On the graviton two-point function and its infrared behavior in de Sitter spacetime

Abstract

In our previous paper (Phys. Rev. D 94, 104030 (2016)), inspired by the work of Allen and Turyn (Nucl. Phys. B 292, 813 (1987)), we expressed the graviton two-point function in terms of maximally symmetric bitensors in de Sitter spacetime. Quite contrary to the result of their work, however, we explicitly showed that the de Sitter symmetry breaking is universal and the associated infrared divergences cannot be gauged away. In this Letter, the origin of this contradiction, which is greatly related to the well-known scientific dispute about the infrared behavior of the graviton two-point function, is clarified.