Positivity of Curvature-Squared Corrections in Gravity
High Energy Physics - Theory
2017-02-02 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
We study the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) term as the leading higher-curvature correction to pure Einstein gravity. Assuming a tree-level ultraviolet completion free of ghosts or tachyons, we prove that the GB term has a nonnegative coefficient in dimensions greater than four. Our result follows from unitarity of the spectral representation for a general ultraviolet completion of the GB term.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.1608.02942,
title = {Positivity of Curvature-Squared Corrections in Gravity},
author = {Clifford Cheung and Grant N. Remmen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.02942},
year = {2017}
}
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6 pages