We observe that a wide class of higher-derivative systems admits a bounded integral of motion that ensures the classical stability of dynamics, while the canonical energy is unbounded. We use the concept of a Lagrange anchor to demonstrate that the bounded integral of motion is connected with the time-translation invariance. A procedure is suggested for switching on interactions in free higher-derivative systems without breaking their stability. We also demonstrate the quantization technique that keeps the higher-derivative dynamics stable at quantum level. The general construction is illustrated by the examples of the Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator, higher-derivative scalar field model, and the Podolsky electrodynamics. For all these models, the positive integrals of motion are explicitly constructed and the interactions are included such that keep the system stable.
We show that higher-derivative $q$-theory in the four-form-field-strength realization does not suffer from the Ostrogradsky instability at the classical level.
We demonstrate the classical stability of the weak/Planck hierarchy within the Randall-Sundrum scenario, incorporating the Goldberger-Wise mechanism and higher-derivative interactions in a systematic perturbative expansion. Such higher-derivative interactions are expected if the RS model is the low-energy description of some more fundamental theory. Generically, higher derivatives lead to ill-defined singularities in the vicinity of effective field theory branes. These are carefully treated by the methods of classical renormalization.
The stability of higher-order time derivative theories using the polymer extension of quantum mechanics is studied. First, we focus on the well-known Pais-Uhlenbeck model and by casting the theory into the sum of two decoupled The possibility that fundamental discreteness implicit in a quantum gravity theory may act as a natural regulator for ultraviolet singularities arising in quantum field theory has been intensively studied. Here, along the same expectations, we investigate whether a nonstandard representation, called polymer representation can smooth away the large amount of negative ener…
The status of classical stability in higher-derivative systems is still subject to discussions. In this note, we argue that, contrary to general belief, many higher-derivative systems are classically stable. The main tool to see this property are Nekhoroshev's estimates relying on the action-angle formulation of classical mechanics. The latter formulation can be reached provided the Hamiltonian is separable, which is the case for higher-derivative harmonic oscillators. The Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillators appear to be the only type of higher-derivative harmonic oscillator with stable classical dynam…
We consider the class of higher derivative $3d$ vector field models with the field equation operator being a polynomial of the Chern-Simons operator. For $n$-th order theory of this type, we provide a general receipt for constructing $n$-parameter family of conserved second rank tensors. The family includes the canonical energy-momentum tensor, which is unbounded, while there are bounded conserved tensors that provide classical stability of the system for certain combinations of the parameters in the Lagrangian. We also demonstrate the examples of consistent interactions which are compatible w…
The higher derivative field theories are notorious for the stability problems both at classical and quantum level. Classical instability is connected with unboundedness of the canonical energy, while the unbounded energy spectrum leads to the quantum instability. For a wide class of higher derivative theories, including the extended Chern-Simons, other bounded conserved quantities which provide the stability can exist. The most general gauge invariant extended Chern-Simons theory of arbitrary finite order $n$ admits $(n - 1)$-parameter series of conserved energy-momentum tensors. If the $00$-c…
We show that statistics is crucial for the instability problem derived from higher time derivatives. In fact, and contrary to previous statements, we check that when dealing with Fermi systems, the Hamiltonian is well bounded and the quantum states are normalizable. Although, ghost states are still present, they do not affect unitarity under certain conditions. We first analyze a quantum oscillator involving Grassman variables and then we generalize it to a Dirac field. Finally, we discuss some physical implications
We present the derivation of conserved tensors associated to higher-order symmetries in the higher derivative Maxwell Abelian gauge field theories. In our model, the wave operator of the higher derived theory is a $n$-th order polynomial expressed in terms of the usual Maxwell operator. Any symmetry of the primary wave operator gives rise to a collection of independent higher-order symmetries of the field equations which thus leads to a series of independent conserved quantities of derived system. In particular, by the extension of Noether's theorem, the spacetime translation invariance of the…
Stability analysis on the De Sitter universe in pure gravity theory is known to be useful in many aspects. We first show how to complete the proof of an earlier argument based on a redundant field equation. It is shown further that the stability condition applies to $k \ne 0$ Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spaces based on the non-redundant Friedmann equation derived from a simple effective Lagrangian. We show how to derive this expression for the Friedmann equation of pure gravity theory. This expression is also generalized to include scalar field interactions.
The classical fields with fractional derivatives are investigated by using the fractional Lagrangian formulation.The fractional Euler-Lagrange equations were obtained and two examples were studied.
