The one-loop functional as a Berezinian

Abstract

We employ notions familiar from supersymmetry for constructing the one-loop functional of general quantum field theories with bosons and fermions (spin ≤ 1/2). To demonstrate the advantages of such an approach for calculating one-loop divergences, we analyse a simple Yukawa theory with two different versions of a super-heat-kernel expansion. These methods also simplify the calculation of one-loop divergences for non-renormalizable meson–baryon Lagrangians occurring in chiral perturbation theory.