The EFT coefficients in any gapped, scalar, Lorentz invariant field theory must satisfy positivity requirements if there is to exist a local, analytic Wilsonian UV completion. We apply these bounds to the tree level scattering amplitudes for a massive Galileon. The addition of a mass term, which does not spoil the non-renormalization theorem of the Galileon and preserves the Galileon symmetry at loop level, is necessary to satisfy the lowest order positivity bound. We further show that a careful choice of successively higher derivative corrections are necessary to satisfy the higher order positivity bounds. There is then no obstruction to a local UV completion from considerations of tree level 2-to-2 scattering alone. To demonstrate this we give an explicit example of such a UV completion.
We derive analyticity constraints on a nonlinear ghost-free effective theory of a massive spin-2 particle known as pseudo-linear massive gravity, and on a generalized theory of a massive spin-1 particle, both of which provide simple IR completions of Galileon theories. For pseudo-linear massive gravity we find that, unlike dRGT massive gravity, there is no window of parameter space which satisfies the analyticity constraints. For massive vectors which reduce to Galileons in the decoupling limit, we find that no two-derivative actions are compatible with positivity, but that higher derivative a…
We apply the recently developed positivity bounds for particles with spin, applied away from the forward limit, to the low energy effective theories of massive spin-1 and spin-2 theories. For spin-1 theories, we consider the generic Proca EFT which arises at low energies from a heavy Higgs mechanism, and the special case of a charged Galileon for which the EFT is reorganized by the Galileon symmetry. For spin-2, we consider generic $Λ_5$ massive gravity theories and the special `ghost-free' $Λ_3$ theories. Remarkably we find that at the level of 2-2 scattering, the positivity bounds applied to…
Theories such as massive Galileons and massive gravity can satisfy the presently known improved positivity bounds provided they are weakly coupled. We discuss the form of the EFT Lagrangian for a weakly coupled UV completion of massive gravity which closely parallels the massive Galileon, and perform the power counting of corrections to the scattering amplitude and the positivity bounds. The Vainshtein mechanism which is central to the phenomenological viability of massive gravity is entirely consistent with weak coupling since it is classical in nature. We highlight that the only implication …
We constrain effective field theories by going beyond the familiar positivity bounds that follow from unitarity, analyticity, and crossing symmetry of the scattering amplitudes. As interesting examples, we discuss the implications of the bounds for the Galileon and ghost-free massive gravity. The combination of our theoretical bounds with the experimental constraints on the graviton mass implies that the latter is either ruled out or unable to describe gravitational phenomena, let alone to consistently implement the Vainshtein mechanism, down to the relevant scales of fifth-force experiments, …
Galileon models are a class of effective field theories that have recently received much attention. They arise in the decoupling limit of theories of massive gravity, and in some cases they have been treated in their own right as scalar field theories with a specific nonlinearly realized global symmetry (Galilean transformation). It is well known that in the presence of a source, these Galileon theories admit superluminal propagating solutions, implying that as quantum field theories they must admit a different notion of causality than standard local Lorentz invariant theories. We show that in…
We review the different frameworks in which Galileon scalar fields have been seen to emerge such an in DGP, New Massive Gravity and Ghost-free massive Gravity and emphasize their relation with the Lovelock invariant in braneworld models. The existence of a non-renormalization theorem for Galileon scalar fields makes them especially attractive candidates for inflation as well as for late-time acceleration. In particular we review the self-accelerating and degravitating branches of solutions present in Galileon models when arising from Massive Gravity and discuss their phenomenology.
