English

Bimodular Gravity: Unimodularising Bimetric Scalar-Tensor Gravity

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2025-11-18 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

It is the object of the present paper to unimodularise a disformal bimetric scalar-tensor theory, thereby defining what we call bimodular gravity. We impose one unimodular constraint per metric via multipliers λ1,2\lambda_{1,2} and show that two natural implementations-a dual fixed-determinant (BUG) and a dual diffeomorphism-invariant (BHT/BDUG) formulation-are classically inequivalent. In BUG the relative volume element ν=12BX\nu=\sqrt{1-2BX} is fixed, enforcing a kinematic constraint on the biscalar and we derive the "bimodular cosmological constant" Λ=λ1+νλ2\Lambda=\lambda_1+\nu\lambda_2. In BHT/BDUG, λ1,2\lambda_{1,2} are individually constant but ν\nu (hence BXBX) remains dynamical. Recasting the theory in an Einstein-frame form, we derive the biscalar sound speed and identify a subluminal domain 1+B(V+λ2)>01+B(V+\lambda_2)>0. At the background level, BUG admits constant-roll solutions governed by first-order flow, whereas BHT supports solutions with time-dependent roll. These structural differences yield distinct, in-principle testable predictions for the expansion history, the dark-energy equation of state, and the propagation of biscalar perturbations. Finally, we present a diffeomorphism-invariant completion that correlates the two HT volume forms, reproducing the Λ\Lambda of BUG on shell whilst maintaining full covariance.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.13562,
  title  = {Bimodular Gravity: Unimodularising Bimetric Scalar-Tensor Gravity},
  author = {James Hallam and João Magueijo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.13562},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

12 pages, presenting the results of an MSc Thesis

R2 v1 2026-07-01T07:41:31.375Z