Related papers: Generalized Gravity and a Ghost
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 consider the full effective theory for quantum gravity at second order in curvature including non-local terms. We show that the theory contains two new degrees of freedom beyond the massless graviton: namely a massive spin-2 ghost and a…
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…
Generalized quasi-topological gravities (GQTGs) are higher-curvature extensions of Einstein gravity characterized by the existence of non-hairy generalizations of the Schwarzschild black hole which satisfy $g_{tt}g_{rr}=-1$, as well as for…
In the first order formalism of gravitational theories, the spacetime connection is considered as an independent variable to vary together with the metric. However, the metric still generates its Levi-Civita connection that turns out to…
We reformulate ten-dimensional type II supergravity as a generalised geometrical analogue of Einstein gravity, defined by an $O(9,1)\times O(1,9)\subset O(10,10)\times\mathbb{R}^+$ structure on the generalised tangent space. Using the…
Some phantom cosmological models without big rip singularity have been constructed in a simple extended theory of gravity. In the geometrical part of the action, a minimally coupled linear function of the Ricci Scalar and the trace of the…
The general second-order massive field equations for arbitrary positive integer spin in three spacetime dimensions, and their "self-dual" limit to first-order equations, are shown to be equivalent to gauge-invariant higher-derivative field…
We consider alternative theories of gravity with a direct coupling between matter and the Ricci scalar We study the relation between these theories and ordinary scalar-tensor gravity, or scalar-tensor theories which include non-standard…
Adding terms quadratic in the curvature to the Einstein-Hilbert action renders gravity renormalizable. This property is preserved in the presence of the most general renormalizable couplings with (and of) a generic quantum field theory…
With standard Einstein gravity not being renormalizable at the quantum level there is much interest in studying higher-derivative quantum gravity theories. Thus just as a Ricci-scalar-based action produces a propagator that behaves as a…
I consider theories of gravity built not just from the metric and affine connection, but also other (possibly higher rank) symmetric tensor(s). The Lagrangian densities are scalars built from them, and the volume forms are related to…
We find unitary and local theories of higher curvature gravity in the vielbein formalism, known as the Poincar\'{e} gauge theory by utilizing the equivalence to the ghost-free massive bigravity. We especially focus on three and four…
We construct four-dimensional covariant non-linear theories of massive gravity which are ghost-free in the decoupling limit to all orders. These theories resum explicitly all the nonlinear terms of an effective field theory of massive…
The only known fully ghost-free and consistent Lorentz-invariant kinetic term for a graviton (or indeed for any spin-2 field) is the Einstein-Hilbert term. Here we propose and investigate a new family of candidate kinetic interactions and…
We show the exact equality of the path integral of the general renormalizable fourth order gravitational action to the path integral of the Einstein action coupled to a massive spin-0 field and a massive spin-2 ghost-like field with…
We present two different versions of the consistent theory of massive gravitons in arbitrary spacetimes which are simple enough for practical applications. The theory is described by a non-symmetric rank-2 tensor whose equations of motion…
We show that generalizations of general relativity theory, which consist in replacing the Hilbert Lagrangian $L_{Hilbert} = \frac 1{16\pi} \sqrt{|g|} R$ by a generic scalar density $L=L(g_{\mu\nu}, R^\lambda_{\mu\nu\kappa})$ depending upon…
We consider Modified Gravity models involving inverse powers of fourth-order curvature invariants. Using these models' equivalence to the theory of a scalar field coupled to a linear combination of the invariants, we investigate the…
An extension of the bimetric theory of gravity is considered that includes quadratic Ricci curvature terms associated with each metric. The issue of the Boulware-Deser ghost is analyzed. The Hamiltonian constraint is derived and the…