Evidence for and Obstructions to Non-Linear Partially Massless Gravity
Abstract
Non-linear partially massless (PM) gravity, if it exists, is a theory of massive gravity in which the graviton has four propagating degrees of freedom. In PM gravity, a scalar gauge symmetry removes one of the five modes of the massive graviton. This symmetry ties the value of the cosmological constant to the mass of the graviton, which in turn can be kept small in a technically natural way. Thus PM gravity could offer a compelling solution to the old cosmological constant problem. In this work we look for such a theory among the known ghost-free massive gravity models with a de Sitter reference metric. We find that despite the existence of strong supporting evidence for the existence of a PM theory of gravity, technical obstructions arise which preclude its formulation using the standard massive gravity framework.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1302.0025,
title = {Evidence for and Obstructions to Non-Linear Partially Massless Gravity},
author = {Claudia de Rham and Kurt Hinterbichler and Rachel A. Rosen and Andrew J. Tolley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.0025},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
34 pages, 1 figure. v2 clarifications added, typos fixed (including a factor of 2 in eq. 1.6), version appearing in PRD. v3 refs added, relation to bimetric clarified