalies.

48 pages, v2 extended computations and clarified discussions. Version accepted for publication in PRD

References in corpus (4)

• Integrating out heavy particles with functional methods: a simplified framework
• Extending the Universal One-Loop Effective Action: Heavy-Light Coefficients
• Functional Prescription for EFT Matching
• Axion Effective Action

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Axion-like ALPs
• Trace Anomaly of Weyl Fermions via the Path Integral
• Universal definition of the non-conformal trace anomaly
• Axions and Superfluidity in Weyl Semimetals
• The Universal One-Loop Effective Action with Gravity
• Anomalies From the Covariant Derivative Expansion
• Gauge $SU(2{)}_f$ flavour transfers
• The Weyl anomaly in interacting quantum field theory on curved spacetimes