ONE-LOOP GRAVITON SELF-ENERGY IN A LOCALLY DE SITTER BACKGROUND

The graviton tadpole has recently been computed at two loops in a loca lly de Sitter background. We apply intermediate results of this work t o exhibit the graviton self-energy at one loop. This quantity is inter esting both to check the accuracy of the first calculation and to unde rstand the relaxation effect it reveals. In the former context we show that the self-energy obeys the appropriate Ward identity. We also sho w that its flat space limit agrees with the flat space result obtained by Capper in what should be the same gauge.