Existence and stability analysis of the Kantowski-Sachs type inflationary universe in a higher derivative scalar-tensor gravity theory is studied in details. Isotropic de Sitter background solution is shown to be stable against any anisotropic perturbation during the inflationary era. Stability of the de Sitter space in the post inflationary era can also be realized with proper choice of coupling constants.
d5 higher derivative gravity on the Schwarzschild-de Sitter (SdS) black hole background is considered. Two horizons SdS BHs are not in thermal equilibrium and Hawking-Page phase transitions are not expected there, unlike to the case of AdS BHs. It is demonstrated that there exists the regime of d5 theory where Nariai BH which is extremal limit of SdS BH is stable. It is in the contrast with Einstein gravity on such backgroundwhere only pure de Sitter space is always stable. Speculating on the applications in proposed dS/CFT correspondence, these two (de Sitter and Nariai) stable spaces may cor…
Motivated by the stringy effects by modifying the local kinetic term of an Abelian Higgs field by the Gaussian kinetic term we show that the Higgs field does not possess any instability, the Yukawa coupling between the scalar and the fermion, the gauge coupling, and the self interaction of the Higgs yields exponentially suppressed running at high energies, showing that such class of theory never suffers from vacuum instability. We briefly discuss its implications for the early Universe cosmology.
Stability analysis of the Kantowski-Sachs type universe in pure higher derivative gravity theory is studied in details. The non-redundant generalized Friedmann equation of the system is derived by introducing a reduced one dimensional generalized KS type action. This method greatly reduces the labor in deriving field equations of any complicate models. Existence and stability of inflationary solution in the presence of higher derivative terms are also studied in details. Implications to the choice of physical theories are discussed in details in this paper.
We study stability of higher-derivative dynamics from the viewpoint of more general correspondence between symmetries and conservation laws established by the Lagrange anchor. We show that classical and quantum stability may be provided if a higher-derivative model admits a bounded from below integral of motion and the Lagrange anchor that relates this integral to the time translation.
We consider the class of higher derivative field equations whose wave operator is a square of another self-adjoint operator of lower order. At the free level, the models of this class are shown to admit a two-parameter series of integrals of motion. The series includes the canonical energy. Every conserved quantity is unbounded in this series. The interactions are included into the equations of motion such that a selected representative in conserved quantity series is preserved at the non-linear level. The interactions are not necessarily Lagrangian, but they admit Hamiltonian form of dynamics…
We derive the odd parity perturbation equation in scalar-tensor theories with a non minimal kinetic coupling sector of the general Horndeski theory, where the kinetic term is coupled to the metric and the Einstein tensor. We derive the potential of the perturbation, by identifying a master function and switching to tortoise coordinates. We then prove the mode stability under linear odd- parity perturbations of hairy black holes in this sector of Horndeski theory, when a cosmological constant term in the action is included. Finally, we comment on the existence of slowly rotating black hole solu…
In an induced-gravity model, the stability condition of an inflationary slow-rollover solution is shown to be $ϕ_0 \partial_{ϕ_0}V(ϕ_0)=4V(ϕ_0)$. The presence of higher derivative terms will, however, act against the stability of this expanding solution unless further constraints on the field parameters are imposed. We find that these models will acquire a non-vanishing cosmological constant at the end of inflation. Some models are analyzed for their implication to the early universe.
The development of instability in the dynamics of theories with higher derivatives is traced in detail in the framework of the Pais-Uhlenbeck fourth oder oscillator. For this aim the external friction force is introduced in the model and the relevant solutions to equations of motion are investigated. As a result, the physical implication of the energy unboundness from below in theories under consideration is revealed.
