Graviton propagator in a general invariant gauge on de Sitter

Journal Article · Sat Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4764882· OSTI ID:22094008

Mora, P. J.; Woodard, R. P. ^[1]; Tsamis, N. C. ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
2. Institute of Theoretical Physics and Computational Physics, Department of Physics, University of Crete, GR-710 03 Heraklion (Greece)

We construct the graviton propagator on de Sitter background in the one parameter family of exact, de Sitter invariant gauges. Our result takes the form of a universal spin two part and a gauge dependent spin zero part. Scalar equations are derived for the structure functions of each part. There is no de Sitter invariant solution for either structure function, although the de Sitter breaking contribution to the spin zero part may drop out for certain choices of the gauge parameter. Our results imply that de Sitter breaking is universal for the graviton propagator, and hence that there is an error in the contrary results derived by analytic continuation of average gauge fixing techniques.

• OSTI ID: 22094008
• Journal Information: Journal of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0022-2488
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DE SITTER SPACE
GAUGE INVARIANCE
GRAVITONS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
PROPAGATOR
QUANTUM GRAVITY
SPIN
STRUCTURE FUNCTIONS