Related papers: Degenerate higher derivative theories beyond Hornd…
We consider all degenerate scalar-tensor theories that depend quadratically on second order derivatives of a scalar field, which we have identified in a previous work. These theories, whose degeneracy in general ensures the absence of…
We present all scalar-tensor Lagrangians that are cubic in second derivatives of a scalar field, and that are degenerate, hence avoiding Ostrogradsky instabilities. Thanks to the existence of constraints, they propagate no more than three…
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…
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…
This contribution reviews scalar-tensor theories whose Lagrangian contains second-order derivatives of a scalar field but nevertheless propagate only one scalar mode (in addition to the usual two tensor modes), and are thus not plagued with…
Ostrogradsky instability generally appears in nondegenerate higher-order derivative theories and this issue can be resolved by removing any existing degeneracy present in such theories. We consider an action involving terms that are at most…
We perform a Hamiltonian analysis of a large class of scalar-tensor Lagrangians which depend quadratically on the second derivatives of a scalar field. By resorting to a convenient choice of dynamical variables, we show that the Hamiltonian…
We systematically construct ghost-free scalar-tensor theories whose Lagrangian includes up to third-order derivatives of the scalar field. Using a spatially covariant action written in terms of the ADM variables, we impose degeneracy and…
This article reviews scalar-tensor theories characterized by a Lagrangian that, despite the presence of second order derivatives, contain a single scalar degree of freedom. These theories, known as Degenerate Higher-Order Scalar-Tensor…
We review the fate of the Ostrogradsky ghost in higher-order theories. We start by recalling the original Ostrogradsky theorem and illustrate, in the context of classical mechanics, how higher-derivatives Lagrangians lead to unbounded…
We consider, in Minkowski spacetime, higher-order Maxwell Lagrangians with terms quadratic in the derivatives of the field strength tensor, and study their degrees of freedom. Using a 3+1 decomposition of these Lagrangians, we extract the…
We classify higher-order Maxwell-Einstein theories linear in the curvature tensor and quadratic in the derivatives of the electromagnetic field strength whose kinetic matrices are degenerate. This provides a generalisation of quadratic…
Degenerate Higher Order Scalar Tensor (DHOST) theories are the most general scalar-tensor theories whose Lagrangian depends on the metric tensor and a single scalar field and its derivatives up to second order. They propagate only one…
Newtons second law, Schrodingers equation and Maxwells equations are all theories composed of at most second-time derivatives. Indeed, it is not often we need to take the time derivative of the acceleration. So why are we not seeing more…
We consider Higher-Order Scalar-Tensor theories which appear degenerate when restricted to the unitary gauge but are not degenerate in an arbitrary gauge. We dub them U-degenerate theories. We provide a full classification of theories that…
We provide a full analysis of ghost free higher derivative field theories with coupled degrees of freedom. Assuming the absence of gauge symmetries, we derive the degeneracy conditions in order to evade the Ostrogradsky ghosts, and analyze…
We introduce a new class of scalar-tensor theories that extend Horndeski, or "generalized galileon", models. Despite possessing equations of motion of higher order in derivatives, we show that the true propagating degrees of freedom obey…
It is known that any nondegenerate Lagrangian containing time derivative terms higher than first order suffers from the Ostrogradsky instability, pathological excitation of positive and negative energy degrees of freedom. We show that,…
Recently, a generalization of invertible disformal transformations containing higher-order derivatives of a scalar field has been proposed in the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. By applying this generalized disformal…
Most existing theories of dark energy and/or modified gravity, involving a scalar degree of freedom, can be conveniently described within the framework of the Effective Theory of Dark Energy, based on the unitary gauge where the scalar…