The Weyl anomaly in interacting quantum field theory on curved spacetimes
Markus B. Fröb, Jochen Zahn
April 24, 2025
We define the notion of Weyl anomalies, measuring the violation of local
scale invariance, in interacting quantum field theory on curved spacetimes in
the framework of locally covariant field theory. We discuss some general
properties of Weyl anomalies, such as their relation to the trace anomaly. We
study the trace anomaly in detail for the $\phi^4$ theory, in particular
determining it up to second order in the interaction. We also show that at
third order in the interaction a potential $\Box \phi^2$ term can be removed by
finite renormalization.
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