Related papers: On Newtonian singularities in higher derivative gr…
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 discussion of an extended class of higher-derivative classical theories of gravity is presented. A procedure is given for exhibiting the new propagating degrees of freedom, at the full non-linear level, by transforming the…
We consider theories describing the dynamics of a four-dimensional metric, whose Lagrangian is diffeomorphism invariant and depends at most on second derivatives of the metric. Imposing degeneracy conditions we find a set of Lagrangians…
Certain power-counting non-renormalizable theories, including the most general self-interacting scalar fields in four and three dimensions and fermions in two dimensions, have a simplified renormalization structure. For example, in…
In this paper we show that there is a universal prediction for the Newtonian potential for an infinite derivative, ghost-free, quadratic curvature gravity. We show that in order to make such a theory ghost-free at a perturbative level, the…
The inclusion of higher derivatives is a necessary condition for a renormalizable or superrenormalizable local theory of quantum gravity. On the other hand, higher derivatives lead to classical instabilities and a loss of unitarity at the…
We explore the possibility that the fundamental theory of nature does not contain any scale. This implies a renormalizable quantum gravity theory where the graviton kinetic term has 4 derivatives, and can be reinterpreted as gravity minus…
We study the systems of ordinary differential equations which are implicit with respect to the higher derivatives, appearing in the linear form, and their solutions near the singular points. The invertibility of the higher derivatives…
We construct two classes of higher-derivative supergravity theories generalizing Einstein supergravity. We explore their dynamical content as well as their vacuum structure. The first class is found to be equivalent to Einstein supergravity…
It was recently found that, when linearised in the absence of matter, 58 cases of the general gravitational theory with quadratic curvature and torsion are (i) free from ghosts and tachyons and (ii) power-counting renormalisable. We inspect…
The Newtonian limit of the most general fourth order gravity is performed with metric approach in the Jordan frame with no gauge condition. The most general theory with fourth order differential equations is obtained by generalizing the…
We consider possible resolutions of singularities in a contracting anisotropic universe for a class of higher derivative gravity theories. We give evidence that for our models the big crunch singularity may be replaced by a nearly flat…
I study some aspects of the renormalization of quantum field theories with infinitely many couplings in arbitrary space-time dimensions. I prove that when the space-time manifold admits a metric of constant curvature the propagator is not…
We study the one loop renormalization in the most general metric-dilaton theory with the second derivative terms only. The general theory can be divided into two classes, models of one are equivalent to conformally coupled with gravity…
We consider the possible consistent truncation of N-extended supergravities to lower N' theories. The truncation, unlike the case of N-extended rigid theories, is non trivial and only in some cases it is sufficient just to delete the extra…
We consider a renormalizable two-dimensional model of dilaton gravity coupled to a set of conformal fields as a toy model for quantum cosmology. We discuss the cosmological solutions of the model and study the effect of including the…
It has been suggested that higher-derivative gravity theories coupled to a scalar field with shift symmetry may be an important candidate for a quantum gravity. We show that this class of gravity theories are renormalizable in D = 3 and 4…
We find the explicit forms of the anti-de Sitter plane, anti-de Sitter spherical, and pp waves that solve both the linearized and exact field equations of the most general higher derivative gravity theory in three dimensions. As a…
We study the degrees of freedom in New General Relativity -- flat and metric compatible family of theories -- around the Minkowski background in a gauge invariant manner. First, we confirm the decoupling case, in which the theory reduces to…
We develop geometric superspace settings to construct arbitrary higher derivative couplings (including R^n terms) in three-dimensional supergravity theories with N=1,2,3 by realising them as conformal supergravity coupled to certain…