No Arabic abstract
We study (covariant) scalar-vector-tensor (SVT) perturbations of infinite derivative gravity (IDG), at the quadratic level of the action, around conformally-flat, covariantly constant curvature backgrounds which are not maximally symmetric spacetimes (MSS). This extends a previous analysis of perturbations done around MSS, which were shown to be ghost-free. We motivate our choice of backgrounds which arise as solutions of IDG in the UV, avoiding big bang and black hole singularities. Contrary to MSS, in this paper we show that, generically, all SVT modes are coupled to each other at the quadratic level of the action. We consider simple examples of the full IDG action, and illustrate this mixing and also a case where the action can be diagonalized and ghost-free solutions constructed. Our study is widely applicable for both non-singular cosmology and black hole physics where backgrounds depart from MSS. In appendices, we provide SVT perturbations around conformally-flat and arbitrary backgrounds which can serve as a compendium of useful results when studying SVT perturbations of various higher derivative gravity models.
In literature there is a model of modified gravity in which the matter Lagrangian is coupled to the geometry via trace of the stress-energy momentum tensor $T=T_{mu}^{mu}$. This type of modified gravity is called as $f(R,T)$ in which $R$ is Ricci scalar $R=R_{mu}^{mu}$. We extend manifestly this model to include the higher derivative term $Box R$. We derived equation of motion (EOM) for the model by starting from the basic variational principle. Later we investigate FLRW cosmology for our model. We show that de Sitter solution is unstable for a generic type of $f(R,Box R, T)$ model. Furthermore we investigate an inflationary scenario based on this model. A graceful exit from inflation is guaranteed in this type of modified gravity.
We study cosmological perturbation theory within the framework of unimodular gravity. We show that the Lagrangian constraint on the determinant of the metric required by unimodular gravity leads to an extra constraint on the gauge freedom of the metric perturbations. Although the main equation of motion for the gravitational potential remains the same, the shift variable, which is gauge artifact in General Relativity, cannot be set to zero in unimodular gravity. This non-vanishing shift variable affects the propagation of photons throughout the cosmological evolution and therefore modifies the Sachs-Wolfe relation between the relativistic gravitational potential and the microwave temperature anisotropies. However, for adiabatic fluctuations the difference between the result in General Relativity and unimodular gravity is suppressed on large angular scales. Thus, no strong constraints on the theory can be derived.
Perturbation theory of vacuum spherically-symmetric spacetimes is a crucial tool to understand the dynamics of black hole perturbations. Spherical symmetry allows for an expansion of the perturbations in scalar, vector, and tensor harmonics. The resulting perturbative equations are decoupled for modes with different parity and different harmonic numbers. Moreover, for each harmonic and parity, the equations for the perturbations can be decoupled in terms of (gauge-invariant) master functions that satisfy 1+1 wave equations. By working in a completely general perturbative gauge, in this paper we study what is the most general master function that is linear in the metric perturbations and their first-order derivatives and satisfies a wave equation with a potential. The outcome of the study is that for each parity we have two branches of solutions with similar features. One of the branches includes the known results: In the odd-parity case, the most general master function is an arbitrary linear combination of the Regge-Wheeler and the Cunningham-Price-Moncrief master functions whereas in the even-parity case it is an arbitrary linear combination of the Zerilli master function and another master function that is new to our knowledge. The other branch is very different since it includes an infinite collection of potentials which in turn lead to an independent collection master of functions which depend on the potential. The allowed potentials satisfy a non-linear ordinary differential equation. Finally, all the allowed master functions are gauge invariant and can be written in a fully covariant form.
Local gravitational theories with more than four derivatives have remarkable quantum properties, e.g., they are super-renormalizable and may be unitary in the Lee-Wick sense. Therefore, it is important to explore also the IR limit of these theories and identify observable signatures of the higher derivatives. In the present work we study the scattering of a photon by a classical external gravitational field in the sixth-derivative model whose propagator contains only real, simple poles. Also, we discuss the possibility of a gravitational seesaw-like mechanism, which could allow the make up of a relatively small physical mass from the huge massive parameters of the action. If possible, this mechanism would be a way out of the Planck suppression, affecting the gravitational deflection of low energy photons. It turns out that the mechanism which actually occurs works only to shift heavier masses to the further UV region. This fact may be favourable for protecting the theory from instabilities, but makes experimental detection of higher derivatives more difficult.
In this paper we continue a study of cosmological perturbations in the conformal gravity theory. In previous work we had obtained a restricted set of solutions to the cosmological fluctuation equations, solutions that were required to be both transverse and synchronous. Here we present the general solution. We show that in a conformal invariant gravitational theory fluctuations around any background that is conformal to flat (backgrounds that include the cosmologically interesting Robertson-Walker and de Sitter geometries) can be constructed from the (known) solutions to fluctuations around a flat background. For this construction to hold it is not necessary that the perturbative geometry associated with the fluctuations itself be conformal to flat. Using this construction we show that in a conformal Robertson-Walker cosmology early universe fluctuations grow as $t^4$. We present the scalar, vector, tensor decomposition of the fluctuations in the conformal theory, and compare and contrast our work with the analogous treatment of fluctuations in the standard Einstein gravity theory.