Related papers: Healthy theories beyond Horndeski
Higher order derivative theories, generally suffer from instabilities, known as Ostrogradsky instabilities. This issue can be resolved by removing any existing degeneracy present in such theories. We consider a model involving at most…
We review how the (absence of) Ostrogradsky instability manifests itself in theories with multiple fields. It has recently been appreciated that when multiple fields are present, the existence of higher derivatives may not automatically…
A Poincar\`{e} invariant, local scalar field theory in which the Lagrangian and the equation of motion contain only up to second-order derivatives of the fields is called generalized Galileon. The covariant version of it in four dimensions…
Certain scalar fields with higher derivative interactions and novel classical and quantum mechanical properties - the Galileons - can be naturally covariantized by coupling to nonlinear massive gravity in such a way that their symmetries…
We consider scalar field theories invariant under extended shift symmetries consisting of higher order polynomials in the spacetime coordinates. These generalize ordinary shift symmetries and the linear shift symmetries of the galileons. We…
The null energy condition can be violated stably in generalized Galileon theories, which gives rise to the possibilities of healthy non-singular cosmologies. However, it has been reported that in many cases cosmological solutions are…
In the context of classical mechanics, we study the conditions under which higher-order derivative theories can evade the so-called Ostrogradsky instability. More precisely, we consider general Lagrangians with second order time…
We study linear scalar perturbations around a flat FLRW background in mimetic Horndeski gravity. In the absence of matter, we show that the Newtonian potential satisfies a second-order differential equation with no spatial derivatives. This…
This work studies wave propagation in the most general scalar-tensor theories, particularly focusing on the causal structure realized in these theories and also the shock formation process induced by nonlinear effects. For these studies we…
Horndeski gravity is the most general scalar-tensor theory with one scalar field leading to second-order Euler-Lagrange field equations for the metric and scalar field, and it is based on Riemannian geometry. In this paper, we formulate an…
We study a modification of the Plebanski action, which generically corresponds to a bi-metric theory of gravity, and identify a subclass which is equivalent to the Bergmann-Wagoner-Nordtvedt class of scalar-tensor theories. In this manner,…
We investigate a class of gravity theories respecting only spatial covariance, termed spatially covariant gravity, in the presence of an auxiliary scalar field. We examine the conditions on the Lagrangian required to eliminate scalar…
Twenty years have passed since the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe, reviving the interest for alternative theories of gravity. Adding a scalar degree of freedom to the usual metric of general relativity is one of the…
It has been pointed out that non-singular cosmological solutions in second-order scalar-tensor theories generically suffer from gradient instabilities. We extend this no-go result to second-order gravitational theories with an arbitrary…
We present a method for parametrizing linear cosmological perturbations of theories of gravity, around homogeneous and isotropic backgrounds. The method is sufficiently general and systematic that it can be applied to theories with any…
We study the nature of constraints and the Hamiltonian structure in a scalar-tensor theory of gravity recently proposed by Gleyzes, Langlois, Piazza and Vernizzi (GLPV). For the simple case with A_5 = 0, namely when the canonical momenta…
We show generalized Galileons -- a particular subclass of Horndeski gravity -- arise from a consistent Kaluza-Klein reduction of the low-energy effective action of heterotic string theory to first order in $\alpha'$. This suggests Horndeski…
We propose a covariant, gauge-independent construction of foliation-based scalar-tensor theories, yielding diffeomorphism-invariant operators involving only gradients on the hypersurfaces where the scalar field is constant, assumed to be…
A higher order theory of dilaton gravity is constructed as a generalization of the Einstein-Lovelock theory of pure gravity. Its Lagrangian contains terms with higher powers of the Riemann tensor and of the first two derivatives of the…
The alternative version of Hamiltonian formalism for higher-derivative theories is proposed. As compared with the standard Ostrogradski approach it has the following advantages: (i) the Lagrangian, when expressed in terms of new variables…