Related papers: Scale invariance: fake appearances
"Physical theories of fundamental significance tend to be gauge theories. These are theories in which the physical system being dealt with is described by more variables than there are physically independent degree of freedom. The…
Diffeomorphism invariance is often considered to be a hallmark of the theory of general relativity (GR). But closer analysis reveals that this cannot be what makes GR distinctive. The concept of diffeomorphism invariance can be defined in…
We construct all possible Weyl invariant actions in $d=4$ for linearized spin three field in a general gravitational background. The first action is obtained as the square of the generalized Weyl tensor for a spin three gauge field in…
We review and expand upon recent work demonstrating that Weyl invariant theories can be broken "inertially," which does not depend upon a potential. This can be understood in a general way by the "current algebra" of these theories,…
We discuss Weyl (conformal) transformations in two-dimensional matterless dilaton gravity. We argue that both classical and quantum dilaton gravity theories are invariant under Weyl transformations.
Phenomena in gauge theory are often described in the physics literature via a specific choice of gauge. In foundational and philosophical discussions this is often criticized as introducing gauge dependence, and contrasted against (often…
We examine the Weyl anomaly for a four-dimensional z=3 Lifshitz scalar coupled to Horava's theory of anisotropic gravity. We find a one-loop break-down of scale-invariance at second order in the gravitational background.
We give a detailed analysis of the particle spectrum and the perturbative unitarity of the recently introduced Weyl-invariant version of the new massive gravity in 2+1 dimensions. By computing the action up to second order in the…
We present a scale-invariant theory, conformal gravity, which closely resembles the geometrodynamical formulation of general relativity (GR). While previous attempts to create scale-invariant theories of gravity have been based on Weyl's…
We consider some flat space theories for spin 2 gravitons, with less invariance than full diffeomorphisms. For the massless case, classical stability and absence of ghosts require invariance under transverse diffeomorphisms (TDiff). Generic…
We discuss gauge theories of scale invariance beyond the Standard Model (SM) and Einstein gravity. A consequence of gauging this symmetry is that their underlying 4D geometry is non-metric ($\nabla_\mu g_{\alpha\beta}\not=0$). Examples of…
We study the general class of gravitational field theories constructed on the basis of scale invariance (and therefore absence of any mass parameters) and invariance under transverse diffeomorphisms (TDiff), which are the 4-volume…
The usual interpretation of Weyl geometry is modified in two senses. First, both the additive Weyl connection and its variation are treated as (1, 2) tensors under the action of Weyl covariant derivative. Second, a modified covariant…
By a uniform and simple Weyl invariant coupling of scale and matter fields, we construct theories that unify massless, massive, and partially massless excitations. Masses are related to tractor Weyl weights, and Breitenlohner-Freedman…
We construct Horava-Lifshitz gravities that are invariant under anisotropic Weyl scaling. This construction is based on an extension of the group of symmetries of healthy extended Horava-Lifshitz gravity and RFDiff invariant Horava-Lifshitz…
Modeling the propagation of gravitational waves (GWs) through matter is complicated by the gauge freedom of linearized gravity in that once nonlinearities are taken into consideration, gauge artifacts can cause spurious acceleration of the…
A common biquadratic potential for the Higgs field $h$ and an additional scalar field $\phi$, non minimally coupled to gravity, is considered in locally scale symmetric approaches to standard model fields in curved spacetime. A common…
For gauge theory, the matrix element for any physical process is independent of the gauge used. Since this is a formal statement and examples are known where gauge invariance is violated, for any specific process this gauge invariance needs…
In general, the laws of physics are not invariant under a change of scale. To find out whether the 'scale-invariance hypothesis' corresponds to nature or not, a careful examination to its implications is required. As a consequence, the…
We highlight the fact that the lack of scale invariance in the gravitational field equations of General Relativity results from the underlying assumption that the appropriate scale for the gravitational force should be linked to the atomic…