Related papers: Higher Derivative Scalar Tensor Theory in Unitary …
Higher curvature f(R) gravity theories are often plagued with Ostragadsky instability. In this work we show that such instability manifests itself in the corresponding dual scalar tensor theory in the scalar sector Lagrangian. We explicitly…
We use a description based on differential forms to systematically explore the space of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Within this formalism, we propose a basis for the scalar sector at the lowest order in derivatives of the field and…
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…
The problems that are connected with Lagrangians which depend on higher order derivatives (namely additional degrees of freedom, unbound energy from below, etc.) are absent if effective Lagrangians are considered because the equations of…
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…
As an alternative to the covariant Ostrogradski method, we show that higher-derivative relativistic Lagrangian field theories can be reduced to second differential-order by writing them directly as covariant two-derivative theories…
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…
This work is an application of the second order gauge theory for the Lorentz group, where a description of the gravitational interaction is obtained which includes derivatives of the curvature. We analyze the form of the second field…
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…
A metric transformation is a tool to find a new theory of gravity beyond general relativity. The gravity action is guaranteed to be free from a dangerous Ostrogradsky mode as long as the metric transformation is regular and invertible.…
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…
We prove that the linear instability in a non-degenerate higher derivative theory, the Ostrogradski instability, can only be removed by the addition of constraints if the original theory's phase space is reduced.
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 study the structure of scalar-tensor theories of gravity based on derivative couplings between the scalar and the matter degrees of freedom introduced through an effective metric. Such interactions are classified by their tensor…
In physics, all dynamical equations that describe fundamental interactions are second order ordinary differential equations in the time derivatives. In the literature, this property is traced back to a result obtained by Ostrogradski in the…
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…
We derive the most generic Carrollian higher derivative free scalar field theory intrinsically on a Carrollian manifold. The solutions to these theories are massless free particles propagating with speeds depending on the coupling constants…
In theories with higher time derivatives, the Hamiltonian analysis of Ostrogradsky predicts an instability. However, this Hamiltonian treatment does not correspond the way that these theories are treated in quantum field theory, and the…
Ostrogradsky theorem states that Hamiltonian is unbounded when Euler-Lagrange equations are higher than second-order differential equations under the nondegeneracy assumption. Since higher-order nondegenerate Lagrangian can be always recast…
We present a novel and remarkably simple formulation of degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor (DHOST) theories whose Lagrangian is quadratic in second derivatives of some scalar field. Using disformal transformations of the metric, we…