Quantum irreversibility in arbitrary dimension

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Abstract
Some recent ideas are generalized from four dimensions to the general dimension n. In quantum field theory, two terms of the trace anomaly in external gravity, the Euler density G_n and Box^{n/2-1}R, are relevant to the problem of quantum irreversibility. By adding the divergence of a gauge-invariant current, G_n can be extended to a new notion of Euler density, linear in the conformal factor. We call it pondered Euler density. This notion relates the trace-anomaly coefficients a and a' of G_n and Box^{n/2-1}R in a universal way (a=a') and gives a formula expressing the total RG flow of a as the invariant area of the graph of the beta function between the fixed points. I illustrate these facts in detail for n=6 and check the prediction to the fourth-loop order in the phi^3-theory. The formula of quantum irreversibility for general n even can be extended to n odd by dimensional continuation. Although the trace anomaly in external gravity is zero in odd dimensions, I show that the odd-dimensional formula has a predictive content.

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