https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2737-2
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Gaugeon formalism for perturbative quantum gravity
S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Block JD, Sector III, Salt Lake, Kolkata, 700098, India
* e-mail: sudhakerupadhyay@gmail.com
** e-mail: sudhaker@boson.bose.res.in
Received:
25
October
2013
Accepted:
3
January
2014
Published online:
1
February
2014
In this paper we investigate the Yokoyama gaugeon formalism for perturbative quantum gravity in a general curved spacetime. Within the gaugeon formalism, we extend the configuration space by introducing vector gaugeon fields describing a quantum gauge degree of freedom. Such an extended theory of perturbative gravity admits quantum gauge transformations leading to a natural shift in the gauge parameter. Further we impose the Gupta–Bleuler type subsidiary condition to remove the unphysical gaugeon modes. To replace the Gupta–Bleuler type condition by a more acceptable Kugo–Ojima type subsidiary condition we analyze the BRST symmetric gaugeon formalism. Further, the physical Hilbert space is constructed for the perturbative quantum gravity which remains invariant under both the BRST symmetry and the quantum gauge transformations.
© The Author(s), 2014
