Related papers: Built-in scordatura in U-DHOST
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.
Modified gravity theories with a nonminimal coupling between curvature and matter offer a compelling alternative to dark energy and dark matter by introducing an explicit interaction between matter and curvature invariants. Two of the main…
Lovelock theory provides a tractable model of higher-curvature gravity in which several questions can be studied analytically. This is the reason why, in the last years, this theory has become the favorite arena to study the effects of…
We perform a systematic study of various versions of massive gravity with and without violation of Lorentz symmetry in arbitrary dimension. These theories are well known to possess very unusual properties, unfamiliar from studies of gauge…
We study gaugino condensation in the presence of an intermediate mass scale in the hidden sector. S-duality is imposed as an approximate symmetry of the effective supergravity theory. Furthermore, we include in the K\"ahler potential the…
Extremely large surveys with future experiments like Euclid and the SKA will soon allow us to access perturbation modes close to the Hubble scale, with wavenumbers $k \sim \mathcal{H}$. If a modified gravity theory is responsible for cosmic…
In this thesis the recently developed duality covariant approach to string and M-theory is investigated. In this formalism the U-duality symmetry of M-theory or T-duality symmetry of Type II string theory becomes manifest upon extending…
The almost simultaneous detection of gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst from a neutron star merger has put a tight constraint on the difference between the speed of gravity and light. In the four-dimensional scalar-tensor…
Cosmic acceleration may be due to modifications of cosmic gravity and to test this we need robust connections between theory and observations. However, in a model independent approach like effective field theory or a broad class like…
This thesis is devoted to various questions connected with duality. It is composed of two parts. The first part discusses some aspects of timelike T-duality. We explore the possibility of compactification of supergravity theories with…
Einstein's equations in a tetrad formulation are derived from a linear theory in flat spacetime with an asymmetric potential using free field gauge invariance, local Lorentz invariance and universal coupling. The gravitational potential can…
In several classes of modified gravity theories, extra degrees of freedom are not completely screened in the interiors of stellar and substellar objects. In such theories, the hydrostatic equilibrium condition inside these objects is…
We use the Equation of State (EoS) approach to study the evolution of the dark sector in Horndeski models, the most general scalar-tensor theories with second order equations of motion. By including the effects of the dark sector into our…
We investigate cosmic censorship in anti-de Sitter space in holographic models in which the ground state is described by a good singularity. These include supersymmetric truncations of string/M-theory, for which a positive-energy theorem…
We present measurements of the spatial clustering statistics in redshift space of various scalar field modified gravity simulations. We utilise the two-point and the three-point correlation functions to quantify the spatial distribution of…
In $D$ dimensional de Sitter space, a scalar field has an infinite tower of special tachyonic mass values at which enhanced shift symmetries appear. After modding out by these shift symmetries, these fields correspond to the unitary…
Emergent modified gravity presents a new set of generally covariant gravitational theories in which the space-time metric is not directly given by one of the fundamental fields. A metric compatible with the modified dynamics of gravity is…
The evolution of superhorizon curvature perturbations in a two-component interacting universe is considered. It is found that adiabatic modes conserve the total curvature perturbation $\zeta$, unless there are stages in which the rate of…
We consider a theory of modified gravity possessing d extra spatial dimensions with a maximally symmetric metric and a scale factor, whose (4+d)-dimensional gravitational action contains terms proportional to quadratic curvature scalars.…
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…