Aspects of Galileon Non-Renormalization

TL;DR

This paper explores the non-renormalization properties of galileon theories, showing they are protected against quantum corrections from both self-loops and heavy fields, highlighting their unique stability features.

Contribution

It demonstrates that galileon theories are non-renormalized not only by their own loops but also by loops of heavy fields respecting galileon symmetry, a novel insight.

Findings

Galileon theories are protected from self-loop corrections.

Heavy fields respecting galileon symmetry do not renormalize galileons.

Non-renormalization theorems extend beyond self-loops to include heavy field loops.

Abstract

We discuss non-renormalization theorems applying to galileon field theories and their generalizations. Galileon theories are similar in many respects to other derivatively coupled effective field theories, including general relativity and $P(X)$ theories. In particular, these other theories also enjoy versions of non-renormalization theorems that protect certain operators against corrections from self-loops. However, we argue that the galileons are distinguished by the fact that they are not renormalized even by loops of other heavy fields whose couplings respect the galileon symmetry.