This work addresses spherically symmetric, static black holes in higher-derivative stringy gravity. We focus on the curvature-squared correction to the Einstein-Hilbert action, present in both heterotic and bosonic string theory. The string theory low-energy effective action necessarily describes both a graviton and a dilaton, and we concentrate on the Callan-Myers-Perry solution in d-dimensions, describing stringy corrections to the Schwarzschild geometry. We develop the perturbation theory for the higher-derivative corrected action, along the guidelines of the Ishibashi-Kodama framework, foc…
A brief review of the physics of systems including higher derivatives in the Lagrangian is given. All such systems involve ghosts, i.e. the spectrum of the Hamiltonian is not bounded from below and the vacuum ground state is absent. Usually this leads to collapse and loss of unitarity. In certain special cases, this does not happen, however: ghosts are benign. We speculate that the Theory of Everything is a higher-derivative field theory, characterized by the presence of such benign ghosts and defined in a higher-dimensional bulk. Our Universe represents then a classical solution in this theor…
We present exact classical solutions of the higher-derivative theory that describes the dynamics of the position modulus of a probe brane within a five-dimensional bulk. The solutions can be interpreted as static or time-dependent throats connecting two parallel branes. In the nonrelativistic limit the brane action is reduced to that of the Galileon theory. We derive exact solutions for the Galileon, which reproduce correctly the shape of the throats at large distances, but fail to do so for their central part. We also determine the parameter range for which the Vainshtein mechanism is reprodu…
Most general third-order $3d$ linear gauge vector field theory is considered. The field equations involve, besides the mass, two dimensionless constant parameters. The theory admits two-parameter series of conserved tensors with the canonical energy-momentum being a particular representative of the series. For a certain range of the model parameters, the series of conserved tensors include bounded quantities. This makes the dynamics classically stable, though the canonical energy is unbounded in all the instances. The free third-order equations are shown to admit constrained multi-Hamiltonian …
We show that the spin connection of the standard metric on a six-dimensional sphere gives an exact solution to the generalized self-dual equations suggested by Tchrakian some years ago. We work on an SO(6) gauge theory with a higher-derivative coupling term. The model consists of vector fields only. The pseudo-energy is bound from below by a topological charge which is proportional to the winding number of spatial S^5 around the internal space SO(6). The fifth homotopy group of SO(6) is, indeed, Z. The coupling constant of higher derivative term is quadratic in the radius of the underlying spa…
In this work, we analyze a gravity model with higher derivatives including a CPT-even Lorentz-violating term. In principle, the model could be a low-energy limit of a Lorentz-invariant theory presenting the violation of Lorentz symmetry as a consequence of a spontaneous symmetry-breaking mechanism if a decoupling between the metric and the Nambu-Goldstone modes is assumed. We have set up a convenient operator basis for the expansion of wave operators for symmetric second-rank tensors in the presence of a background vector. By using this set of operators, the particle content is obtained, and i…
The generalized Kerr-Schild ansatz (GKSA) is a powerful tool for constructing exact solutions in Double Field Theory (DFT). In this paper we focus in the heterotic formulation of DFT, considering up to four-derivative terms in the action principle, while the field content is perturbed by the GKSA. We study the inclusion of the generalized version of the Green-Schwarz mechanism to this setup, in order to reproduce the low energy effective heterotic supergravity upon parametrization. This formalism reproduces higher-derivative heterotic background solutions where the metric tensor and Kalb-Ramon…
Among the so-called classical tests of general relativity (GR), light bending has been confirmed with an accuracy that increases as times goes by. Here we study the gravitational deflection of photons within the framework of classical and semiclassical higher-derivative gravity (HDG) -- the only version of GR that is known up to now to be renormalizable along with its matter couplings. Since our computations are restricted to scales much below the Planck cut-off we need not be afraid of the massive spin-2 ghost that haunts HDG. An upper bound on the constant related to the $R^2_{μν}$-sector of…
We show that the Standard Model vacuum can be stabilized if all particle propagators are non-minimally coupled to gravity. This is due to a Higgs-background dependent redefinition of the Standard Model fields: in terms of canonical variables and in the large Higgs field limit, the quantum fluctuations of the redefined fields are suppressed by the Higgs background. Thus, in this regime, quantum corrections to the tree-level electroweak potential are negligible. Finally, we show that in this framework the Higgs boson can be responsible for inflation. Due to a numerical coincidence that originate…
In this work we have considered a model that includes the interaction of gravity and matter fields with Galilean invariance (the so-called derivative coupling) as well as some corresponding black hole type solutions. Quasinormal perturbations of two kinds of matter fields have been computed by different methods. The effect of the derivative coupling in the quasinormal spectrum has been analyzed and evaluated.
We review the fate of the Ostrogradsky ghost in higher-order theories. We start by recalling the original Ostrogradsky theorem and illustrate, in the context of classical mechanics, how higher-derivatives Lagrangians lead to unbounded Hamiltonians and then lead to (classical and quantum) instabilities. Then, we extend the Ostrogradsky theorem to higher-derivatives theories of several dynamical variables and show the possibility to evade the Ostrogradsky instability when the Lagrangian is "degenerate", still in the context of classical mechanics. In particular, we explain why higher-derivatives…
Perturbatively renormalizable higher-derivative gravity in four space-time dimensions with arbitrary signs of couplings has been considered. Systematic analysis of the action with arbitrary signs of couplings in lorentzian flat space-time for no-tachyons, fixes the signs. Feynman $+iε$ prescription for these sign further grants necessary convergence in path-integral, suppressing the field modes with large action. This also leads to a sensible wick rotation where quantum computation can be performed. Running couplings for these sign of parameters makes the massive tensor ghost innocuous leading…
