Abstract
We evaluate the one-graviton loop contribution to the vacuum polarization on de Sitter background in a 1-parameter family of exact, de Sitter invariant gauges. Our result is computed using dimensional regularization and fully renormalized with Bogoliubov, Parasiuk, Hepp and Zimmerman counterterms, which must include a noninvariant owing to the time-ordered interactions. Because the graviton propagator engenders a physical breaking of de Sitter invariance two structure functions are needed to express the result. In addition to its relevance for the gauge issue this is the first time a covariant gauge graviton propagator has been used to compute a noncoincident loop. A number of identities are derived which should facilitate further graviton loop computations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 195014 |
| Number of pages | 48 |
| Journal | Classical and Quantum Gravity |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 19 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Oct 2015 |
Funding
We are grateful for conversation and correspondence on this subject with S Deser and K E Leonard. This work is part of the D-ITP consortium, a program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) that is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). It was also partially supported by Taiwan MOST grant 103-2112-M-006-001-MY3, the Focus Group on Gravitation of the Taiwan National Center for Theoretical Sciences, by NSF grants PHY-1205591 and PHY-1506513, and by the Institute for Fundamental Theory at the University of Florida.
Keywords
- quantum gravity
- de Sitter
- vacuum polarization
- gauge dependence
- INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE SCENARIO
- EXPECTATION VALUE FORMALISM
- QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
- PHASE-TRANSITIONS
- SCALAR FIELD
- SELF-ENERGY
- PERTURBATIONS
- SPACE
- ELECTRODYNAMICS
- DIVERGENCES