Related papers: Ghost from constraints: a generalization of Ostrog…
We analyse what happens when the Horndeski Lagrangian is varied within the Palatini approach by considering the metric and connection as independent variables. Assuming the connection to be torsionless, there can be infinitely many…
We consider a class of Lagrangians that depend not only on some configurational variables and their first time derivatives, but also on second time derivatives, thereby leading to fourth-order evolution equations. The proposed higher-order…
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…
A brief review of the physics of systems including higher derivatives in the Lagrangian is given. All such systems involve ghosts, i.e. the spectrum of the Hamiltonian is not bounded from below and the vacuum ground state is absent. Usually…
In the generalized Hamiltonian formalism by Dirac, the method of constructing the generator of local-symmetry transformations for systems with first- and second-class constraints (without restrictions on the algebra of constraints) is…
We perform a Hamiltonian analysis and prove that a large class of scalar-tensor theories whose Lagrangian is given by a generic function $F\left(K_{ab},N,R_{ab},h^{ab},\nabla_a,t\right)$ is free from the Ostrogradsky ghost, and thus these…
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,…
Ostrogradsky's construction of a Hamiltonian formalism for nondegenerate higher derivative Lagrangians is reviewed. The resulting instability imposes by far the most powerful restriction on fundamental, interacting, continuum Lagrangian…
Gauge-invariant systems of a general form with higher order derivatives of gauge parameters are investigated within the framework of the BFV formalism. Higher order terms of the BRST charge and BRST-invariant Hamiltonian are obtained. It is…
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…
Ghost fields in quantum field theory have been a long-standing problem. Specifically, theories with higher derivatives involve ghosts that appear in the Hamiltonian in the form of linear momenta term, which is commonly known as 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…
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…
We study the constrained Ostrogradski-Hamilton framework for the equations of motion provided by mechanical systems described by second-order derivative actions with a linear dependence in the accelerations. We stress out the peculiar…
We remark that Ostrogradsky ghosts in higher-derivative gravity, with a finite number of derivatives, are fictitious as they result from an unjustified truncation performed in a complete theory containing infinitely many curvature…
Making use of the modern techniques of non-holonomic geometry and constrained variational calculus, a revisitation of Ostrogradsky's Hamiltonian formulation of the evolution equations determined by a Lagrangian of order >= 2 in the…
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…
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…
We carry out the extension of the Ostrogradski method to relativistic field theories. Higher-derivative Lagrangians reduce to second differential-order with one explicit independent field for each degree of freedom. We consider a…
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…