Quantum Gravitational Contributions to Gauge Field Theories

Abstract

We revisit quantum gravitational contributions to quantum gauge field theories in the gauge condition independent Vilkovisky—DeWitt formalism based on the background field method. With the advantage of Landau-DeWitt gauge, we explicitly obtain the gauge condition independent result for the quadratically divergent gravitational corrections to gauge couplings. By employing, in a general way, a scheme-independent regularization method that can preserve both gauge invariance and original divergent behavior of integrals, we show that the resulting gauge coupling is power-law running and asymptotically free. The regularization scheme dependence is clarified by comparing with results obtained by other methods. The loop regularization scheme is found to be applicable for a consistent calculation.