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# 1 Introduction and outlook

## 1 Introduction and outlook

The background field method  is a powerful tool for the study of quantum dynamics in gauge theories, including gravity. Its main merit is a manifestly gauge invariant definition of the quantum effective action. Renormalization of the Yang-Mills theories in this approach is not much harder to establish  than in the conventional one, and the $`S`$-matrix is correctly reproduced . The background field method is universal enough to admit natural superspace generalizations; such extensions have been constructed for $`𝒩=1`$ super Yang-Mills theories and supergravity  and for $`𝒩=2`$ super Yang-Mills theories  (see also  for earlier attempts to develop a background field formulation for some $`𝒩=2`$ SYM models, including the $`𝒩=4`$ SYM theory).

The price to pay for the manifest gauge invariance of the effective action is that one has to deal with propagators in arbitrary background fields, and these are impossible to compute exactly. At the one-loop level, this does not lead to any serious problems, since the famous Schwinger-DeWitt technique  and its numerous generalizations  allow one to compute the effective action to any given order in the derivative expansion. Beyond the one-loop approximation, however, the full power of the background field method has never been exploited. A necessary precursor to such multi-loop calculations should be a manifestly gauge covariant derivative expansion of the Feynman propagators in the presence of arbitrary background fields. This has essentially existed for non-supersymmetric theories since the mid 1980’s  (although, in our opinion, its significance has not yet been fully appreciated), while such an approach has never been elaborated for supersymmetric gauge theories in superspace. In the non-supersymmetric case, a manifestly covariant calculus has only been worked out in detail for computing the UV divergences of the effective action . Otherwise (and often for counterterm calculations only), it has been usual to resort to one of the following options111There also exists the so-called string-inspired approach to perturbative QFT, see  for a review and references. (see  for a more detailed discussion): (i) a combination of conventional perturbation theory with the background field formalism, with manifest background gauge invariance sacrificed at intermediate stages ; (ii) the use of normal coordinates in curved space  or the Schwinger-Fock gauge for Yang-Mills fields (see  and reference therein), usually in conjunction with momentum space methods.

One can hardly overestimate the importance of developing a manifestly gauge covariant derivative expansion of the finite part of the (low energy) effective action beyond the one-loop approximation222In this paper we are interested in the local (or low energy) expansion of the effective action. Concerning the nonlocal part of the effective action, the interested reader is referred to  for a recent comprehensive discussion and references.. A great many research groups have contributed to solving the problem in the non-supersymmetric case, and it is simply impossible to give all references here. The present paper is aimed at completing this program for the case of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. Crucial for our considerations were the ideas and techniques developed by DeWitt  (in particular the concept of parallel displacement propagator), Barvinsky and Vilkovisky  (including the covariant Taylor expansion), as well as Avramidi’s extension  of the covariant calculus introduced in . Of course, in the beginning was Schwinger .

This paper is organized as follows. In sect. 2 we develop a manifestly covariant derivative expansion of the heat kernels in ordinary Yang-Mills theories, extending and generalizing previous results . In sect. 3 we outline a manifestly covariant scheme for evaluating multi-loop diagrams in Yang-Mills theories in the framework of the background field method. Sect. 4 is devoted to a detailed analysis of the properties of the parallel displacement propagators associated with Yang-Mills supermultiplets in $`𝒩`$-extended flat superspace. A superspace covariant Taylor expansion is also derived. The Fock-Schwinger gauge in $`𝒩`$-extended superspace is described in detail for completeness333Unlike numerous previous quantum calculations with background fields, at no stage in our scheme is there need to use the Fock-Schwinger gauge.. In sect. 5 we provide a manifestly covariant derivative expansion of the superfield heat kernels in $`𝒩=1`$ super Yang-Mills theories. The exact superpropagator in a covariantly constant background is computed in sect. 6. Finally, the appendix contains the proof of a technical lemma.

To keep the background covariance of the effective action manifest, Barvinsky and Vilkovisky , and more recently Börnsen and van de Ven , eliminated the momentum representation from their consideration. Our approach differs conceptually from  in that we do preserve the momentum representation in a manifestly covariant way.

The approach developed in this paper opens the way to computing low-energy effective actions in super Yang-Mills theories beyond one loop. A supergravity extension is quite feasible, and old results on the proper-time technique in curved $`𝒩=1`$ superspace  should be relevant. We believe that the results will also be helpful, for instance, for a better understanding of (i) numerous non-renormalization theorems which are predicted by the AdS/CFT conjecture and relate to the explicit structure of the low energy effective action in $`𝒩=4`$ super Yang-Mills theory (see  for more details and references); (ii) quantum deformation of the superconformal symmetry in $`𝒩=2,4`$ SCFTs  at higher loops.

## 2 Non-supersymmetric case

We consider a Green’s function, $`G^i{}_{i^{}}{}^{}(x,x^{})=\mathrm{i}\phi ^i(x)\overline{\phi }_i^{}(x^{})`$, associated with a quantum field $`\phi `$, which transforms in some representation of the gauge group, and its conjugate $`\overline{\phi }`$. The Green’s function satisfies the equation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_xG(x,x^{})=\delta ^d(xx^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{\Delta }=^m_m+𝒫,\mathrm{𝟏}=(\delta ^i{}_{i^{}}{}^{}),$$
(2.1)
with $`_m=_m+\mathrm{i}A_m`$ the gauge covariant derivatives, $`[_m,_n]=\mathrm{i}F_{mn}`$, and $`𝒫(x)`$ a local matrix function of the background field containing a mass term $`(m^2)\mathrm{𝟏}`$. With respect to the gauge group, $`_m`$ and $`𝒫`$ transform as follows

$$_m\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}_m\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)},𝒫\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}𝒫\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)},$$
(2.2)
and therefore

$$G(x,x^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}G(x,x^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x^{})}.$$
(2.3)
We introduce the proper time representation of $`G`$:

$$G(x,x^{})=\mathrm{i}_0^{\mathrm{}}dsK(x,x^{}|s),$$
(2.4)
where the so-called heat kernel $`K(x,x^{}|s)`$ is formally given by

$$K(x,x^{}|s)=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(\mathrm{\Delta }+\mathrm{i}\epsilon )}\delta ^d(xx^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},\epsilon +0,$$
(2.5)
and which transforms as

$$K(x,x^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}K(x,x^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x^{})}$$
(2.6)
with respect to the gauge group.

It is advantageous to make use of the Fourier integral representation

$$\delta ^d(xx^{})=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}$$

for the delta-function in (2.5). To preserve the gauge transformation law (2.6), however, we should actually represent the full delta-function $`\delta ^d(xx^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ as follows:

$$\delta ^d(xx^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}(x,x^{}).$$
(2.7)
Here the matrix $`(x,x^{})`$ is a functional of the background field chosen in such a way that (i) it possesses the gauge transformation law

$$(x,x^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}(x,x^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x^{})};$$
(2.8)
(ii) it satisfies the boundary condition

$$(x,x)=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(2.9)
As a result, the heat kernel takes the form

$$K(x,x^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]}(x,x^{})\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)(x,x^{}).$$
(2.10)
It is clear that the gauge transformation law of the operator $`\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)`$ is

$$\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}.$$
(2.11)
Given a gauge invariant scalar field $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(x)`$ of compact support, one can prove the following operator identity:

$$\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)=\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x^{})\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s),\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(x)\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},$$
(2.12)
see sect. 5 for a proof. This identity implies

$`\widehat{K}(x,x^{}|s)`$ $`=`$ $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s),`$ (2.13)
where the matrix $`\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s)`$ is a functional of the background field such that

$$\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s)\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)=\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s).$$
(2.14)
In other words, the matrix $`\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s)`$ may depend on the covariant derivatives only via multiple commutators starting with the master commutators $`[_m,_n]=\mathrm{i}F_{mn}`$ and $`[_m,𝒫]=(_m𝒫)`$ . The operator $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}`$ is defined by

$$\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}=\underset{p=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{p!}(x^{}x)^{m_1}\mathrm{}(x^{}x)^{m_p}_{m_1}\mathrm{}_{m_p}$$
(2.15)
when acting on a gauge covariant field $`\phi (x)`$ possessing a covariant Taylor series (see below). More generally, the operator $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}`$ is defined by

$$\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}\phi (x)=I(x,x^{})\phi (x^{}),$$
(2.16)
where $`I(x,x^{})`$ is the parallel displacement propagator (see below).

It follows from (2.12) that in the coincidence limit, $`\widehat{K}(x,x|s)`$ is not a differential operator,

$$\widehat{K}(x,x|s)\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)=\widehat{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}(x)\widehat{K}(x,x|s).$$
(2.17)
The latter observation can be restated as the fact that all covariant derivatives in

$$\widehat{K}(x,x|s)=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{exp}\left\{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]\right\}$$
(2.18)
can be organized into multiple commutators upon doing the (Gaussian) momentum integration.

It is well known that the one-loop effective action can be expressed via the functional trace of the heat kernel,

$`\mathrm{Tr}K(s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^dx\mathrm{tr}K(x,x|s)},`$
$`K(x,x|s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\left(\mathrm{exp}\left\{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]\right\}(x,x^{})\right)}|_{x^{}=x}`$ (2.19)
where ‘tr’ denotes the trace over gauge group indices. In accordance with the above discussion, $`\widehat{K}(x,x|s)`$ is not a differential operator, and we then get

$`K(x,x|s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{exp}\left\{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]\right\}},`$ (2.20)
where the boundary condition (2.9) has been taken into account. We therefore conclude that, apart from the structural requirements (2.8) and (2.9), the concrete choice of $`(x,x^{})`$ is not relevant at the one-loop level.

As already noted, the operator $`\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s)`$ depends on the gauge covariant derivatives only via commutators. In practice, it is quite nontrivial to manifestly organize the terms in the expansion of $`\widehat{A}`$ into such commutators. It turns out, however, that such an organization occurs automatically for a special choice of $`(x,x^{})`$, to be discussed below.

Beyond the one-loop approximation, we should work with the Feynman propagator $`G(x,x^{})`$ at $`xx^{}`$. Therefore, it would be desirable to choose $`(x,x^{})`$ in such a way that the heat kernel (2.10) takes a simple form. The best choice turns out to be the so-called parallel displacement propagator $`I(x,x^{})`$ along the geodesic connecting the points $`x^{}`$ and $`x`$ . This object (which generalizes the Schwinger phase factor ) satisfies the equation444The unique solution to the equation (2.21) under the boundary condition (2.9) is given by $`I(x,x^{})=\mathrm{P}\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}_x^{}^xA_mdx^m)`$, where the integration is carried out along the straight line connecting the points $`x^{}`$ and $`x`$. This explicit form of $`I(x,x^{})`$ is not required for actual loop calculations.

$$(xx^{})^a_aI(x,x^{})=0,$$
(2.21)
which implies

$$(x^{}x)^{a_1}\mathrm{}(x^{}x)^{a_n}_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}I(x,x^{})=0,$$
(2.22)
for any positive integer $`n`$. The latter means that the operator $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}`$ in (2.13) collapses to the unit operator when acting on $`I(x,x^{})`$. It is worth noting that the identities (2.22) lead to

$$_{(a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n)}I(x,x^{})|_{x=x^{}}=0,$$
(2.23)
for any positive integer $`n`$.

