Background-metric Independent Formulation of 4D Quantum Gravity

Using the background-metric independence for the traceless mode as well as the conformal mode, 4D quantum gravity is described as a quantum field theory defined on a non-dynamical backgroundmetric. The measure then induces an action with 4 derivatives. So we think that 4-th order gravity is essential and the Einstein-Hilbert term should be treated like a mass term. We introduce the dimensionless self-coupling constant t for the traceless mode. In this paper we study a model where the measure can be evaluated in the limit t → 0 exactly, using the background-metric independence for the conformal mode. The t-dependence of the measure is determined purturbatively using the background-metric independence for the traceless mode. E-mail address : [email protected] E-mail address : [email protected]