Induced Curvature in Brane Worlds by Surface Terms in String Effective Actions with Higher-Curvature Corrections

TL;DR

This paper investigates how surface terms from field redefinitions in string-inspired effective actions with higher-curvature corrections induce curvature on brane world boundaries, impacting brane world models.

Contribution

It demonstrates that local field redefinitions generating the Gauss-Bonnet term produce surface terms that induce curvature on brane boundaries in string-inspired models.

Findings

Surface terms from redefinitions induce brane curvature.

Gauss-Bonnet combination remains ghost-free.

Implications for brane world scenarios.

Abstract

In string-inspired effective actions, representing the low-energy bulk dynamics of brane/string theories, the higher-curvature ghost-free Gauss-Bonnet combination is obtained by local field redefinitions which leave the (perturbative) string amplitudes invariant. We show that such redefinitions lead to surface terms which induce curvature on the brane world boundary of the bulk spacetime.