In what follows, we identify $`(x,x^{})`$ with the parallel displacement propagator555Representation (2.10) with $`(x,x^{})`$ chosen to be the parallel displacement propagator, was the starting point of Avramidi’s analysis .. From the equation (2.21), the transformation law (2.8) and the boundary condition (2.9), one can easily deduce

$$I(x,x^{})I(x^{},x)=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(2.24)
Under Hermitian conjugation, this object transforms as

$$\left(I(x,x^{})\right)^{}=I(x^{},x).$$
(2.25)
Let $`\phi (x)`$ be a field transforming in some representation of the gauge group. It can be expanded in a covariant Taylor series

$$\phi (x)=I(x,x^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}\phi (y)|_{y=x^{}},$$
(2.26)
see sect. 4 for a proof. We can apply this expansion to $`_bI(x,x^{})`$ considered as a function of $`x`$:

$$_bI(x,x^{})=I(x,x^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}_bI(y,x^{})|_{y=x^{}}.$$
(2.27)
Using the identity

$$_{(a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}_{b)}I(y,x^{})|_{y=x^{}}=0$$

in conjunction with the commutation relation $`[_m,_n]=\mathrm{i}F_{mn}`$, one can express

$$_{(a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n)}_bI(y,x^{})|_{y=x^{}}$$

in terms of covariant derivatives of the field strength (see the Appendix for more detail). One ends up with

$`_bI(x,x^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}I(x,x^{}){\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{n}{(n+1)!}}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_{n1}}(xx^{})^{a_n}`$ (2.28)
$`\times `$ $`_{a_1}^{}\mathrm{}_{a_{n1}}^{}F_{a_nb}(x^{}).`$
This relation has a fundamental significance in our considerations. It expresses covariant derivatives of $`I(x,x^{})`$ in terms of $`I(x,x^{})`$ itself and covariant derivatives of the field strength $`F_{ab}`$. This is the property which automatically results in the organization of the covariant derivatives in $`\widehat{A}(x,x^{}|s)`$ into commutators.

Relation (2.28) can be rewritten in an integral form

$`_bI(x,x^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}{\displaystyle _0^1}dtI(x,x(t)){\displaystyle \frac{x^d(t)}{x^b}}\dot{x}^c(t)F_{cd}(x(t))I(x(t),x^{}),`$ (2.29)
$`x(t)`$ $`=`$ $`(xx^{})t+x^{},`$
which was derived, in a more general setting, many years ago in . Applying the covariant Taylor expansion to $`I(x,x(t))F_{cd}(x(t))`$,

$`I(x,x(t))F_{cd}(x(t))I(x(t),x)`$ (2.30)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1)^n}{n!}}(1t)^n(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}F_{cd}(x),`$
and making use of the identity

$$I(x,x(t))I(x(t),x^{})=I(x,x^{}),$$
(2.31)
eq. (2.29) leads to

$`_bI(x,x^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1)^n}{(n+1)!}}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_{n1}}(xx^{})^{a_n}`$ (2.32)
$`\times `$ $`_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_{n1}}F_{a_nb}(x)I(x,x^{}).`$
Of course, the latter relation can be deduced directly from (2.28).

It is worth noting that the relation (2.28) and the delta function representation

$$\delta ^d(xx^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}I(x,x^{})$$
(2.33)
make quite obvious the standard property of the delta-function,

$$_a(\delta ^d(xx^{})\delta ^i{}_{i^{}}{}^{})=_a^{}(\delta ^d(xx^{})\delta ^i{}_{i^{}}{}^{}).$$
(2.34)
Relations (2.28) and (2.32) simplify drastically in the case of a covariantly constant gauge field,

$$_aF_{bc}=0.$$
(2.35)
Then, eqs. (2.28) and (2.32) take the form

$$_bI(x,x^{})=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}(xx^{})^aI(x,x^{})F_{ab}(x^{})=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}(xx^{})^aF_{ab}(x)I(x,x^{}).$$
(2.36)
Let us fix some space-time point $`x^{}`$ and consider the following gauge transformation:

$$\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x)}=I(x^{},x),\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\lambda (x^{})}=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(2.37)
Applying this gauge transformation to $`I(x,x^{})`$, as in eq. (2.8), the result is

$$I(x,x^{})=\mathrm{𝟏},$$
(2.38)
which is equivalent, due to (2.21), to the Fock-Schwinger gauge

$$(xx^{})^mA_m(x)=0.$$
(2.39)
In the Fock-Schwinger gauge, the relation (2.28) becomes

$$A_b(x)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{n}{(n+1)!}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_{n1}}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}^{}\mathrm{}_{a_{n1}}^{}F_{a_nb}(x^{}).$$
(2.40)
Thus, all coefficients in the Taylor expansion of $`A(x)`$ acquire a geometric meaning.

We now comment on the explicit evaluation of the kernel

$$K(x,x^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]}I(x,x^{}).$$
(2.41)
It should be pointed out that we are interested in a manifestly covariant expansion of the heat kernel which can be truncated at required order in the derivative expansion. Rescaling $`k`$, the right hand side of (2.41) is the result of applying the operator

$$\frac{1}{(4\pi ^2s)^{d/2}}\mathrm{d}^dk\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^2+\mathrm{i}s^{1/2}k.(xx^{})}\mathrm{e}^{[\mathrm{i}s^22s^{1/2}k.+\mathrm{i}s𝒫]}$$
(2.42)
to the parallel displacement propagator. The second exponential factor here should then be expanded in a Taylor series. Whenever a covariant derivative $`_b`$ from this series hits $`I(x,x^{})`$, we apply the relation (2.28). Given a product of the form $`𝒫(x)I(x,x^{})`$, we represent it as

$$𝒫(x)I(x,x^{})=I(x,x^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}^{}\mathrm{}_{a_n}^{}𝒫(x^{}).$$
(2.43)
A generic term in the Taylor expansion will involve a Gaussian moment of the form

$$k^{a_1}\mathrm{}k^{a_n}\frac{1}{(4\pi ^2s)^{d/2}}\mathrm{d}^dk\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^2+\mathrm{i}s^{1/2}k.(xx^{})}s^{1/2}k^{a_1}\mathrm{}s^{1/2}k^{a_n},$$
(2.44)
where each $`k^{a_i}`$ comes together with an $`s`$-independent factor of $`_{a_i}`$; there also occur insertions of $`s^2`$ and $`s𝒫`$. To compute the moments (2.44), we can introduce a generating function $`Z(J)`$,

$`Z(J)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(4\pi ^2s)^{d/2}}}{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^dk\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^2+\mathrm{i}s^{1/2}k.(xx^{})+s^{1/2}J.k}},`$
$`k^{a_1}\mathrm{}k^{a_n}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{^n}{J_{a_1}\mathrm{}J_{a_n}}}Z(J)|_{J=0}.`$ (2.45)
One readily gets

$$Z(J)=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{(4\pi \mathrm{i}s)^{d/2}}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(xx^{})^2/4s}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}sJ^2/4+J.(xx^{})/2}.$$
(2.46)
Then, the resulting expression for the kernel is of the form

$$K(x,x^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{(4\pi \mathrm{i}s)^{d/2}}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(xx^{})^2/4s}F(x,x^{}|s),F(x,x^{}|s)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_n(x,x^{})(\mathrm{i}s)^n,$$
(2.47)
where666Had one started with the more general representation (2.10) instead of (2.41), the result for $`a_0`$ would then have been $`a_0(x,x^{})=\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}(x,x^{})=I(x,x^{})`$.

$$a_0(x,x^{})=\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{(x^{}x).}\text{:}I(x,x^{})=I(x,x^{}).$$
(2.48)
This is consistent with the standard Schwinger-DeWitt asymptotic expansion of the heat kernel . By construction, the coefficients $`a_n`$ have the form

$`a_n(x,x^{})`$ $`=`$ $`𝐚_n(F(x),F(x),\mathrm{},𝒫(x),𝒫(x)\mathrm{};xx^{})I(x,x^{})`$ (2.49)
$`=`$ $`I(x,x^{})𝐚_n^{}(F(x^{}),^{}F(x^{}),\mathrm{},𝒫(x^{}),^{}𝒫(x^{})\mathrm{};xx^{}),`$
where the functions $`𝐚_n`$ and $`𝐚_n^{}`$ are straightforward to compute using the scheme described above. In the standard Schwinger-DeWitt technique, one has to solve the recurrence relations which follow from the equation

$$\left(\mathrm{i}\frac{}{s}+^2+𝒫\right)K(x,x^{}|s)=0.$$
(2.50)
In practice, these recurrence relations prove more difficult to solve than to implement the above perturbation scheme.

## 3 Evaluating multi-loop diagrams

In sect. 2, a covariant procedure for the derivative expansion of Green’s functions in the background field method was presented. We now extend this to the evaluation of Feynman diagrams.

As already discussed in sect. 2, at the one loop level, the effective action can be expressed in terms of the functional trace of the heat kernel, and therefore only a knowledge of the coincidence limit of the kernel is required. It was noted that in principle this does not require a specific choice of $`(x,x^{})`$ in (2.19) because, after doing the momentum integration, all covariant derivatives assemble into commutators and there are actually no derivatives of $`(x,x^{})`$ to be evaluated. In practice, it is quite difficult to assemble the commutators, and it proves efficient to use the procedure outlined in sect. 2: namely, to choose $`(x,x^{})`$ to be the parallel displacement propagator $`I(x,x^{})`$ and to evaluate the action of covariant derivatives on $`I(x,x^{})`$ using either (2.28) or (2.32). This automatically generates the required commutators.

