Related papers: When a mass term does not represent a mass
The Standard Model (SM) ascribes the observed mass of elementary particles to an effective interaction between basis states defined without mass terms and a scalar potential associated with the Higgs boson. In the relativistic field theory…
A field state containing photons propagating in different directions has a non vanishing mass which is a quantum observable. We interpret the shift of this mass under transformations to accelerated frames as defining space-time observables…
In the present paper we discuss the relevance for de Sitter fields of the mass and spin interpretation of the parameters appearing in the theory. We show that these apparently conceptual interrogations have important consequences concerning…
Fields of spin $s \geq 1/2$ satisfying wave equations in a curved space obey the Huygens principle under certain conditions clarified by a known theorem. Here this theorem is generalized to spin zero and applied to an inflaton field in de…
We study the phenomenon of mass loss by a scalar charge -- a point particle that acts a source for a noninteracting scalar field -- in an expanding universe. The charge is placed on comoving world lines of two cosmological spacetimes: a de…
We study cosmological evolutions of the generalized model of nonlinear massive gravity in which the graviton mass is given by a rolling scalar field and is varying along time. By performing dynamical analysis, we derive the critical points…
The invariance of physical observables like particle's mass under a local field redefinition is a well-known and important property of quantum field theory. In this paper, on the other hand, we investigate nonlocal field redefinitions…
A nonvanishing cosmological term in Einstein's equations implies a nonvanishing spacetime curvature even in absence of any kind of matter. It would, in consequence, affect many of the underlying kinematic tenets of physical theory. The…
The cosmological constant problem is examined under the assumption that the extrinsic curvature of the space-time contributes to the vacuum. A compensation mechanism based on a variable cosmological term is proposed. Under a suitable…
The mass contained in an arbitrary spacetime in general relativity is not well defined. However, for asymptotically flat spacetimes various definitions of mass have been proposed. In this paper I consider eight masses and show that some of…
Recently Gambini and Pullin proposed a new consistent discrete approach to quantum gravity and applied it to cosmological models. One remarkable result of this approach is that the cosmological singularity can be avoided in a general…
The cosmological evolution of free massless vector or tensor (but not gauge) fields minimally coupled to gravity is analyzed. It is shown that there are some unstable solutions for these fields in De Sitter background. The back reaction of…
We discuss the problem of defining the center of mass in general relativity and the so-called spin supplementary condition. The different spin conditions in the literature, their physical significance, and the momentum-velocity relation for…
The principles of quantum field theory in flat spacetime suggest that gravity is mediated by a massless particle with helicity $\pm2$, the so-called graviton. It is regarded as textbook knowledge that, when the self-coupling of a particle…
We show that the graviton acquires a mass in a de Sitter background given by $m_{g}^{2}=-{2/3}\Lambda.$ This is precisely the fine-tuning value required for the perturbed gravitational field to mantain its two degrees of freedom.
There are theories which implement the idea that the constants of nature may be "time dependent." These introduce new fields representing "evolving constants," in addition to physical fields. We argue that dynamical matter coupling…
We define gravitational mass in asymptotically de Sitter space-times with compactified dimension. It was shown that the mass can be negative for space-time with matter spreading beyond the cosmological horizon scale or large outward…
The Poincare Gauge Theory of gravitation with a Lagrangian quadratic in the field strengths is applied to a classical cosmological model. It predicts a constant value of the non-riemannian curvature scalar, which acts as a cosmological…
Nonmetricity derived from a scalar field is shown to exist as a cosmic field, without direct coupling to matter. It leads to a variable cosmological term, a term that dominates the expansion in the early universe but dies away at later…
To describe a massive graviton in 4D Minkowski space-time one introduces a quadratic term in the Lagrangian. This term, however, can lead to a readjustment or instability of the background instead of describing a massive graviton on flat…