English

Revisiting the cuscuton as a Lorentz-violating gravity theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2018-04-18 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

The cuscuton is a scalar field with infinite speed of propagation. It was introduced in the context of cosmology but it has also been claimed to resemble Horava gravity in a certain limit. Here we revisit the cuscuton theory as a Lorentz-violating gravity theory. We clarify its relation with Horava gravity and Einstein-aether theory, analyze its causal structure, and consider its initial value formulation. Finally, we discuss to which extent the cuscuton theory can be used as a proxy for Horava gravity in the context of gravitational collapse and formation of universal horizons.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1612.01824,
  title  = {Revisiting the cuscuton as a Lorentz-violating gravity theory},
  author = {Jishnu Bhattacharyya and Andrew Coates and Mattia Colombo and A. Emir Gumrukcuoglu and Thomas P. Sotiriou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1612.01824},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

9 pages, revised version as published in PRD

R2 v1 2026-06-22T17:14:50.157Z