Beyond one loop, the situation is more complicated, in that diagrams involve multiple Green’s functions, and interaction vertices will in general include insertions of background fields and covariant derivatives. When covariant derivatives act on Green’s functions, the generic structure will be of the form

$`_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}_{b_1}^{}\mathrm{}_{b_m}^{}K(x,x^{}|s)={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}^dk}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}(+\mathrm{i}k)_{a_1}\mathrm{}(+\mathrm{i}k)_{a_n}}`$
$`\times \mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s[(+\mathrm{i}k)^2+𝒫]}(^{}\mathrm{i}k)_{b_1}\mathrm{}(^{}\mathrm{i}k)_{b_m}I(x,x^{}),`$ (3.1)
where the proper time integral has been omitted. When $``$ hits $`I(x,x^{})`$, the result can be represented as either (2.28) or (2.32). When $`^{}`$ hits $`I(x,x^{})`$, the result can be evaluated using

$$_b^{}I(x,x^{})=I(x,x^{})_b^{}I(x^{},x)I(x,x^{}).$$
(3.2)
After having applied all the covariant derivatives to $`I(x,x^{})`$, the integrand in (3.1) can be expressed either as

$$\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[k.(xx^{})sk^2]}\mathrm{\Psi }(F(x),F(x),\mathrm{},𝒫(x),𝒫(x),\mathrm{};xx^{},k,s)I(x,x^{})$$
(3.3)
or

$$\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[k.(xx^{})sk^2]}I(x,x^{})\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(F(x^{}),^{}F(x^{}),\mathrm{},𝒫(x^{}),^{}𝒫(x^{}),\mathrm{};xx^{},k,s).$$
(3.4)
At this stage, there are two possible ways to proceed. For any Feynman graph, the momentum integrals in all kernels (3.1) can either be (i) left to the end of calculation; or (ii) carried out first. These choices give rise to two different manifestly covariant perturbation schemes: (i) momentum space scheme; (ii) configuration space scheme. In our opinion, the former is most suitable for arbitrary backgrounds, while the latter is better adapted to special background configurations such as a covariantly constant field. We will describe in detail the momentum space scheme. It is worth noting that the configuration space scheme was advocated in .

For the purposes of illustration, we first consider two-loop contributions to the effective action. The relevant Feynman diagrams are either of the ‘eight’ type or ‘fish’ type, as shown in Figure 1.

The ‘eight’ diagram is relatively simple to treat since it involves the product of two Green’s functions or their covariant derivatives in a coincidence limit. The situation for the ‘fish’ diagram is somewhat more complex. This diagram makes a contribution to the effective action of the form (with gauge indices suppressed)

$$\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_1\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_2\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_3\mathrm{d}^dx\mathrm{d}^dx^{}V_1(x)V_2(x^{})K_1(x,x^{}|s_1)K_2(x,x^{}|s_2)K_3(x,x^{}|s_3),$$
(3.5)
where the vertex factors $`V_1(x)`$ and $`V_2(x^{})`$ will in general contribute insertions of the background fields, and may also contain covariant derivatives which act on one or more of the kernels. The procedure for evaluating (3.5), to be outlined below, is to reduce this diagram to a ‘skeleton’. The latter is characterized by the following properties: (i) all explicit background field dependence is collected at a single vertex, say $`x^{}`$; (ii) the vertex at $`x`$ is connected to that at $`x^{}`$ by four (undifferentiated) parallel displacement propagators only; (iii) the skeleton is gauge invariant at each vertex.

The kernels and their derivatives in (3.5) should be expressed as in (3.1) and (3.4). In particular, the background field dependence in the kernels coming from either $`𝒫`$ or from covariant derivatives of $`I(x,x^{})`$ are evaluated at $`x^{}`$, with $`𝒫(x)I(x,x^{})`$ treated as in (2.43) . The $`x`$-dependence of each of the kernels is then only via a multiplicative factor $`I(x,x^{})`$, Taylor factors $`(xx^{})^n`$, and via a phase factor $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k_i.(xx^{})}`$, where $`k_i`$ $`(i=1,2\mathrm{or}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3})`$ denotes the momentum associated with the kernel. In contrast, the vertices $`V_1(x)`$ and $`V_2(x^{})`$ contribute background fields evaluated at $`x`$ and $`x^{}`$ respectively. As stated earlier, the aim is to get all explicit dependence on the background to be in the form of fields evaluated at $`x^{}.`$ This can be achieved by the covariant Taylor expansion of the product of fields in $`V_1(x)`$ in terms of fields evaluated at $`x^{}`$,

$$𝒱_1(x)=I(x,x^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(xx^{})^{a_1}\mathrm{}(xx^{})^{a_n}_{a_1}^{}\mathrm{}_{a_n}^{}𝒱_1(x^{}),$$
(3.6)
where $`𝒱_1(x)`$ denotes the result of removing all covariant derivatives from the vertex $`V_1(x)`$. The covariant Taylor expansion introduces an additional factor of the parallel displacement propagator $`I(x,x^{})`$ (in the representation of the gauge group under which $`𝒱_1`$ transforms). This is denoted by the dashed line $`I_4(x,x^{})`$ in Figure 2, while the solid lines $`I_i(x,x^{}),i=1,2,3`$ denote the three parallel displacement propagators arising from the kernels. The filled square denotes the dependence on background fields, evaluated only at $`x^{}.`$

The parallel displacement propagators $`I_1(x,x^{}),\mathrm{},I_4(x,x^{})`$ in Figure 2 are in general in different representations of the gauge group. However, their product

$$I_4(x,x^{})I_1(x,x^{})I_2(x,x^{})I_3(x,x^{})$$
(3.7)
(gauge indices suppressed) is gauge invariant at $`x.`$ Since each of these propagators satisfies the same equation (2.21), it is straightforward to show

$$I_4(x,x^{})I_1(x,x^{})I_2(x,x^{})I_3(x,x^{})=1.$$
(3.8)
More precisely, the right-hand side of this relation is a product of Kronecker deltas. Thus the ‘skeleton’ of parallel displacement propagators collapses, leaving all background field dependence in the form of fields evaluated at $`x^{},`$ depicted by the square in Figure 2. There are also explicit factors of $`(xx^{})`$ from the covariant Taylor expansion of fields in the vertex at $`x`$, and from covariant derivatives of the parallel displacement propagators. These can be traded for momentum derivatives by using

$$(xx^{})^a\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}F(k)=\mathrm{i}F(k)\frac{}{k_a}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}=\mathrm{i}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(xx^{})}\frac{}{k_a}F(k)+\mathrm{},$$
(3.9)
where the dots denote a total derivative, which does not contribute to the momentum integral. This leaves all the dependence on $`(xx^{})`$ in the form of the phase factor

$$\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(k_1+k_2+k_3).(xx^{})}.$$

Since all background fields now depend only on $`x^{},`$ the integral over $`x`$ is

$$\mathrm{d}^dx\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(k_1+k_2+k_3).(xx^{})}=(2\pi )^d\delta ^d(k_1+k_2+k_3),$$
(3.10)
and this delta function allows one of the three Gaussian momentum integrals associated with the kernels to be eliminated. The procedure outlined above results in an expression for the contribution to the effective action from the ‘fish’ diagram in the form777All covariant regularization schemes are consistent with our approach, therefore this issue does not require elaboration.

$`{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^dx^{}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_1\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_2\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}ds_3\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk_1}{(2\pi )^d}\frac{\mathrm{d}^dk_2}{(2\pi )^d}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s_1k_1^2}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s_2k_2^2}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s_3(k_1+k_2)^2}}`$
$`\times F(s_1,s_2,s_3,k_1,k_2,\varphi (x^{})),`$ (3.11)
where $`\varphi `$ denotes background fields and their covariant derivatives. The momentum integrals here are just Gaussian moments, which are straightforward to compute.

At three and higher loops, a similar procedure can be implemented, although the presence of extra vertices adds a complication. The aim is to transform the $`n`$-vertex diagram to a ‘skeleton’ which has the following properties: (i) all explicit background field dependence is collected at a single vertex, say $`x_n`$; (ii) the remaining vertices at $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_{n1}`$ are connected to each other and to the vertex at $`x_n`$ by (undifferentiated) parallel displacement propagators only; (iii) the skeleton is gauge invariant at each vertex. Consider, for example, the three-loop graph shown in Figure 3.

Suppose we wish to move all the background field dependence to a single vertex, say at $`x_4.`$ As a first step, we could choose to use the covariant Taylor expansion to express the background fields in the vertex $`V_1(x_1)`$ in terms of fields evaluated at $`x_2,`$ resulting in the introduction of a parallel displacement propagator $`I(x_1,x_2)`$ in the representation of the gauge group under which the fields in $`V_1`$ transform. Using the steps outlined for the ‘fish’ diagram, it is also possible to manipulate the kernel $`K(x_1,x_2|s_1)`$ (or its derivatives if derivatives from the vertices act on it) and the explicit factors of $`(x_1x_2)`$ in the Taylor series so that all of the $`x_1`$ dependence is in the form $`e^{\mathrm{i}k_1.(x_1x_2)}I(x_1,x_2).`$ Here, the factor of $`I(x_1,x_2)`$ is in the representation under which $`K(x_1,x_2|s_1)`$ transforms. A new vertex, $`\stackrel{~}{V}_2(x_2),`$ has effectively been generated at $`x_2,`$ consisting of the original background dependence of the vertex multiplied by the additional background dependence generated from $`V_1(x_1)`$ and $`K(x_1,x_2|s_1).`$ Diagrammatically, we have the situation in Figure 4, where the circles denote original vertices and the square denotes the new effective vertex.

Repeating this procedure, the explicit dependence on background fields can be progessively moved through the diagram, at each step removing the field dependence at one vertex at the cost of introducing an additional parallel displacement propagator. It should be stressed that this procedure preserves manifest gauge invariance at each vertex. When all explicit background field dependence has been moved to a single point, the result is a skeleton as defined above.

Having produced the skeleton from the original Feynman diagram, it is now necessary to evaluate it. A very special case is that of a two-vertex skeleton, as illustrated in Figure 5.

Here, the product of the parallel diplacement propagators is gauge invariant at $`x.`$ Since all the propagators satisfy the same equation (2.21), it is straightforward to show that the product of parallel diplacement propagators simply collapses to a product of Kronecker deltas, leaving a gauge invariant contribution at a single point, $`x^{}`$. In the case where the skeleton contains three or more vertices, it is possible to systematically reduce it to a skeleton with only two vertices; the resulting diagram then collapses to a single point as above. We will explain the procedure for reducing a skeleton with $`n`$ vertices to one with $`n1`$ vertices; this process is then iterated to produce the two vertex skeleton.

The generic structure of the skeleton with $`n`$ vertices is shown in Figure 6, where $`x_1`$ is the point where all the explicit background field dependence is accumulated, and the lines are parallel displacement propagators.

Focusing attention on a vertex adjacent to that at $`x_1,`$ say that at $`x_2,`$ the diagram has the structure

$$\mathrm{tr}\left(I(x_1,x_2)\chi (x_2,x_1)\right),$$
(3.12)
where $`\chi (x_2,x_1)`$ consists of the vertex at $`x_1`$ and products of parallel displacement propagators (dependence on points other than $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$ has been suppressed). We can make use of the covariant Taylor series to expand $`I(x_1,x_2)\chi (x_2,x_1)`$ in the form

$$I(x_1,x_2)\chi (x_2,x_1)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(x_2x_1)^{a_1}\mathrm{}(x_2x_1)^{a_n}_{a_1}\mathrm{}_{a_n}\chi (y,x_1)|_{y=x_1}.$$
(3.13)
By this means, all $`x_2`$ dependence of the skeleton is now in the form of factors $`(x_2x_1).`$ These factors can be replaced by momentum derivatives of the phase factor $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k.(x_1x_2)}`$ associated with a Green’s function in the original Feynman diagram, as in (3.9). This process reduces number of vertices in the skeleton by one, as illustrated in Figure 7.

