Related papers: Ghosts, Instabilities, and Superluminal Propagatio…
As a prototypical massive field theory we study the scalar field on the recently introduced Finsler spacetimes. We show that particle excitations exist that propagate faster than the speed of light recognized as the boundary velocity of…
We review the status of the fourth-order (quartic in the spacetime curvature) terms induced by superstrings/M-theory (compactified on a warped torus) in the leading order with respect to the Regge slope parameter, and study their…
We study U-DHOST theories, i.e., higher-order scalar-tensor theories which are degenerate only in the unitary gauge and yield an apparently unstable extra mode in a generic coordinate system. We show that the extra mode satisfies a…
In this paper DeWitt's formalism for field theories is presented; it provides a framework in which the quantization of fields possessing infinite dimensional invariance groups may be carried out in a manifestly covariant (non-Hamiltonian)…
We demonstrate that finite time singularities of Type IV can be consistently incorporated in the Universe's cosmological evolution, either appearing in the inflationary era, or in the late-time regime. While using only one scalar field…
We systematically study the most general Lorentz-violating graviton mass invariant under three-dimensional Eucledian group using the explicitly covariant language. We find that at general values of mass parameters the massive graviton has…
The method of characteristics is a key tool for studying consistency of equations of motion; it allows issues such as predictability, maximal propagation speed, superluminality, unitarity and acausality to be addressed without requiring…
Scalar curvature invariants are studied in type N solutions of vacuum Einstein's equations with in general non-vanishing cosmological constant Lambda. Zero-order invariants which include only the metric and Weyl (Riemann) tensor either…
The "Auxiliary Extra Dimension" model was proposed in order to provide a geometrical interpretation to modifications of general relativity, in particular to non-linear massive gravity. In this context, the theory was shown to be ghost free…
Gravitational instability in classical Jeans theory, General Relativity, and modified gravity is considered. The background density increase leads to a faster growth of perturbations in comparison with the standard theory. The transition to…
We consider DHOST Ia theory interacting gravitationally with an additional conventional scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. At the linearized level of perturbations about cosmological background, we find that in the presence of a…
We study scalar field theories invariant under transverse diffeomorphisms in cosmological contexts. We show that in the geometric optics approximation, the corresponding particles move along geodesics and contribute with the same active…
The Lambda-CDM model is the best fit to cosmological data, and to the observed galactic rotation curves. However, in the absence of a direct detection of dark matter one should explore theories such as MOND, and perhaps also modified…
At the quantum level, the polynomial models of gravity with six and eight derivatives are superrenormalizable, but suffer from higher derivative ghost and/or tachyonic ghost states. On the other hand, these models may have advantages in the…
Scale invariant theories of gravity give a compelling explanation to the early and late time acceleration of the Universe. Unlike most scalar-tensor theories, fifth forces are absent and it would therefore seem impossible to distinguish…
We disprove the widespread belief that higher order curvature theories of gravity in the metric-affine formalism are generally ghost-free. This is clarified by considering a sub-class of theories constructed only with the Ricci tensor and…
We study the cosmology on the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker background in scalar-vector-tensor theories with a broken $U(1)$ gauge symmetry. For parity-invariant interactions arising in scalar-vector-tensor theories with second-order…
We compare higher order gravity models to observational constraints from magnitude-redshift supernova data, distance to the last scattering surface of the CMB, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. We follow a recently proposed systematic…
We investigate the stability of theories in which Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken by fixed-norm vector "aether" fields. Models with generic kinetic terms are plagued either by ghosts or by tachyons, and are therefore physically…
In this paper we study perturbatively an extension of the Stelle higher derivative gravity involving an infinite number of derivative terms. We know that the usual quadratic action is renormalizable but is not unitary because of the…