THE RENORMALIZATION-GROUP AND THE EFFECTIVE POTENTIAL IN A CURVED SPACETIME WITH TORSION

The renormalization-group method is employed to study the effective po tential in curved spacetime with torsion. The renormalization-group im proved effective potential corresponding to a massless gauge theory in such a spacetime is found and in this way a generalization of Coleman and Weinberg's approach corresponding to flat space is obtained. A me thod which works with the renormalization-group equation for two-loop effective potential calculations in torsionful spacetime is developed. The effective potential for the conformal factor in the conformal dyn amics of quantum gravity with torsion is thereby calculated explicitly . Finally, torsion-induced phase transitions are discussed.