This completes our prescription for computing multi-loop contributions to the effective action in a manifestly covariant manner.

In the literature , the configuration space approach has been the favoured means to achieve a covariant derivative expansion of the effective action. A possible explanation for this is a belief that the transition to momentum space should be incompatible with manifest gauge invariance, see e.g. . As we have shown above, the latter is not the case. Our momentum space scheme is well-adapted to the derivative expansion of the effective action, in that it automatically links the factors of momentum to covariant derivatives of the background fields. Further, this approach is more economical in that there is no need to do separate configuration and momentum space integrals (configuration space integrals are just trivial). In contrast, the configuration space approach requires separate computation (by carrying out momentum integrals) of each Greeen’s function in a diagram to the required order in the derivative expansion, and then the sewing together of the Green’s functions with configuration space integrals. As noted earlier, the configuration space approach is well suited to the computation of the effective action in special backgrounds, as an exact expression for the Green’s function can sometimes be computed. An example is a covariantly constant background; we treat this case in $`𝒩=1`$ super Yang-Mills in sect. 6. It is worth noting that the momentum space scheme can easily be formulated in curved space due to the existence of a covariant Fourier integral .

## 4 Parallel displacement propagator in superspace

In four space-time dimensions, $`d=4`$, we consider a flat global $`𝒩`$-extended superspace parametrized by variables $`z^m=(x^m,\theta _i^\mu ,\overline{\theta }_{\dot{\mu }}^i)`$, where $`i=1,\mathrm{},𝒩`$. We recall that the flat covariant derivatives $`D_A=(_a,D_\alpha ^i,\overline{D}_i^{\dot{\alpha }})`$ are related to the supersymmetric Cartan 1-forms $`\omega ^A=(\omega ^a,\omega _i^\alpha ,\overline{\omega }_{\dot{\alpha }}^i)`$ by

$$\mathrm{d}z^M_M=\omega ^AD_A,\omega ^A=(\mathrm{d}x^a\mathrm{i}\mathrm{d}\theta _i\sigma ^a\overline{\theta }^i+\mathrm{i}\theta _i\sigma ^a\mathrm{d}\overline{\theta }^i,\mathrm{d}\theta _i^\alpha ,\mathrm{d}\overline{\theta }_{\dot{\alpha }}^i),$$
(4.1)
and satisfy the algebra

$$[D_A,D_B\}=T_{AB}{}_{}{}^{C}D_{C}^{},$$
(4.2)
where the only non-vanishing components of the constant torsion $`T_{AB}^C`$ correspond to the anticommutator $`\{D_\alpha ^i,\overline{D}_{\dot{\beta }j}\}=2\mathrm{i}\delta ^i{}_{j}{}^{}(\sigma ^c)_{\alpha \dot{\beta }}^{}_c`$.

To describe a Yang-Mills supermultiplet, we introduce gauge covariant derivatives $`𝒟_A=(𝒟_a,𝒟_\alpha ^i,\overline{𝒟}_i^{\dot{\alpha }})`$,

$$𝒟_A=D_A+\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Gamma }_A(z),[𝒟_A,𝒟_B\}=T_{AB}{}_{}{}^{C}𝒟_{A}^{}+\mathrm{i}F_{AB}(z),$$
(4.3)
where the connection $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_A`$ takes its values in the Lie algebra of a compact gauge group. The operators $`𝒟_A`$ possess the following gauge transformation law

$$𝒟_A\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}𝒟_A\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)},\tau ^{}=\tau ,$$
(4.4)
with the gauge parameter $`\tau (z)`$ being arbitrary modulo the reality condition imposed.

In the case of $`𝒩=1`$ supersymmetry, it is known that one can always bring, by applying a complex gauge transformation, the covariant derivatives $`𝒟_A=(𝒟_a,𝒟_\alpha ,\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }})`$ to the so-called covariantly chiral representation where

$$𝒟_\alpha =\mathrm{e}^{V(z)}D_\alpha \mathrm{e}^{V(z)},\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}=\overline{D}_{\dot{\alpha }},V^{}=V,$$
(4.5)
with $`V`$ the gauge prepotential. In the chiral representation (sometimes called the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-frame), the $`\tau `$-transformations (4.4) are replaced by chiral $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-transformations defined by

$$𝒟_A\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Lambda }(z)}𝒟_A\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Lambda }(z)},\overline{D}_{\dot{\alpha }}\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.$$
(4.6)
In the present paper, we always work, for definiteness, in the $`\tau `$-frame. It is also worth noting that one can define an analogue of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-frame in the case of $`𝒩=2`$ supersymmetry at the cost of embedding the standard $`𝒩=2`$ superspace into the so-called harmonic superpace .

Let $`z^M(t)=(zz^{})^Mt+z^M`$ be the straight line connecting two points $`z`$ and $`z^{}`$ in superspace, parametrized such that $`z^M(0)=z^M`$ and $`z^M(1)=z^M`$. We then have $`\dot{z}^M_M=\zeta ^AD_A`$, where the two-point function $`\zeta ^A\zeta ^A(z,z^{})=\zeta ^A(z^{},z)`$ is

$`\zeta ^A=\{\begin{array}{c}\zeta ^a=(xx^{})^a\mathrm{i}(\theta \theta ^{})_i\sigma ^a\overline{\theta }^i+\mathrm{i}\theta _i^{}\sigma ^a(\overline{\theta }\overline{\theta }^{})^i,\hfill \\ \zeta _i^\alpha =(\theta \theta ^{})_i^\alpha ,\hfill \\ \overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\alpha }}^i=(\overline{\theta }\overline{\theta }^{})_{\dot{\alpha }}^i.\hfill \end{array}`$ (4.10)
Given a gauge invariant superfield $`U(z)`$, for $`U(t)=U(z(t))`$ we have

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^nU}{\mathrm{d}t^n}=\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}D_{A_1}\mathrm{}D_{A_n}U.$$
(4.11)
This leads to a supersymmetric Taylor series

$$U(z)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}D_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}D_{A_n}^{}U(z^{}).$$
(4.12)
By definition, the parallel displacement propagator along the straight line, $`I(z,z^{})`$, is specified by the requirements:888The unique solution to the requirements (i)–(iii) is given by $`I(z,z^{})=\mathrm{P}\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{i}_z^{}^zdt\zeta ^A\mathrm{\Gamma }_A(z(t))]`$, where the integration is carried out along the straight line connecting the points $`z^{}`$ and $`z`$. For an arbitrary path $`\gamma :tz^M(t)`$ in superspace, such supersymmetric phase factors of the form $`\mathrm{\Sigma }[\gamma ]=\mathrm{P}\mathrm{exp}[\mathrm{i}_\gamma \omega \mathrm{\Gamma }(z(t))]`$, were considered in .
(i) the gauge transformation law

$$I(z,z^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}I(z,z^{})\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z^{})};$$
(4.13)
(ii) the equation

$$\zeta ^A𝒟_AI(z,z^{})=\zeta ^A\left(D_A+\mathrm{i}\mathrm{\Gamma }_A(z)\right)I(z,z^{})=0;$$
(4.14)
(iii) the boundary condition

$$I(z,z)=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(4.15)
These imply the important relation

$$I(z,z^{})I(z^{},z)=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(4.16)
We also have

$$\zeta ^A𝒟_A^{}I(z,z^{})=\zeta ^A\left(D_A^{}I(z,z^{})\mathrm{i}I(z,z^{})\mathrm{\Gamma }_A(z^{})\right)=0.$$
(4.17)
Further, using the identity

$$\zeta ^BD_B\zeta ^A=\zeta ^A,$$
(4.18)
from (4.14) one deduces

$$\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}I(z,z^{})=0.$$
(4.19)
The latter leads to

$$𝒟_{(A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n\}}I(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}=0,n1,$$
(4.20)
where $`(\mathrm{}\}`$ means graded symmetrization of $`n`$ indices (with a factor of $`1/n!`$).

Let $`\mathrm{\Psi }(z)`$ be a superfield transforming in some representation of the gauge group,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(z)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}\mathrm{\Psi }(z).$$
(4.21)
Then $`U(z)I(z^{},z)\mathrm{\Psi }(z)`$ is gauge invariant with respect to $`z`$, and therefore we are in a position to apply the Taylor expansion (4.12):

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(z)=I(z,z^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}\left(I(z^{},w)\mathrm{\Psi }(w)\right)|_{w=z^{}}.$$
(4.22)
Because of the properties of $`I(z,z^{})`$, this is equivalent to the covariant Taylor series

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(z)=I(z,z^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}^{}\mathrm{\Psi }(z^{}).$$
(4.23)
The covariant Taylor expansion can be applied to $`𝒟_BI(z,z^{})`$ considered as a superfield at $`z`$,

$$𝒟_BI(z,z^{})=I(z,z^{})\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_BI(w,z^{})|_{w=z^{}}.$$
(4.24)
As is shown in the Appendix, this is equivalent to

$`𝒟_BI(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}I(z,z^{}){\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n+1)!}}\{n\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}^{}F_{A_nB}(z^{})`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(n1)\zeta ^{A_n}T_{A_nB}{}_{}{}^{C}\zeta _{}^{A_{n1}}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n2}}^{}F_{A_{n1}C}(z^{})\}.`$
Another form for this result is

$`𝒟_BI(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1)^n}{(n+1)!}}\{\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}F_{A_nB}(z)`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(n1)\zeta ^{A_n}T_{A_nB}{}_{}{}^{C}\zeta _{}^{A_{n1}}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n2}}F_{A_{n1}C}(z)\}I(z,z^{}).`$
For the point $`z^M(t)`$ on the straight line $`z^M(t)=(zz^{})^Mt+z^M`$, we introduce the notation

$$\zeta ^A(t)\zeta ^A(z(t),z^{})=t\zeta ^A,$$
(4.27)
with the two-point function $`\zeta ^A(z,z^{})`$ as defined earlier. Then the results (4) and (4) can be expressed in integral form as

$`𝒟_BI(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}{\displaystyle _0^1}dttI(z,z(t))\zeta ^AF_{AB}(z(t))I(z(t),z^{})`$ (4.28)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^1}dt_1t_1I(z,z(t_1))\zeta ^AT_{AB}{\displaystyle {}_{}{}^{C}_{0}^{1}}dt_2t_2I(z(t_1),z(t_2t_1))`$
$`\times `$ $`t_1\zeta ^DF_{DC}(z(t_2t_1))I(z(t_2t_1),z^{}).`$
The latter relation seems to be equivalent to the one derived in .

