English

Massive spin-2 theories

High Energy Physics - Theory 2013-12-09 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We give an introduction to massive spin-2 theories and the problem of their non-linear completion. We review the Boulware-Deser ghost problem and two ways to circumvent classic no-go theorems. In turn, massive spin-2 theories are not uniquely defined. In the case of truncated theories, we show that the Boulware-Deser ghost may only be avoided if the derivative structure of the theory is not tuned to be Einsteinian.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1310.0453,
  title  = {Massive spin-2 theories},
  author = {Sarah Folkerts and Cristiano Germani and Nico Wintergerst},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.0453},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

14 pages - Invited review for the Central European Journal of Physics, topical issue devoted to "Cosmology and Particle Physics beyond Standard Models". v2: References added, extended discussion on massive gravity

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:38:27.636Z