On renormalisation of the quantum stress tensor in curved space-time by dimensional regularisation

Abstract

Using dimensional regularisation, a prescription is given for obtaining a finite renormalised stress tensor in curved space-time. Renormalisation is carried out by renormalising coupling constants in the n-dimensional Einstein equation generalised to include tensors which are fourth order in derivatives of the metric. Except for the special case of a massless conformal field in a conformally flat space-time, this procedure is not unique. There exists an infinite one-parameter family of renormalisation ansatze differing from each other in the finite renormalisation that takes place. Nevertheless, the renormalised stress tensor for a conformally invariant field theory acquires a nonzero trace which is independent of the renormalisation ansatz used and which has a value in agreement with that obtained by other methods. A comparison is made with some earlier work using dimensional regularisation which is shown to be in error.