By analogy with the non-supersymmetric case, let us fix some point $`z^{}`$ in superspace and consider the gauge transformation generated by

$$\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}=I(z^{},z),\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z^{})}=\mathrm{𝟏}.$$
(4.29)
Applying this gauge transformation to $`I(z,z^{})`$, in accordance with (4.13), we end up with the superspace Fock-Schwinger gauge

$$I(z,z^{})=\mathrm{𝟏}\zeta ^A\mathrm{\Gamma }_A(z)=0.$$
(4.30)
With this gauge choice, eq. (4) tells us that the superconnection is

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_B(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n+1)!}}\{n\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}^{}F_{A_nB}(z^{})`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(n1)\zeta ^{A_n}T_{A_nB}{}_{}{}^{C}\zeta _{}^{A_{n1}}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}^{}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n2}}^{}F_{A_{n1}C}(z^{})\}.`$
In the case of $`𝒩=1`$ supersymmetry999Our $`𝒩=1`$ notation and conventions correspond to ., the gauge covariant derivatives satisfy the following (anti)commutation relations:

$`\{𝒟_a,𝒟_\beta \}=\{\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }},\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\beta }}\}=0,\{𝒟_\alpha ,\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\beta }}\}=2\mathrm{i}𝒟_{\alpha \dot{\beta }},`$
$`[𝒟_\alpha ,𝒟_{\beta \dot{\beta }}]=2\mathrm{i}\epsilon _{\alpha \beta }\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }},[\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }},𝒟_{\beta \dot{\beta }}]=2\mathrm{i}\epsilon _{\dot{\alpha }\dot{\beta }}W_\beta ,`$
$`[𝒟_{\alpha \dot{\alpha }},𝒟_{\beta \dot{\beta }}]=\mathrm{i}F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}=\epsilon _{\alpha \beta }\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}\epsilon _{\dot{\alpha }\dot{\beta }}𝒟_\alpha W_\beta ,`$ (4.32)
with the spinor field strengths $`W_\alpha `$ and $`\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}`$ obeying the Bianchi identities

$$\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}W_\alpha =0,𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha =\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\alpha }}.$$
(4.33)
For a covariantly constant gauge field,

$$𝒟_aW_\beta =0,$$
(4.34)
the relation (4) is equivalent to the following:

$`𝒟_{\beta \dot{\beta }}I(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`I(z,z^{})({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{4}}\zeta ^{\dot{\alpha }\alpha }F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z^{})\mathrm{i}\zeta _\beta \overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z^{})+\mathrm{i}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}W_\beta (z^{})`$ (4.35)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{i}}{3}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W_\beta (z^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{i}}{3}}\zeta _\beta \overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z^{}))`$
$`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{4}}\zeta ^{\dot{\alpha }\alpha }F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z)\mathrm{i}\zeta _\beta \overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z)+\mathrm{i}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}W_\beta (z)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{3}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W_\beta (z){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{3}}\zeta _\beta \overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z))I(z,z^{});`$
$`𝒟_\beta I(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`I(z,z^{})({\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z^{})\mathrm{i}\zeta _{\beta \dot{\beta }}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z^{}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z^{})\}`$ (4.36)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta _\beta \overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }^2\{W_\beta (z^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W_\beta (z^{}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta _\beta 𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha (z^{})\})`$
$`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}\zeta _{\beta \dot{\beta }}\{\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z)\}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta _\beta \overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}(z)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }^2\{W_\beta (z){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W_\beta (z)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta _\beta 𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha (z)\})I(z,z^{});`$
$`\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\beta }}I(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`I(z,z^{})({\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\zeta ^\beta \zeta ^{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z^{})\mathrm{i}\zeta _{\beta \dot{\beta }}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}W^\beta (z^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W^\beta (z^{})\}`$ (4.37)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^\beta W_\beta (z^{}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta ^2\{\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z^{}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z^{})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}(z^{})\})`$
$`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\zeta ^\beta \zeta ^{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}F_{\alpha \dot{\alpha },\beta \dot{\beta }}(z){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}}\zeta _{\beta \dot{\beta }}\{W^\beta (z){\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta ^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha W^\beta (z)\}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^\beta W_\beta (z)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta ^2\{\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}(z){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}(z)\})I(z,z^{}).`$
## 5 Green’s functions in superspace

In the remaining sections of this paper, we will concentrate on $`𝒩=1`$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. A typical Green’s function $`G(z,z^{})`$ will be that of an unconstrained superfield transforming in some (real) representation of the gauge group. The Green’s function satisfies the equation

$$\mathrm{}_zG(z,z^{})=\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},\delta ^8(zz^{})=\delta ^4(xx^{})(\theta \theta ^{})^2(\overline{\theta }\overline{\theta }^{})^2,$$
(5.1)
and the Feynman boundary conditions. Here the covariant d’Alembertian $`\mathrm{}`$ is

$`\mathrm{}`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟^a𝒟_aW^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha +\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}𝒟^\alpha \overline{𝒟}^2𝒟_\alpha +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16}}\{𝒟^2,\overline{𝒟}^2\}W^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha )`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}𝒟^2\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16}}\{𝒟^2,\overline{𝒟}^2\}+\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\alpha }}).`$
Our subsequent considerations require only a minor modification if the operator $`\mathrm{}_z`$ in (5.1) is replaced with $`\mathrm{}_z𝒫(z)`$, with $`𝒫`$ a local matrix function of the gauge field. For simplicity, we set $`𝒫=0`$.

In complete analogy with the non-supersymmetric case, we introduce the proper-time representation of $`G(z,z^{})`$. The corresponding heat kernel,

$$K(z,z^{}|s)=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(\mathrm{}+\mathrm{i}\epsilon )}\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},\epsilon +0,$$
(5.3)
will be the main object of interest. Its gauge transformation law is

$$K(z,z^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}K(z,z^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z^{})}.$$
(5.4)
As in the non-supersymmetric case, it is useful to make use of the Fourier representation

$$\delta ^8(zz^{})=\frac{1}{\pi ^4}\mathrm{d}^4k\mathrm{d}^2\kappa \mathrm{d}^2\overline{\kappa }\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[k^a\zeta _a+\kappa ^\alpha \zeta _\alpha +\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}]},$$
(5.5)
where the supersymmetric interval $`\zeta ^A`$ is defined in eq. (4.10), and the integration variables $`k^a`$ and $`(\kappa ^\alpha ,\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }})`$ are c-numbers and a-numbers, respectively. In order to keep the gauge transformation law (5.4) manifest, we should actually represent the full delta-function in the form

$$\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}=\frac{1}{\pi ^4}\mathrm{d}^4k\mathrm{d}^2\kappa \mathrm{d}^2\overline{\kappa }\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[k^a\zeta _a+\kappa ^\alpha \zeta _\alpha +\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}]}I(z,z^{}),$$
(5.6)
with $`I(z,z^{})`$ the parallel dispacement propagator. As a result, the heat kernel takes the form

$`K(z,z^{}|s)`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)I(z,z^{}),`$ (5.7)
$`\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi ^4}}{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^4k\mathrm{d}^2\kappa \mathrm{d}^2\overline{\kappa }\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[k^a\zeta _a+\kappa ^\alpha \zeta _\alpha +\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }}]}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s[X^aX_aW^\alpha X_\alpha +\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{X}^{\dot{\alpha }}]}},`$
where

$$X_a=𝒟_a+\mathrm{i}k_a,X_\alpha =𝒟_\alpha +\mathrm{i}\kappa _\alpha k^a(\sigma _a)_{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}\overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\alpha }},\overline{X}^{\dot{\alpha }}=\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}+\mathrm{i}\overline{\kappa }^{\dot{\alpha }}k^a(\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_a)^{\dot{\alpha }\alpha }\zeta _\alpha .$$
(5.8)
With respect to the gauge group, the operator $`\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)`$ transforms as

$$\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\tau (z)}.$$
(5.9)
For any gauge invariant superfield $`\mathrm{\Omega }(z)`$ of compact support in space-time, we can establish the following operator identity

$$\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(z)=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(z^{})\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s),\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(z)\mathrm{\Omega }(z)\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}.$$
(5.10)
To prove this, one should first introduce a generalized Fourier representation of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$,

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(z)=\mathrm{d}^4p\mathrm{d}^2\rho \mathrm{d}^2\overline{\rho }\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}[p^ax_a+\rho ^\alpha \theta _\alpha +\overline{\rho }_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{\theta }^{\dot{\alpha }}]}\mathrm{\Omega }(p,\rho ,\overline{\rho }),$$
(5.11)
then push the “plane wave” $`\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}[p^ax_a+\rho ^\alpha \theta _\alpha +\overline{\rho }_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{\theta }^{\dot{\alpha }}])`$ through the operatorial exponential $`\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{i}s[X^aX_aW^\alpha X_\alpha +\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{X}^{\dot{\alpha }}])`$ in the integral representation (5.7) of $`\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)`$, and finally introduce new integration variables by the rule

$$k^a=k^a+p^a,\kappa ^\alpha =\kappa ^\alpha +\rho ^\alpha \mathrm{i}p^a(\overline{\theta }^{}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_a)^\alpha ,\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }}^{}=\overline{\kappa }_{\dot{\alpha }}+\overline{\rho }_{\dot{\alpha }}\mathrm{i}p^a(\theta ^{}\sigma _a)_{\dot{\alpha }}.$$
(5.12)
Relation (5.10) implies

$$\widehat{K}(z,z^{}|s)=\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^A𝒟_A}\text{:}\widehat{B}(z,z^{}|s),$$
(5.13)
where the two-point matrix $`\widehat{B}(z,z^{}|s)`$ is a functional of the gauge superfield such that

$$\widehat{B}(z,z^{}|s)\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(z)=\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(z)\widehat{B}(z,z^{}|s).$$
(5.14)
Therefore $`\widehat{B}(z,z^{}|s)`$ is not a differential operator. By definition, the operator $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^A𝒟_A}\text{:}`$ acts on a gauge covariant superfield $`\mathrm{\Psi }(z)`$ (transforming in some representation of the gauge group) as follows

$$\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^A𝒟_A}\text{:}\mathrm{\Psi }(z)=I(z,z^{})\mathrm{\Psi }(z^{}).$$
(5.15)
If $`\mathrm{\Psi }(z)`$ admits a covariant Taylor expansion, then

$$\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^A𝒟_A}\text{:}\mathrm{\Psi }(z)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{n!}(1)^n\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}\mathrm{\Psi }(z)$$
(5.16)
Evaluation of the heat kernel (5.7) can be carried out in a manner almost identical to that outlined at the end of sect. 2 for the non-supersymmetric case. The result is

$$K(z,z^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{(4\pi s)^2}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\zeta ^a\zeta _a/4s}F(z,z^{}|s),F(z,z^{}|s)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_n(z,z^{})(\mathrm{i}s)^n,$$
(5.17)
where

$`a_0(z,z^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^a𝒟_a}\text{:}\delta ^4(\theta \theta ^{})I(z,z^{})=\delta ^4(\theta \theta ^{})\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^a𝒟_a}\text{:}I(z,z^{})`$ (5.18)
$`=`$ $`\delta ^4(\theta \theta ^{})\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^A𝒟_A}\text{:}I(z,z^{})=\delta ^4(\theta \theta ^{})I(z,z^{}).`$
Here $`\delta ^4(\theta \theta ^{})=(\theta \theta ^{})^2(\overline{\theta }\overline{\theta }^{})^2`$, and the operator $`\text{:}\mathrm{e}^{\zeta ^a𝒟_a}\text{:}`$ is defined similarly to (2.15).