Positivity bounds - constraints on any low-energy effective field theory imposed by the fundamental axioms of unitarity, causality and locality in the UV - have recently been used to constrain various effective field theories relevant for cosmology. However, to date most of these bounds have assumed that there is a single Lorentz-invariant vacuum in which all fields have zero expectation value and in many cosmologically relevant models this is not the case. We explore ways to overcome this limitation by investigating a simple example model, the covariant Galileon, which possesses a one-paramet…
The Vainshtein screening mechanism relies on nonlinear interaction terms becoming dominant close to a compact source. However, theories displaying this mechanism are generally understood to be low-energy theories: it is unclear that operators emerging from UV completion do not interfere with terms inducing Vainshtein screening. In this work, we find a set of interacting massive Galileon theories that exhibit Vainshtein screening; examining potential UV completions of these theories, we determine that the screening does not survive the extension. We find that neglecting operators when integrati…
It is possible to couple Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) scalars possessing generalized Galilean internal shift symmetries (Galileons) to nonlinear massive gravity in four dimensions, in such a manner that the interactions maintain the Galilean symmetry. Such a construction is of interest because it is not possible to couple such fields to massless General Relativity in the same way. We show that this theory has the primary constraint necessary to eliminate the Boulware-Deser ghost, thus preserving the attractive properties of both the Galileons and ghost-free massive gravity.
We investigate the coupling between a Galileon scalar field and massive gravity through composite metrics. We derive the full set of equations of motion for a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background, and study linear perturbations around it. Generally, the nonminimal coupling with the composite metric will excite all 6 degrees of freedom of the spatial metric perturbations, one of which may correspond to the Boulware-Deser ghost.
Cubic Galileon massive gravity is a development of de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolly (dRGT) massive gravity theory is which the space of the Stueckelberg field is broken. We consider the cubic Galileon term as a scalar field coupled to the graviton filed. We present a detailed study of the cosmological aspects of this theory of gravity. We analyze self-accelerating solutions of the background equations of motion to explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Exploiting the latest Union2 Type Ia Supernovea (SNIa) dataset, which consists of 557 SNIa, we show that cubic Galileon massive gravity theo…
We perform the Hamiltonian analysis of minimal massive gravity coupled to the Galileon tadpole term. We determine all constraints and we argue that the physical degrees of freedom correspond to ten modes of the massive gravity together with 2(D-3) Galileons so that given model is ghost free.
We discuss the gauging of non-linearly realized symmetries as a method to systematically construct spontaneously broken gauge theories. We focus in particular on galileon fields and, using a coset construction, we show how to recover massive gravity by gauging the galileon symmetry. We then extend our procedure to the special galileon, and obtain a theory that couples a massive spin-2 field with a traceless symmetric field, and is free of pathologies at quadratic order around flat space.
Certain scalar fields with higher derivative interactions and novel classical and quantum mechanical properties - the Galileons - can be naturally covariantized by coupling to nonlinear massive gravity in such a way that their symmetries and number of degrees of freedom are unchanged. We study the propagating degrees of freedom in these models around cosmologically interesting backgrounds. We identify the conditions necessary for such a theory to remain ghost free, and consider when tachyonic instabilities can be avoided. We show that on the self-accelerating branch of solutions, the kinetic t…
We derive new positivity bounds for scattering amplitudes in theories with a massless graviton in the spectrum in four spacetime dimensions, of relevance for the weak gravity conjecture and modified gravity theories. The bounds imply that extremal black holes are self-repulsive, $M/|Q|<1$ in suitable units, and that they are unstable to decay to smaller extremal black holes, providing an S-matrix proof of the weak gravity conjecture. We also present other applications of our bounds to the effective field theory of axions, $P(X)$ theories, weakly broken galileons, and curved spacetimes.
