No Arabic abstract
As a modified gravity theory that introduces new gravitational degrees of freedom, the generalized SU(2) Proca theory (GSU2P for short) is the non-Abelian version of the well-known generalized Proca theory where the action is invariant under global transformations of the SU(2) group. This theory was formulated for the first time in Phys. Rev. D 94 (2016) 084041, having implemented the required primary constraint-enforcing relation to make the Lagrangian degenerate and remove one degree of freedom from the vector field in accordance with the irreducible representations of the Poincare group. It was later shown in Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 045008, ibid 045009, that a secondary constraint-enforcing relation, which trivializes for the generalized Proca theory but not for the SU(2) version, was needed to close the constraint algebra. It is the purpose of this paper to implement this secondary constraint-enforcing relation in GSU2P and to make the construction of the theory more transparent. Since several terms in the Lagrangian were dismissed in Phys. Rev. D 94 (2016) 084041 via their equivalence to other terms through total derivatives, not all of the latter satisfying the secondary constraint-enforcing relation, the work was not so simple as directly applying this relation to the resultant Lagrangian pieces of the old theory. Thus, we were motivated to reconstruct the theory from scratch. In the process, we found the beyond GSU2P.
Following previous works on generalized Abelian Proca theory, also called vector Galileon, we investigate the massive extension of an SU(2) gauge theory, i.e., the generalized SU(2) Proca model, which could be dubbed non-Abelian vector Galileon. This particular symmetry group permits fruitful applications in cosmology such as inflation driven by gauge fields. Our approach consists in building, in an exhaustive way, all the Lagrangians containing up to six contracted Lorentz indices. For this purpose, and after identifying by group theoretical considerations all the independent Lagrangians which can be written at these orders, we consider the only linear combinations propagating three degrees of freedom and having healthy dynamics for their longitudinal mode, i.e., whose pure Stuckelberg contribution turns into the SU(2) multi-Galileon dynamics. Finally, and after having considered the curved space-time expansion of these Lagrangians, we discuss the form of the theory at all subsequent orders.
Under the same spirit of the Galileon-Horndeski theories and their more modern extensions, the generalized SU(2) Proca theory was built by demanding that its action may be free of the Ostrogradskis instability. Nevertheless, the theory must also be free of other instability problems in order to ensure its viability. As a first approach to address this issue, we concentrate on a quite general variant of the theory and investigate the general conditions for the absence of ghost and gradient instabilities in the tensor sector without the need for resolving the dynamical background. The phenomenological interest of this approach as well as of the variant investigated lies on the possibility of building cosmological models driven solely by non-Abelian vector fields that may account for a successful description of both the early inflation and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe.
To date, different alternative theories of gravity, although related, involving Proca fields have been proposed. Unfortunately, the procedure to obtain the relevant terms in some formulations has not been systematic enough or exhaustive, thus resulting in some missing terms or ambiguity in the process carried out. In this paper, we propose a systematic procedure to build the beyond generalized theory for a Proca field in four dimensions containing only the field itself and its first-order derivatives. We examine the validity of our procedure at the fourth level of the generalized Proca theory. In our approach, we employ all the possible Lorentz-invariant Lagrangian pieces made of the Proca field and its first-order derivatives, including those that violate parity, and find the relevant combination that propagates only three degrees of freedom and has healthy dynamics for the longitudinal mode. The key step in our procedure is to retain the flat space-time divergences of the currents in the theory during the covariantization process. In the curved space-time theory, some of the retained terms are no longer current divergences so that they induce the new terms that identify the beyond generalized Proca field theory. The procedure constitutes a systematic method to build general theories for multiple vector fields with or without internal symmetries.
In this paper an intrinsically non-Abelian black hole solution for the SU(2) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions is constructed. The gauge field of this solution has the form of a meron whereas the metric is the one of a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole in which, however, the coefficient of the $1/r^2$ term is not an integration constant. Even if the stress-energy tensor of the Yang-Mills field is spherically symmetric, the field strength of the Yang-Mills field itself is not. A remarkable consequence of this fact, which allows to distinguish the present solution from essentially Abelian configurations, is the Jackiw, Rebbi, Hasenfratz, t Hooft mechanism according to which excitations of bosonic fields moving in the background of a gauge field with this characteristic behave as Fermionic degrees of freedom.
The beyond-generalized Proca theories are the extension of second-order massive vector-tensor theories (dubbed generalized Proca theories) with two transverse vector modes and one longitudinal scalar besides two tensor polarizations. Even with this extension, the propagating degrees of freedom remain unchanged on the isotropic cosmological background without an Ostrogradski instability. We study the cosmology in beyond-generalized Proca theories by paying particular attention to the dynamics of late-time cosmic acceleration and resulting observational consequences. We derive conditions for avoiding ghosts and instabilities of tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations and discuss viable parameter spaces in concrete models allowing the dark energy equation of state smaller than $-1$. The propagation speeds of those perturbations are subject to modifications beyond the domain of generalized Proca theories. There is a mixing between scalar and matter sound speeds, but such a mixing is suppressed during most of the cosmic expansion history without causing a new instability. On the other hand, we find that derivative interactions arising in beyond-generalized Proca theories give rise to important modifications to the cosmic growth history. The growth rate of matter perturbations can be compatible with the redshift-space distortion data due to the realization of gravitational interaction weaker than that in generalized Proca theories. Thus, it is possible to distinguish the dark energy model in beyond-generalized Proca theories from the counterpart in generalized Proca theories as well as from the $Lambda$CDM model.