English

$pp$-waves as exact solutions to ghost-free infinite derivative gravity

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2021-08-03 v4 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We construct exact pp-wave solutions of ghost-free infinite derivative gravity and demonstrate that the sourceless theory does not bring any pp-wave solutions save for that of Einstein's gravity. These waves described in the Kerr-Schild form also solve the linearized field equations of the theory. We also find an exact gravitational shock wave with non-singular curvature invariants and with a finite limit in the ultraviolet regime of non-locality which is in contrast to the divergent limit in Einstein's theory.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1903.04283,
  title  = {$pp$-waves as exact solutions to ghost-free infinite derivative gravity},
  author = {Ercan Kilicarslan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.04283},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

13 pages, references added, end of the Section IV-A is revised, version published in Phys. Rev. D

R2 v1 2026-06-23T08:04:12.533Z