Related papers: Validating variational principle for higher order …
Previously the DeTurck 'trick' has been used to render the stationary Einstein's equation a well posed elliptic system that may be solved numerically by geometric flow or directly. Whilst in the static case for pure gravity with zero or…
The cosmological evolution of free massless vector or tensor (but not gauge) fields minimally coupled to gravity is analyzed. It is shown that there are some unstable solutions for these fields in De Sitter background. The back reaction of…
We consider a class of Lorentz-violating theories of gravity involving a timelike unit vector field (the aether) coupled to a metric, two examples being Einstein-aether theory and Ho\v{r}ava gravity. The action always includes the Ricci…
Perturbation theory in geometric theories of gravitation is a gauge theory of symmetric tensors defined on a Lorentzian manifold (the background spacetime). The gauge freedom makes uniqueness problems in perturbation theory particularly…
Scalar-tensor gravity is the simplest and best understood modification of general relativity, consisting of a real scalar field coupled directly to the Ricci scalar curvature. Models of this type have self-accelerating solutions. In an…
Conditions are given which, subject to a genericity condition on the Ricci tensor, are both necessary and sufficient for a 3-metric to arise from a static spacetime metric.
The role of torsion and a scalar field $\phi$ in gravitation in the background of a particular class of the Riemann-Cartan geometry is considered here. Some times ago, a Lagrangian density with Lagrange multipliers has been proposed by the…
We consider $n$-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in higher curvature gravitational theories with $n \geq 4$, by employing the conformal completion technique. We first argue that a condition on the Ricci tensor should be…
The Palatini $f(R,T)$ gravity theory is considered. The standard Einstein-Hilbert action is replaced by an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar $R$ and of the trace $T$ of the energy-momentum tensor. In the Palatini approach, the Ricci…
Consistency of Einstein's gravitational field equation $G_{\mu\nu} \propto T_{\mu\nu}$ imposes a "conservation condition" on the $T$-tensor that is satisfied by (i) matter stress tensors, as a consequence of the matter equations of motion,…
Within the context of modified gravity and dark energy scenarios of the accelerating universe, we study the stability of de Sitter space with respect to inhomogeneous perturbations using a gauge-independent formalism. In modified gravity…
We study the prescribed Ricci curvature problem for homogeneous metrics. Given a (0,2)-tensor field $T$, this problem asks for solutions to the equation $\mathrm{Ric}(g)=cT$ for some constant $c$. Our approach is based on examining global…
We study the stability of theories where the gravitational action has arbitrary algebraic dependence on the three first traces of the Riemann tensor: the Ricci tensor, the co-Ricci tensor, and the homothetic curvature tensor. We…
From the group theoretical point of view, it is proved that the theory of linear conformal gravity should be written in terms of a tensor field of rank-3 and mixed symmetry [Binegar, et al, Phys. Rev. D 27, (1983) 2249]. We obtained such a…
A method is presented to construct a particular, non-minimally coupled scalar-tensor theory such that a given metric is an exact vacuum solution in that theory. In contrast to the standard approach in studies of gravitational dynamics,…
The Palatini gravitational action is enlarged by an arbitrary function $f(X)$ of the determinants of the Ricci tensor and the metric, $X=|\textbf{det}.R|/|\textbf{det}.g|$. The resulting Ricci-determinant theory exhibits novel deviations…
Spacetime geometry is described by two -- {\em a priori} independent -- geometric structures: the symmetric connection $\Gamma$ and the metric tensor $g$. Metricity condition of $\Gamma$ (i.e. $\nabla g = 0$) is implied by the Palatini…
Not only the Dirac operator, but also the spinor bundle of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold depends on the underlying metric. This leads to technical difficulties in the study of problems where many metrics are involved, for instance in…
The de Sitter invariant special relativity is a natural extension of the usual Einstein special relativity. Within this framework a generalization of special relativity (SR) for the de Sitter space-time introduces a new length scale $R$,…
In this paper we provide the criteria for any generally covariant, parity preserving, and torsion free theory of gravity to possess a stable de Sitter (dS) or anti-de Sitter (AdS) background. By stability we mean the absence of tachyonic or…