Related papers: Parity-violating scalar-tensor theory and the Qi-X…
In this paper, the ghost-freeness of the higher derivative theory proposed by Hassan et al. in [Universe 1 (2015) 2, 92] is investigated. Hassan et al. believed the ghost-freeness of the higher derivative theory based on the analysis in the…
We show that the assumption of non-zero topological susceptibility of the vacuum in a fermion-free version of a theory, such as gravity or QCD, suffices to conclude the following: Once N massless fermion flavors are added to the theory,…
Formation of transitory domain walls is quite generic in theories with spontaneous breaking of discrete symmetries. Since these walls are in conflict with cosmology, there has to be some mechanism which makes them disappear. We study one…
We construct a class of theories which extend New Massive Gravity to higher orders in curvature in any dimension. The lagrangians arise as limits of a new class of bimetric theories of Lovelock gravity, which are unitary theories free from…
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…
We present the manifestly covariant quantization of quadratic gravity or higher-derivative gravity in the de Donder gauge condition (or harmonic gauge condition) for general coordinate invariance on the basis of the BRST transformation. We…
The variety of consistent "gauging" deformations of supergravity theories in four dimensions depends on the choice of Lagrangian formulation. One important goal is to get the most general deformations without making hidden assumptions.…
Galileon theories are of considerable interest since they allow for stable violations of the null energy condition. Since such violations could have occurred during a high-energy regime in the history of our universe, we are motivated to…
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…
It was recently found that, when linearised in the absence of matter, 58 cases of the general gravitational theory with quadratic curvature and torsion are (i) free from ghosts and tachyons and (ii) power-counting renormalisable. We inspect…
We investigate the cosmological applications of new gravitational scalar-tensor theories, which are novel modifications of gravity possessing 2+2 propagating degrees of freedom, arising from a Lagrangian that includes the Ricci scalar and…
Motivated by the apparent dependence of string $\sigma$--models on the sum of spacetime metric and antisymmetric tensor fields, we reconsider gravity theories constructed from a nonsymmetric metric. We first show that all such "geometrical"…
The Ostrogradski ghost problem that appears in higher derivative theories containing constraints has been considered here. Specifically we have considered systems where only the second class constraints appear. For these kind of systems, it…
We analyze causality and unitarity constraints in graviton scattering amplitudes, aiming to establish new bounds on theories with $U(1)$-gravitational anomalies, such as axion models or strongly-coupled gauge theories. For this purpose, we…
In this work we shall address the ghost issue of $F\left( R,\mathcal{G} \right)$ gravity, which is known to be plagued with ghost degrees of freedom. These ghosts occur due to the presence of higher than two derivatives in the field…
We study a set of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs) $\widehat{\Gamma}(G)$ labeled by a pair of simply-laced Lie groups $\Gamma$ and $G$. They are constructed out of gauging a number of $\mathcal{D}_p(G)$…
We perform the Hamiltonian constraint analysis for a wide class of gravity theories that are invariant under spatial diffeomorphism. With very general setup, we show that different from the general relativity, the primary and secondary…
We study parity violation in graviton non-gaussianity generated during inflation. We develop a useful formalism to calculate graviton non-gaussianity. Using this formalism, we explicitly calculate the parity violating part of the bispectrum…
We perform a canonical quantization of Weyl's conformal gravity by means of the covariant operator formalism and investigate the unitarity of the resulting quantum theory. After reducing the originally fourth order theory to second order in…
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…