English

A graviton propagator for inflation

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We construct the scalar and graviton propagator in quasi de Sitter space up to first order in the slow roll parameter ϵH˙/H2\epsilon\equiv -\dot{H}/H^2. After a rescaling, the propagators are similar to those in de Sitter space with an ϵ\epsilon correction to the effective mass. The limit ϵ0\epsilon\to 0 corresponds to the E(3) vacuum that breaks de Sitter symmetry, but does not break spatial isotropy and homogeneity. The new propagators allow for a self-consistent, dynamical study of quantum back-reaction effects during inflation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0707.3919,
  title  = {A graviton propagator for inflation},
  author = {Tomas Janssen and Tomislav Prokopec},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0707.3919},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

23 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:02:03.407Z