Heat kernel expansion in the covariant perturbation theory Original Research Article

Working within the framework of the covariant perturbation theory, we obtain the coincidence limit of the heat kernel of an elliptic second order differential operator that is applicable to a large class of quantum field theories. The basis of tensor invariants of the curvatures of a gravity and gauge field background, to the second order, is derived, and the form factors acting on them are obtained in two integral representations. The results are verified by the functional trace operation, by the short proper time (Schwinger–DeWitt) expansions, as well as by the computation of the Green function for the two-dimensional scalar field model.