Along with the propagator $`G(z,z^{})`$ so far analysed, covariant supergraphs in $`𝒩=1`$ super Yang-Mills theories also involve (anti)chiral Green’s functions101010The proper-time representation for these Green’s functions was developed in , see also . $`G_{}(z,z^{})`$ associated with the covariantly chiral d’Alembertian

$`\mathrm{}_+`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟^a𝒟_aW^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha ),\mathrm{}_+\mathrm{\Phi }={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16}}\overline{𝒟}^2𝒟^2\mathrm{\Phi },\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\mathrm{\Phi }=0,`$ (5.19)
and the covariantly antichiral d’Alembertian

$`\mathrm{}_{}`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟^a𝒟_a+\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{W}^{\dot{\alpha }}),\mathrm{}_{}\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16}}𝒟^2\overline{𝒟}^2\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }},𝒟_\alpha \overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}=0.`$ (5.20)
Associated with the chiral Green’s function $`G_+(z,z^{})`$ is the covariantly chiral heat kernel

$`K_+(z,z^{}|s)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(\mathrm{}_++\mathrm{i}\epsilon )}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\overline{𝒟}^2)\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},\epsilon +0,`$
$`\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}K_+(z,z^{}|s)=\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\alpha }}^{}K_+(z,z^{}|s)=0,`$
and similarly in the antichiral case.

In the case of an on-shell background gauge superfield,

$$𝒟^\alpha W_\alpha =0,$$
(5.22)
which is often sufficient for applications, the (anti)chiral kernels $`K_{}(z,z^{}|s)`$ do not require a separate treatment. Indeed, we have

$$\mathrm{}\overline{𝒟}^2=\overline{𝒟}^2\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\overline{𝒟}^2=\mathrm{}_+\overline{𝒟}^2,$$
(5.23)
and therefore

$$K_+(z,z^{}|s)=\frac{1}{4}\overline{𝒟}^2K(z,z^{}|s).$$
(5.24)
The strategy explained in sect. 3 for computing multi-loop graphs is readily extended to the case of supergraphs by making use of the results of this section.

## 6 Superpropagator in a covariantly constant field

In this section, we evaluate the heat kernel (5.3) in the the case of a covariantly constant gauge superfield satisfying eq. (4.34). Taken together with the Bianchi identities, this condition implies that the Yang-Mills supermultiplet belongs to the Cartan subalgebra of the gauge group. For this background gauge superfield, the heat kernel (5.3) was originally computed by Ohrndorf  using the Fock-Schwinger gauge in superspace . Here we derive, for the first time, this exact solution in a manifestly gauge covariant way.

It follows from (4.32) that

$$𝒟_aW_\beta =0[𝒟_a,W^\beta 𝒟_\beta \overline{W}_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\beta }}]=0.$$
(6.1)
This identity allows a convenient factorization of the kernel in the form

$$K(z,z^{}|s)=U(s)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s𝒟^a𝒟_a}\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1},U(s)=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(W^\alpha 𝒟_\alpha \overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\overline{𝒟}^{\dot{\alpha }})}.$$
(6.2)
As a result, it proves efficient to use a Fourier transformation of only the bosonic part of the superspace delta function,

$$\delta ^8(zz^{})=\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi )^4}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^a\zeta _a}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2,$$
(6.3)
where $`\zeta ^A`$ is defined in eq. (4.10).

The kernel of interest (5.3) is then obtained by the action of the operator $`U(s)`$ on the simpler kernel

$$\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi )^4}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^a\zeta _a}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(𝒟+ik)^2}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2I(z,z^{}),$$
(6.4)
where $`I(z,z^{})`$ is the parallel displacement operator. The operator $`U(s)`$ acts to “shift” the $`\zeta ^A`$ dependence of $`\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)`$. With the notation $`N_\alpha {}_{}{}^{\beta }=𝒟_\alpha W^\beta `$,

$`U(s)W^\alpha U(s)`$ $``$ $`W^\alpha (s)=W^\beta (\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}sN})_\beta {}_{}{}^{\alpha },`$
$`U(s)\zeta ^\alpha U(s)`$ $``$ $`\zeta ^\alpha (s)=\zeta ^\alpha +W^\beta ((\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}sN}1)N^1)_\beta {}_{}{}^{\alpha },`$
$`U(s)\zeta _{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}U(s)`$ $``$ $`\zeta _{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}(s)=\zeta _{\alpha \dot{\alpha }}2{\displaystyle _0^s}dt\left(W_\alpha (t)\overline{\zeta }_{\dot{\alpha }}(t)+\zeta _\alpha (t)\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}(t)\right).`$ (6.5)
The kernel $`\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)`$ satisifies the equation

$$\left(\mathrm{i}\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}s}+𝒟^a𝒟_a\right)\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)=0$$
(6.6)
with the boundary condition $`lim_{s0}\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)=\delta ^8(zz^{})\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$. The identity

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^4k\frac{}{k^a}\left(\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^b\zeta _b}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(𝒟+ik)^2}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2I(z,z^{})\right)}`$ (6.7)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}\zeta _a\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)2s{\displaystyle \mathrm{d}^4k\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k^b\zeta _b}_0^1dt\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}st(𝒟+ik)^2}(𝒟_a+\mathrm{i}k_a)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}st(𝒟+ik)^2}}`$
$`\times \mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}s(𝒟+ik)^2}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2I(z,z^{})`$
can be used to show that

$$𝒟_a\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)=\mathrm{i}\left(\frac{F}{\mathrm{e}^{2sF}1}\right)_{ab}\zeta ^b\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s).$$
(6.8)
Differentiating (6.8) again allows the right hand side of (6.6) to be expressed in terms of $`\stackrel{~}{K},`$ and equation (6.6) can then be integrated in the form

$$\stackrel{~}{K}(z,z^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{16\pi ^2}det\left(\frac{2F}{\mathrm{e}^{2sF}1}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{e}^{\frac{\mathrm{i}}{4}\zeta ^a(F\mathrm{coth}(sF))_{ab}\zeta ^b}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2C(z,z^{}),$$
(6.9)
where the determinant is computed with respect to the Lorentz indices. Here, $`C(z,z^{})`$ is an integration constant which must transform appropriately under the gauge group and satisfy the boundary condition $`C(z,z)=\mathrm{𝟏}`$. Substituting (6.9) into (6.8) yields the further condition

$$\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2𝒟_aC(z,z^{})=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}\zeta ^2\overline{\zeta }^2F_{ab}\zeta ^bC(z,z^{}),$$
(6.10)
as the action of $`𝒟_a`$ on the expression $`\mathrm{exp}[\frac{\mathrm{i}}{4}\zeta ^a(F\mathrm{coth}(sF))_{ab}\zeta ^b]`$ produces the symmetric part of $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{i}F}{\mathrm{e}^{2sF}1}\right)`$ on the right hand side of (6.8), but not the antisymmetric part $`(\frac{\mathrm{i}}{2}F)`$. In accordance with (4.35), we can choose $`C(z,z^{})=I(z,z^{})`$. As a result we arrive at the kernel

$`K(z,z^{}|s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{(4\pi s)^2}}det\left({\displaystyle \frac{2sF}{\mathrm{e}^{2sF}1}}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{e}^{\frac{\mathrm{i}}{4}\zeta ^a(s)(F\mathrm{coth}(sF))_{ab}\zeta ^b(s)}`$ (6.11)
$`\times `$ $`\zeta ^2(s)\overline{\zeta }^2(s)U(s)I(z,z^{}),`$
with $`\zeta ^A(s)`$ defined in (6.5). The final ingredient is

$$U(s)I(z,z^{})=\mathrm{exp}\left\{_0^sdt\mathrm{\Xi }(\zeta (t),W(t),\overline{W}(t))\right\}I(z,z^{}),$$
(6.12)
where

$`\mathrm{\Xi }(\zeta (s),W(s),\overline{W}(s))`$ $`=`$ $`U(s)\mathrm{\Xi }(\zeta ,W,\overline{W})U(s),`$
$`\mathrm{\Xi }(\zeta ,W\overline{W})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\zeta ^{\dot{\alpha }\alpha }\left(W^\beta \overline{\zeta }^{\dot{\beta }}\zeta ^\beta \overline{W}^{\dot{\beta }}\right)\left(\epsilon _{\beta \alpha }\overline{𝒟}_{\dot{\beta }}\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}\epsilon _{\dot{\beta }\dot{\alpha }}𝒟_\beta W_\alpha \right)`$ (6.13)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{i}}{3}}\zeta W\overline{\zeta }\overline{W}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{3}}\zeta ^2\left(\overline{W}^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\overline{\zeta }\overline{𝒟}\overline{W}^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\overline{\zeta }\overline{W}\overline{𝒟}\overline{W}\right)`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{i}}{3}}\overline{\zeta }^2\left(W^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta 𝒟W^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta W𝒟W\right).`$
If the background gauge superfield is further constrained to satisfy the equation of motion (5.22), then from (6.11) we can immediately derive the chiral kernel $`K_+(z,z^{}|s)`$ using the prescription (5.24). The result for $`K_+(z,z^{}|s)`$ can be shown to agree with the exact superpropagator computed in  (see also a related work ), although the final relation in (the English translation of)  contains a misprint.

In conclusion, we would like to comment on the relationship between $`K_+(z,z^{}|s)`$ and the chiral propagator used in  for a calculation in the context of the matrix model/gauge theory correspondence . The authors of  evaluate chiral loop diagrams in an on-shell covariantly constant SYM background, as specified by eqs. (4.34) and (5.22), which is then further simplified by formally setting $`\overline{W}_{\dot{\alpha }}=0`$ and $`F_{ab}=0`$ while keeping $`W_\alpha 0`$. For such a background, in the chiral representation $`K_+(z,z^{}|s)`$ is

$$K_+(z,z^{}|s)=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{(4\pi s)^2}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(xx^{})^2/4s}(\theta \theta ^{}\mathrm{i}sW)^2I(z,z^{}).$$
(6.14)
This is the heat kernel corresponding to the chiral propagator used in .

