Related papers: Ghost-free, finite, fourth order D=3 (alas) gravit…
We analyze the pattern of normal modes in linearized Lorentz-violating massive gravity over the 5-dimensional moduli space of mass terms. Ghost-free theories arise at bifurcation points when the ghosts get out of the spectrum of propagating…
In this paper we establish the correspondence between ghost-free bimetric theory and a class of higher derivative gravity actions, including conformal gravity and New Massive Gravity. We also characterize the relation between the respective…
We encounter these demons on the path towards a UV complete QFT of gravity and a horizonless replacement for black holes. The fate of the ghost is discussed in the strong coupling version of classically-scale-invariant quadratic gravity.…
We analyze the theories of gravity modified by a generic nonderivative potential built from the metric, under the minimal requirement of unbroken spatial rotations. Using the canonical analysis, we classify the potentials $V$ according to…
Invertible disformal transformations serve as a useful tool to explore ghost-free scalar-tensor theories. In this paper, we construct a generalization of invertible disformal transformations that involves arbitrary higher-order covariant…
We present for the first time a ghost-free higher-derivative chiral model with a propagating auxiliary F-term field (highest component of the chiral multiplet). We obtain this model by removing a ghost in a higher derivative chiral model,…
A discussion of the field content of quadratic higher-derivative gravitation is presented, together with a new example of a massless spin-two field consistently coupled to gravity. The full quadratic gravity theory is shown to be equivalent…
We study the condition that the theory is unitary and stable in three-dimensional gravity with most general quadratic curvature, Lorentz-Chern-Simons and cosmological terms. We provide the complete classification of the unitary theories…
In this paper we will show all the linearized curvature tensors in the infinite derivative ghost and singularity free theory of gravity in the static limit. We have found that in the region of non-locality, in the ultraviolet regime (at…
Three-dimensional gravity coupled to pressureless dust is a field theory with one local degree of freedom. In the canonical framework, the dust-time gauge encodes this physical degree of freedom as a metric function. We find that the…
We study the quantum properties of the three-dimensional higher derivative gravity. In particular we calculate the running of the gravitational and cosmological constants. The flow of these couplings shows that there exist both Gaussian and…
We present the manifestly covariant quantization of quadratic gravity or higher-derivative gravity in the de Donder gauge condition (or harmonic gauge condition) for general coordinate invariance on the basis of the BRST transformation. We…
We review some of the recent results which can be useful for better understanding of the problem of stability of vacuum and in general classical solutions in higher derivative quantum gravity. The fourth derivative terms in the purely…
We present the most general covariant ghost-free gravitational action in a Minkowski vacuum. Apart from the much studied f(R) models, this includes a large class of non-local actions with improved UV behavior, which nevertheless recover…
We study exact impulsive gravitational waves propagating in anti-de Sitter spacetime in the context of the ghost free infinite derivative gravity. We show that the source-free theory does not admit any AdS wave solutions other than that of…
The so called "New Massive Gravity" in $D=2+1$ consists of the Einstein-Hilbert action (with minus sign) plus a quadratic term in curvatures ($K$-term). Here we perform the Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction of the linearized $K$-term to…
We consider a class of metric-affine gravitational theories with action quadratic in curvature and torsion tensors. Using the heat kernel technique, we compute the torsion contributions to the one-loop counterterms in the ultraviolet limit.…
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…
A discussion of the number of degrees of freedom, and their dynamical properties, in higher derivative gravitational theories is presented. The complete non-linear sigma model for these degrees of freedom is exhibited using the method of…
A crucial building block of the ghost free massive gravity is the square root function of a matrix. This is a problematic entity from the viewpoint of existence and uniqueness properties. We accurately describe the freedom of choosing a…