Ghost-free infinite derivative gravity

Abstract We present the construction of a gravitational action including an infinite series of higher derivative terms. The outcome is a classically consistent completion of a well-studied quadratic curvature theory. The closed form for the full action is ghost-free bimetric theory, describing the i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brage Gording, Angnis Schmidt-May
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2018-09-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP09(2018)044
Description
Summary:Abstract We present the construction of a gravitational action including an infinite series of higher derivative terms. The outcome is a classically consistent completion of a well-studied quadratic curvature theory. The closed form for the full action is ghost-free bimetric theory, describing the interactions of a massive and a massless spin-2 field. At energies much smaller than the spin-2 mass scale, the theory reduces to general relativity. For energies comparable to the spin-2 mass, the higher derivative terms completing the Einstein-Hilbert action capture the effects of the additional massive spin-2 field. The theory is only ghost-free when the full series of higher derivatives is kept.
ISSN:1029-8479