2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/55685We use variational methods to calculate quasilocal energy quantum corrections. A comparison with the effective potential calculated at quadratic order is made by means of gaussian wave functionals. The method is a particular case of the effective action for composite operators used in quantum field theory. In pure gravity the method is applied for the first time. Implications on the foam-like scenario are discussed.4 pages, LaTeX file uses sprocl.sty, Talk given at the sixth International Conference on Path-Integrals from peV to TeV 50 Years from Feynman's Paper, Florence, Italy, 25-29 August 1998, to appear in the ProceedingsHigh Energy Physics - TheoryGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmologytext