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Twenty years of the Weyl anomaly
Open accessAbstract
In 1973 two Salam protégés (Derek Capper and the author) discovered that the conformal invariance under Weyl rescalings of the metric tensor displayed by classical massless-field systems in interaction with gravity no longer survives in the quantum theory. Since then these Weyl anomalies have found a variety of applications in black-hole physics, cosmology, string theory and statistical mechanics. We give a nostalgic review.
Overview
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TL;DR
This is a retrospective review of the Weyl anomaly, twenty years after Capper and Duff found that classical Weyl invariance of massless fields coupled to gravity fails quantum mechanically. It surveys the anomaly’s form, its connection to Schwinger-DeWitt coefficients, and applications in black-hole physics, cosmology, supersymmetry, string theory, and statistical mechanics.
Key findings
- Capper and Duff discovered in 1973 that the finite part of the two-point function violates the trace identity: \(n'_{\mu\nu}(\text{finite}) \neq 0\), so the classical Weyl invariance \(g_{\mu\nu} \to \Omega^2(x)g_{\mu\nu}\) does not survive quantization.
- The trace anomaly takes dimension-dependent forms: for \(n=2\), \(g^{\alpha\beta}\langle T_{\alpha\beta}\rangle = aR\); for \(n=4\), \(g^{\alpha\beta}\langle T_{\alpha\beta}\rangle = \alpha R^2 + \beta R_{\mu\nu}R^{\mu\nu} + \gamma R_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}R^{\mu\nu\rho\sigma} + \delta \Box R + cF_{\mu\nu}F^{\mu\nu}\), with no anomaly for odd \(n\) at one loop ignoring boundary terms. These are the Schwinger-DeWitt \(b_4\) coefficients.
- In string theory, Polyakov showed the critical dimensions correspond to absence of the two-dimensional Weyl anomaly: the bosonic-string anomaly is proportional to \(D-26\), and the fermionic-string anomaly to \(D-10\), giving critical dimensions \(D=26\) and \(D=10\).
- The four-dimensional gravitational anomaly depends on two constants \(b\) and \(b'\); explicit calculations give \(b = \frac{1}{120(4\pi)^2}[N_s + 6N_F + 12N_V]\), and the combined anomaly cancels for the \(N=8\) and \(N=4\) supermultiplets.
Methods
- Historical/nostalgic review of the Weyl anomaly over twenty years, synthesizing the author’s recollections and selected literature rather than presenting new primary data.
- Discusses dimensional regularization, Ward identities, trace identities, general covariance, heat-kernel \(b\) coefficients, and applications across black holes, cosmology, supersymmetry, strings, and statistical mechanics.
- No formal sample, dataset, or systematic review protocol is stated.
Limitations
- The paper states uneasiness about the identity relating integrated trace anomalies to non-invariance under constant rescalings, because the Polyakov action is a counterexample; it also notes that the equivalence versus inequivalence of dual formulations remains controversial and that “the final word on this subject has still not been written.”
- The paper states that attempts to generalize Zamolodchikov’s \(c\)-theorem to higher dimensions are “still inconclusive.”
- Evident from the text: this is a retrospective review, not a systematic review, and some equations/names are garbled in the provided OCR, limiting independent verification of coefficients.
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“The significance of my paper with Deser and Isham was that, with the exception of the OR term in (la), none of the above anomalies could be removed by the addition of finite local counterterms (hence the title non-local conformal anomalies)”
§ atYenty years of the Weyl anomalyt > 2. Anomaly? What anomaly? 1389
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In the paper
“To my surprise, I found that n',,,(finite) f: 0 .”
§ atYenty years of the Weyl anomalyt > 1388
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In the paper
“consistent with our observation that the counterterms were not only generally covariant but Weyl invariant as well.”
§ atYenty years of the Weyl anomalyt > 1388
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In the paper
“The Weyl invariance (6) displayed by classical massless-field systems in interaction with gravity, first proposed by Hermann Weyl in 1918 [7-91, no longer survives in the quantum theory!”
§ atYenty years of the Weyl anomalyt > 1388
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [7-91]
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In the paper
“Similarly, a rank three gauge field yielded a non-zero result, even though it is dual to nothing.”
§ atYenty years of the Weyl anomalyt > Polyakov went on to describe what happens in non-critical string theory when the
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [87] Duff M J, 1980, Phys. Lett. source
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“The conformal or trace anomaly corresponds to the quantum contributions of the massless conformal particles and one of the most interesting phenomena of the quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime [55].”
From Instability of de Sitter spacetime induced by quantum conformal anomaly (2019) · cites this paper as [55]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Duff, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Duff, M J
- ORCID
- Duff, M J
- Venue
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 1994-06-01
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1387-1403
- ISSN
- 0264-9381 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6382
- OpenAlex
- W1970179815
- Cited by
- 785
- References
- 130
- Citations by year
- 2026: 59 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 50 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 3.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Classical and Quantum Gravity (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (9106593)
- Imperial College London
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Relativity and Gravitational Theory
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories
- Keywords
- trace anomaly, conformal invariance, Weyl rescaling, massless fields, quantum gravity, black hole physics, cosmology, string theory, statistical mechanics, history of physics
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