Acknowledgements. This work is supported in part by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Academy of Science as well as by UWA research grants.

## Appendix A Technical lemma

This appendix is devoted to a derivation of eq. (4). It is in fact sufficient to prove the following relation

$`(n+1)\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_BI(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}=n\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}F_{A_nB}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(n1)\zeta ^{A_n}T_{A_nB}{}_{}{}^{C}\zeta _{}^{A_{n1}}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n2}}F_{A_{n1}B},`$ (A.1)
with $`n`$ a positive integer.

We start with an obvious identity

$`(n`$ $`+`$ $`1)\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{(A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_{B\}}=\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_B`$ (A.2)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(1)^{B(A_i+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{i1}}𝒟_B𝒟_{A_i}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n},`$
and make use of eq. (4.20), rewritten as

$$𝒟_{(A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_{B\}}I(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}=0.$$
(A.3)
We thus have

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_BI(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}`$ (A.4)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(1)^{B(A_i+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{i1}}𝒟_B𝒟_{A_i}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}I(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}.`$
The next natural step is to represent

$`(1)^{B(A_i+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{i1}}𝒟_B𝒟_{A_i}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}`$
$`=`$ $``$ $`(1)^{B(A_{i+1}+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{i1}}[𝒟_{A_i},𝒟_B\}𝒟_{A_{i+1}}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}`$ (A.5)
$`+`$ $`(1)^{B(A_{i+1}+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_i}𝒟_B𝒟_{A_{i+1}}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}`$
and make use of the covariant derivative algebra (4.3), along with the observation

$`(1)^{B(A_{i+1}+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{i1}}F_{A_iB}𝒟_{A_{i+1}}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}I(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}`$
$`=\{\begin{array}{cc}0,& i<n;\hfill \\ \zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}F_{A_nB},& i=n.\hfill \end{array}`$ (A.8)
Repeating this procedure, each contribution to the second terms in (A.4) can be reduced to the first term plus additional terms involving graded commutators of covariant derivatives. Since the torsion $`T_{AB}^C`$ in (4.3) is constant, we then obtain

$`(n+1)\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}𝒟_BI(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}`$ (A.9)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}i(1)^{C(A_{i+1}+\mathrm{}+A_n)}\zeta ^{A_i}T_{A_iB}{}_{}{}^{C}\zeta _{}^{A_n}\mathrm{}\underset{i}{\underset{}{1}}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}\underset{i}{\underset{}{𝒟_C}}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_n}I(z,z^{})|_{z=z^{}}`$
$`+n\mathrm{i}\zeta ^{A_n}\mathrm{}\zeta ^{A_1}𝒟_{A_1}\mathrm{}𝒟_{A_{n1}}F_{A_nB}.`$
For the first term in the right hand side, we can again apply the previous procedure, and this now simplifies since

$$T_{AB}{}_{}{}^{C}[𝒟_C,𝒟_D\}=(1)^CT_{AB}{}_{}{}^{C}[𝒟_C,𝒟_D\}=\mathrm{i}T_{AB}{}_{}{}^{C}F_{CD}^{}.$$
(A.10)
After some algebra, one then arrives at (A.1).


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# Quantum Scattering in Two Black Hole Moduli Space

## I Introduction

Recently the study of black hole moduli space has attracted much attention. Quantum black holes have been studied by means of quantum fields or strings interacting with a single black hole. In the past several years the quantum mechanics of an arbitrary number $`n`$ of supersymmetric black holes has been focused upon. Configurations of $`n`$ static black holes parametrize a moduli space. The low-lying quantum states of the system are governed by quantum mechanics in the moduli space. The effective theories in moduli space of Reissner-Nordström multi-black holes were constructed in . Recently, (super)conformal quantum mechanics are constructed in the moduli space of four- and five-dimensional multi-black holes in , . Further, we found that the quantum mechanics in moduli space of multi-black holes with dilaton coupling in diverse dimensions have the conformal symmetry .

The scattering in moduli space was discussed by Ferrell and Eardley , where the black hole-black hole scattering and coalescence in the moduli space, which is constructed from (3+1) dimensional Reissner-Nordstöm black holes, was calculated. The black hole moduli spaces geometry with dilaton coupling in $`(N+1)`$ dimensions was discussed by one of the present authors . In these works the structure of the moduli space geometry is found to be different for dimensions and values of dilaton coupling.

In this paper, we consider the quantum effects from the various moduli structures with the scattering in moduli space. In section 2, we discuss the moduli space metric of two black hole system with dilaton coupling in $`(3+1)`$ dimensions. In section 3, we investigate the quantum mechanics in the moduli space. From the feature of potential, we discuss whether an incoming particle is scattered away, or coalesces. In section 4, we consider the scattered-away processes. Using the WKB approximation, we calculate the phase shift and the deflection angle. Then we find the quantum effect in the moduli space. In the special cases of the moduli space, there are resonance states, which are discussed in section 5. In section 6, we give discussion and conclusion.

## II The Moduli Space Metric for the System of Maximally Charged Dilaton Black Holes

In this section, we consider the moduli space of the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system along the technique discussed by Ferrell and Eardley . The Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system contains a dilaton field $`\varphi `$ coupled to a $`U(1)`$ gauge field $`A_\mu `$ besides the Einstein-Hilbert gravity. In the $`(3+1)`$ dimensions, the action for the fields with particle sources is

$$S=d^4x\frac{\sqrt{g}}{16\pi }\left[R2(\varphi )^2e^{2a\varphi }F^2\right]\underset{A=1}{\overset{n}{}}𝑑s_A\left(m_Ae^{2a\varphi }+Q_A𝐀\frac{d𝐱_A}{ds_A}\right),$$
(1)
where $`R`$ is the scalar curvature and $`F_{\mu \nu }=_\mu A_\nu _\nu A_\mu `$. $`ds_A`$ is the line element of the center of the $`A`$-th black hole. $`m_A`$ and $`Q_A`$ are the mass and the electric charge of the $`A`$-th black hole. We set the Newton constant $`G=1`$. The dilaton coupling constant $`a`$ can be assumed to be a positive value.

The metric for the $`n`$-body system of maximally-charged dilaton black holes has been known as  *** In the special case of $`a=0`$ for $`N=3`$, the solution becomes the Papapetrou-Majumdar solution , . Generally, these solutions have singularities. We, however, consider a kind of soliton with three long-range forces balanced (the gravitational force, the electric force and the dilatonic force) as the ‘black hole’.

$$ds^2=U^2(𝐱)dt^2+U^2(𝐱)d𝐱^2,$$
(2)
where

$`U(𝐱)`$ $`=`$ $`(F(𝐱))^{1/(1+a^2)},`$ (3)
$`F(𝐱)`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \underset{A=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _A}{|𝐱𝐱_A|}}.`$ (4)
Using these expressions, the vector one form and dilaton configuration are written as

$`A=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+a^2}}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{F(𝐱)}}\right)dt,`$ (5)
$`e^{2a\varphi }=(F(𝐱))^{2a^2/(1+a^2)}.`$ (6)
In this solution, the asymptotic value of $`\varphi `$ is fixed to be zero.

The electric charge $`Q_A`$ of each black hole are associated with the corresponding mass $`m_A`$ by

$`m_A`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+a^2}}\mu _A,`$ (7)
$`|Q_A|`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+a^2}}}\mu _A.`$ (8)
We consider that the perturbed metric and potential can be written in the form

$`ds^2=U^2(𝐱)dt^2+2𝐍d𝐱dt+U(𝐱)d𝐱^2,`$ (9)
$`A=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+a^2}}}(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{F(𝐱)}})dt+𝐀d𝐱,`$ (10)
where $`U(𝐱)`$ and $`F(𝐱)`$ are defined by (3) and (4). We have only to solve linearized equations with perturbed sources up to $`O(v)`$ for $`N_i`$ and $`A_i`$. (Here $`v`$ represents the velocity of the black hole as a point source.) We should note that each source plays the role of a maximally charged dilaton black hole.

Solving the Einstein-Maxwell equations and substituting the solutions, the perturbed dilaton field and sources to the action (1) with proper boundary terms, we get the effective action up to $`O(v^2)`$ for $`n`$-maximally charged dilaton black hole system

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑t\left(\frac{1}{2}\underset{A}{\overset{n}{}}m_A𝐯_A^2\right)}+{\displaystyle \frac{3a^2}{8\pi (1+a^2)^2}}{\displaystyle d^4x(F(𝐱))^{\frac{2(1a^2)}{1+a^2}}}`$ (12)
$`\times {\displaystyle \underset{A,B=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _A\mu _B}{|𝐫_A|^3|𝐫_B|^3}}[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(𝐫_A𝐫_B)|𝐯_A𝐯_B|^2(𝐫_A\times 𝐫_B)(𝐯_A\times 𝐯_B)],`$
where $`𝐫_A=𝐱𝐱_A`$. $`F(𝐱)`$ is defined by (4).

In general, a naive integration in equation (12) diverges. Therefore, we regularize the divergent terms proportional to $`d^3x\delta ^3(x)/|x|^p(p>0)`$ which appear when the integrand is expanded must be regularized . We set them to zero.

After regularization, the effective action for two body system (consisting of black holes labeled with $`a`$ and $`b`$) can be rewritten as

$`S_{2B}={\displaystyle }dt{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mu 𝐯^2[1`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{M}{\mu }}{\displaystyle \frac{(3a^2)M}{r}}+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{m_a}}\left(1+(1+a^2){\displaystyle \frac{m_a}{r}}\right)^{(3a^2)/(1+a^2)}`$ (14)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{m_b}}(1+(1+a^2){\displaystyle \frac{m_b}{r}})^{(3a^2)/(1+a^2)}],`$
where $`M=m_a+m_b`$, $`\mu =m_am_b/M`$, $`𝐯=𝐯_a𝐯_b`$ and $`r=|𝐱_a𝐱_b|`$. Thus the metric of the three dimensional moduli space for two-body system is

$$g_{ij}=\gamma (r)\delta _{ij},$$
(15)
with

$$\gamma (r)=1\frac{M}{\mu }\frac{(3a^2)M}{r}+\frac{M}{m_a}\left(1+\frac{(1+a^2)m_a}{r}\right)^{\frac{3a^2}{1+a^2}}+\frac{M}{m_b}\left(1+\frac{(1+a^2)m_b}{r}\right)^{\frac{3a^2}{1+a^2}}.$$
(16)
The moduli space metric (15) depends on the dilaton coupling. We notice that the behavior of the moduli metric changes at $`a^2=1/3`$, where the moduli space has a critical structure. Therefore, the moduli space geometry has the various structure .

