Related papers: Degeneracy, matter coupling, and disformal transfo…
We study disformal transformations in the context of scalar extensions to teleparallel gravity, in which the gravitational interaction is mediated by the torsion of a flat, metric compatible connection. We find a generic class of…
It is a general belief that the only possible way to consistently deform the Pauli-Fierz action, changing also the gauge algebra, is general relativity. Here we show that a different type of deformation exists in three dimensions if one…
We extend the usual vacuum Metric-Affine $f(R)$ Gravity by supplementing it with all parity even quadratic invariants in torsion and non-metricity. As we show explicitly this supplementation drastically changes the status of the Theory…
The non-minimal coupling of gravity to a scalar field can be transformed into a minimal coupling through a conformal transformation. We show how to connect the results of a perturbation calculation, performed around a…
It is shown that, in the absence of matter fields, the coupling of a scalar field to the non-chiral Plebanski action can be obtained by relaxing the trace component of the simplicity constraints. This is realized by considering a subclass…
We investigate a large class of gravity theories that respect spatial covariance, and involve kinetic terms for both the spatial metric and the lapse function. Generally such kind of theories propagate four degrees of freedom, one of which…
Scalar fields play an important role in constructing modified gravity theories. In the case of a single scalar field with timelike gradient, the corresponding Lagrangian in the unitary gauge takes the form of spatially covariant gravity…
This article investigates the averaging of a scalar degree of freedom that couples universally to matter. It quantifies the approximation of smoothing the matter distribution before solving the Klein--Gordon equation. In the case of Yukawa…
Scalar-tensor theories are among the most promising alternatives to general relativity that have been developed to account for some long standing issues in our understanding of gravity. Some of these theories predict the existence of a…
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…
Scalar particles coupled to the Standard Model fields through a disformal coupling arise in different theories, such as massive gravity or brane-world models. We will review the main phenomenology associated with such particles. Distinctive…
We propose a new class of higher derivative scalar-tensor theories without the Ostrogradsky's ghost instabilities. The construction of our theory is originally motivated by a scalar field with spacelike gradient, which enables us to fix a…
We develop a scheme for the minimal coupling of all standard types of tensor and spinor field matter to Plebanski gravity. This theory is a geometric reformulation of vacuum general relativity in terms of two-form frames and connection…
The best motivated alternatives to general relativity are scalar-tensor theories, in which the gravitational interaction is mediated by one or several scalar fields together with the usual graviton. The analysis of their various…
We present new second derivative, generally covariant theories of gravity for spherically symmetric spacetimes (general covariance is in the $t-r$ plane) belonging to the class where the spherically symmetric Einstein-Hilbert theory is…
Gauging extra matter is a common way to couple two CFTs discontinuously. We may consider gauging matter by strongly coupled gauge theories at criticality rather than by weakly coupled (asymptotic free) gauge theories. It often triggers…
In the context of $f(R)$ gravity, as well as other extended theories of gravity, the correct counting of globally well-defined dynamical modes has recently drawn a vivid interest. In this communication we present a consistent approach…
Higher derivative scalar field theories have received considerable attention for the potentially explanations of the initial state of the universe or the current cosmic acceleration which they might offer. They have also attracted many…
Generic relevant deformations of Einstein's gravity theory contain additional degrees of freedom that have a multi-facetted stabilization dynamics on curved spacetimes. We show that these relevant degrees of freedom are self-protected…
We recently proposed a simple dilaton-derived quintessence model in which the scalar field was non-minimally coupled to cold dark matter, but not to `visible' matter. Such couplings can be attributed to the dilaton in the low energy limit…