Quantum Scalar Corrections to the Gravitational Potentials on de Sitter Background

Abstract

We employ the graviton self-energy induced by a massless, minimally coupled (MMC) scalar on de Sitter background to compute the quantum corrections to the gravitational potentials of a static point particle with a mass $M$. The Schwinger-Keldysh formalism is used to derive real and causal effective field equations. When evaluated at the one-loop order, the gravitational potentials exhibit a secular decrease in the observed gravitational coupling $G$. This can also be interpreted as a (time dependent) anti-screening of the mass $M$.