## III Quantum mechanics in two-black hole moduli space

We consider the quantum scattering in this moduli space. The effective theories of quantum mechanics in moduli space of Reissner-Nordstöm black holes were constructed in .

Let us introduce a wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ in the moduli space, which obeys the Schrödinger equation

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{d\mathrm{\Psi }}{dt}=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2\mu }^2\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(17)
where $`^2`$ is the covariant Laplacian constructed from the moduli space metric (15).

The partial wave in a stationary state is

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=\psi _{ql}(r)Y_{lm}(\theta ,\varphi )\mathrm{exp}(iEt/\mathrm{}),$$
(18)
where $`Y_{lm}(\theta ,\varphi )`$ is the spherical harmonic function. We define the energy and variables as

$`E`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2q^2}{2\mu }},`$ (19)
$`R`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \sqrt{\gamma }𝑑r},`$ (20)
$`\psi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{r\sqrt{\gamma }}}.`$ (21)
The Schrödinger equation (18) is rewritten as

$$\frac{d^2\chi }{dR^2}+(q^2V)\chi =0,$$
(22)
where the potential $`V`$ is represented as

$$V=\frac{\gamma (r\gamma ^{})^{}r(\gamma ^{})^2}{2r\gamma ^3}+\frac{l(l+1)}{r^2\gamma }.$$
(23)
Here  stands for $`\frac{d}{dr}`$ and $`l`$ is the angular momentum.

To study the scattering process, we find the general view of the potential in the moduli space. The potentials for dilaton couplings $`a^2=0`$, $`1/3`$, $`1/2`$ and $`1`$ are plotted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

From Fig. 1, we can find that there is the potential barrier in the case of $`a^2=0`$ for all values of $`l`$ and $`a^2=1/3,1/2`$ for $`l=0`$. If the potential barrier exists, the incoming particle approaching to the origin $`r=0`$ of the moduli space is scattered or coalesces. On the other hand, in the case of $`a^2=1/3,1/2`$ for all values of $`l0`$ and $`a^2=1`$ with any $`l`$, the incoming particle is always scattered away.

Generally, if the angular momentum is zero $`(l=0)`$ the potential has the barrier in the case of $`a^2<1`$. For $`a^2<1/3`$, the variable $`R`$ diverges to minus infinity at the limit of $`r0`$. Then the particle going over the potential barrier can reach the minus infinity, $`R\mathrm{}`$, so that, the incoming particle coalesces with the target black hole. In the case of $`a^2>1/3`$, the variable $`R`$ has the finite value at the limit of $`r0`$. The coordinate $`R`$ taking the infinite value means that the moduli space structure has the throat of infinite length .  Exactly, the radial coordinate describing the moduli space structure in  is different from $`R`$. However, these behaviors at $`r0`$ are similar.  In the case of $`1/3<a^2<1`$, the incoming particle through the potential barrier can reach the point of $`r=0`$ for the finite time and cannot stay at $`r=0`$. Therefore, the incoming particle is reflected at $`r=0`$ and scattered away out of the barrier, so that, does not coalesce. For the scattering of the incoming particle, we can guess that the potential becomes infinity at the point of $`r=0`$. The example of such a potential is shown in Fig. 2 C. We notice that the value of $`a^2=1/3`$ is the critical point of moduli structures .

## IV Scattering in two-black hole moduli space

First, for simplicity, we will study the scattering-away processes in the case of $`a^2=1/3`$ and $`a^2=1`$ for arbitrary values of angular momenta. As the first study of quantum effects, we discuss the scattering process in the WKB approximation. In the WKB approximation, the phase shift in the scattering process is given by

$$\delta _l=qR_0+_{R_0}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑R\left(\sqrt{q^2V(R)\frac{1}{4R^2}}q\right)+\frac{2l+1}{4}\pi ,$$
(24)
where $`R_0`$ is the solution of $`V(R_0)=q^2\frac{1}{4R_0^2}`$. The partial cross section is

$$\sigma _l=\frac{4\pi }{q^2}(2l+1)\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _l.$$
(25)
The deflection angle is

$$\mathrm{\Theta }=\pi +_{R_0}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑R\frac{}{l}\sqrt{q^2V(R)\frac{1}{4R^2}}.$$
(26)
These equations (24)-(26) are evaluated with respect to the outside of the potential barrier, where we ignore the effect of the inside of potential barrier. Thus, these are meaningful in the case of large $`q`$ when the potential barrier does not influence the calculation strongly. The low velocity and large $`q`$ can be realized if $`\mathrm{}1`$, because $`v\mathrm{}q/\mu `$.

The phase shifts $`\delta _l`$ and the deflection angles $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ for $`q=0.1`$ and $`0.2`$ are plotted in Fig. 3. The solid line in Fig. 3 A2, B2 represents the classical deflection angle which is obtained from the impact parameter . For $`a^2=1`$, the effects for the different value of $`q`$ are not found, and the deflection angle almost corresponds to the classical deflection angle. Although, for $`a^2=1/3`$, we can find that the behaviors of phase shift and deflection angle depend on the incoming particle energy. Then the deflection angle is different from the classical deflection angle at the small value of $`l/q`$. These effects are interpreted as the quantum effects arisen from the difference of the moduli space structures in the scattering process. Although we used the WKB semi-classical approximation in this analysis, the quantum effects can be obtained sufficiently.

## V Resonance

As seen in section III, the moduli space for $`a^2>1/3`$ has the finite region toward $`r=0`$, because the $`R`$ has a finite value in the limit $`r0`$ under the integration. The incoming particle through the potential barrier cannot stay at the point of $`r=0`$. Therefore, the coming particle is reflected at the point of $`r=0`$ and scattered away. We can guess that the potential becomes infinity at the point of $`r=0`$. Further, the potential for $`a^2<1`$ has the finite barrier. The example of the potential is shown in Fig. 2 C. The typical potential form for $`1/3<a^2<1`$ is shown in Fig. 4. The energy of an incoming particle is presented by $`E`$ in Fig. 4. At the point of $`R=R_3`$, the original variable $`r`$ equal to zero. For $`1/3<a^2<1`$, the potential has the barrier and three turning points. In this scattering process on the moduli space for $`1/3<a^2<1`$, we can expect that there is the resonance state.

In this section, we discuss the resonance state in the scattering process. The potential has three classical turning points. In Fig. 4, there is a classically allowed region II between $`R_3`$ and $`R_2`$ and for $`R>R_1`$ and a classically inaccessible region I between $`R_2`$ and $`R_1`$. In the WKB approximation, the scattering amplitude is given

$$S_l=\mathrm{exp}(2i\delta _1)\frac{1+\overline{N}(i\beta )\mathrm{exp}(2iW_{32})}{N(i\beta )+\mathrm{exp}(2iW_{32})},$$
(27)
where $`\delta _1`$ is the WKB phase shift (24) evaluated with respect to the outermost turning point $`R_1`$, and

$`N(i\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2\pi }\mathrm{exp}(\pi \beta /2+i(\beta \mathrm{ln}\beta \beta ))}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{1}{2}+i\beta )}},`$ (28)
$`\overline{N}`$ $`=`$ $`N^{},`$ (29)
with

$`\beta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _{R_1}^{R_2}}\sqrt{\chi (R)}𝑑R={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}{\displaystyle _{R_1}^{R_2}}𝑑R\sqrt{(q^2V(R){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4R^2}})},`$ (31)
$`W_{32}={\displaystyle _{R_3}^{R_2}}𝑑R\sqrt{q^2V(R){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4R^2}}}.`$
The partial cross section is represented by

$$\sigma _l=4\pi (2l+1)|f_l|^2,$$
(32)
where

$$f_l=\frac{1}{2iq}(S_l1).$$
(33)
In the cases of $`a^2=2/5`$, $`a^2=9/20`$ and $`a^2=1/2`$, the partial cross sections $`\sigma _0`$ are shown in Fig. 5.

Clearly, there is the resonance state. The quasi-bound state exists inside the potential barrier: The quasi-bound states for $`a^2=2/5`$ and $`a^2=9/20`$ exist below the maximal value of the potential barrier, $`V0.0619`$ and $`V0.0641`$ respectively. The quasi-bound state for $`a^2=1/2`$ exists near the maximal value $`V0.0665`$.

Also, the width of resonance for $`a^2=1/2`$ is larger than for $`a^2=9/20`$ and $`a^2=2/5`$. Here the width of the resonance $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_0=\frac{P}{T},$$
(34)
where $`P`$ is the barrier penetration factor and $`T`$ is the period of the classical motion in the potential pocket inside the barrier:

$`P=(1+\mathrm{exp}2\pi \beta )^1,`$ (35)
$`T=\left({\displaystyle \frac{W_{32}}{E}}\right)_{E_r},`$ (36)
where $`E_r`$ is the resonance energy. The width of the resonance is related to the time of classical motion of the test particle. From the width of resonance, we can guess that the time of the classical motion in moduli space for $`a^2=2/5`$ is longer than the case of $`a^2=1/2`$. Fig. 6 shows the surface of moduli space for $`a^2=2/5`$ and $`1/2`$ in the (3+1) dimensions. The moduli space geometry becomes deep and sharp for small values of $`a^2`$. Then, we suppose that the time of classical motion in moduli space for small $`a^2`$ is also long, because the trajectories of the classical motion becomes long.

## VI Conclusion

In this paper, we considered the quantum effects from the different moduli space in the scattering process. In three spatial dimensions, we obtained the phase shift and the deflection angle in the WKB approximation. Then we revealed the quantum effects in scattering process for $`a^2=1/3`$. We consider that these effects are due to the difference of the moduli space structure. Thus, the quantum effects from the moduli space structure are obtained in the scattering process. Moreover, there are the resonance states in the cases of $`a^2=2/5,9/20`$ and $`1/2`$. These are the remarkable quantum effects, because there is no resonance state in the scattering process on the ordinary black holes with no dilaton coupling. The incoming particle falling into the ordinary black holes is simply absorbed or coalesce. In the scattering process in the moduli space for the specific case, however, there is the resonance state.

In further study, we will consider the behavior in the different dimensions and for the other values of dilaton coupling $`a`$. The moduli space structures are different in the other dimensions and at the other values of dilaton coupling $`a`$. In (4+1) dimensions for $`1<a^2<4`$, the moduli space structure resembles the structure in (3+1) dimensions for $`1/3<a^2<1`$ . Then we expect that the similar quantum effects are also arisen. The resonance is the particular state in the black hole moduli space. It seems that the effects of this resonance states on the quantum mechanics and conformal symmetry discussed in  should be investigated. In this work, we considered the quantum effects in scattering process with the WKB approximation. We will discuss more precise quantum mechanical analysis in further study.