Coupling the galileons to a curved background has been a tradeoff between maintaining second order equations of motion, maintaining the galilean shift symmetries, and allowing the background metric to be dynamical. We propose a construction which can achieve all three for a novel class of galilean invariant models, by coupling a scalar with the galilean symmetry to a massive graviton. This generalizes the brane construction for galileons, by adding to the brane a dynamical metric, (non-universally) interacting with the galileon field. Alternatively, it can be thought of as an extension of the …
We covariantize the decoupling limit of massive gravity proposed in arXiv:1011.1232 and study the cosmology of this theory as a proxy, which embodies key features of the fully non-linear covariant theory. We first confirm that it exhibits a self-accelerating solution, similar to what has been found in arXiv:1010.1780, where the Hubble parameter corresponds to the graviton mass. For a certain range of parameters fluctuations relative to the self-accelerating background are stable and form an attractor solution. We also show that a degravitating solution can not be constructed in this covarianti…
A certain class of nonlocal theories eliminates an arbitrary cosmological constant (CC) from a universe that can be perceived as our world. Dark energy then cannot be explained by a CC; it could however be due to massive gravity. We calculate the new corrections, which originate from the nonlocal terms that eliminate the CC, to the decoupling limit Lagrangian of massive gravity. The new nonlocal terms also have internal field space Galilean symmetry and are referred here as "nonlocal Galileons." We then study a self-accelerated solution and show that the new nonlocal terms change the perturbat…
We further develop the framework for coupling galileons and Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) scalar fields to a massive graviton while retaining both the non-linear symmetries of the scalars and ghost-freedom of the theory. The general construction is recast in terms of vielbeins which simplifies calculations and allows for compact expressions. Expressions for the general form of the action are derived, with special emphasis on those models which descend from maximally symmetric spaces. We demonstrate the existence of maximally symmetric solutions to the fully non-linear theory and analyze their spectr…
We explore the nonlinear classical dynamics of the three-dimensional theory of "New Massive Gravity" proposed by Bergshoeff, Hohm and Townsend. We find that the theory passes remarkably highly nontrivial consistency checks at the nonlinear level. In particular, we show that: (1) In the decoupling limit of the theory, the interactions of the helicity-0 mode are described by a single cubic term -- the so-called cubic Galileon -- previously found in the context of the DGP model and in certain 4D massive gravities. (2) The conformal mode of the metric coincides with the helicity-0 mode in the deco…
We show how calculable IR loop effects impact positivity bounds in Effective Field Theories with causal and unitary UV completions. We identify infrared singularities which appear in dispersion relations at $|t|\lesssim m^2$. In the massless limit, they weaken two-sided bounds based on crossing symmetry, such as the lower bound on the amplitude for Galileon scattering. For amplitudes that are analytic in $s$ even for large negative $t$, i.e. $|t|\gg m^2$, we propose a new simple analytic approach to dispersive bounds, which are instead insensitive to the singularities, and explicitly compute t…
In Einstein's general relativity, gravity is mediated by a massless metric field. The extension of general relativity to consistently include a mass for the graviton has profound implications for gravitation and cosmology. Salient features of various massive gravity theories can be captured by Galileon models, the simplest of which is the cubic Galileon. The presence of the Galileon field leads to additional gravitational radiation in binary pulsars where the Vainshtein mechanism is less suppressed than its fifth-force counterpart, which deserves a detailed confrontation with observations. We …
Positivity bounds are powerful tools to constrain effective field theories. Utilizing the partial wave expansion in the dispersion relation and the full crossing symmetry of the scattering amplitude, we derive several sets of generically nonlinear positivity bounds for a generic scalar effective field theory: We refer to these as the $PQ$, $D^{\rm su}$, $D^{\rm stu}$ and $\bar{D}^{\rm stu}$ bounds. While the $PQ$ bounds and $D^{\rm su}$ bounds only make use of the $s\leftrightarrow u$ dispersion relation, the $D^{\rm stu}$ and $\bar{D}^{\rm stu}$ bounds are obtained by further imposing the $s\…
We consider the double copy of massive Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions, whose decoupling limit is a nonlinear sigma model. The latter may be regarded as the leading terms in the low energy effective theory of a heavy Higgs model, in which the Higgs has been integrated out. The obtained double copy effective field theory contains a massive spin-2, massive spin-1 and a massive spin-0 field, and we construct explicitly its interacting Lagrangian up to fourth order in fields. We find that up to this order, the spin-2 self interactions match those of the dRGT massive gravity theory, and that a…
Low-energy effective field theories containing a light scalar field are used extensively in cosmology, but often there is a tension between embedding such theories in a healthy UV completion and achieving a phenomenologically viable screening mechanism in the IR. Here, we identify the range of interaction couplings which allow for a smooth resummation of classical non-linearities (necessary for kinetic/Vainshtein-type screening), and compare this with the range allowed by unitarity, causality and locality in the underlying UV theory. The latter region is identified using positivity bounds on t…
We generalize the Galileon duality to any single scalar field Lagrangian coupled locally to any matter field. Under the duality, a generalized Galileon maps into another generalized Galileon via a one parameter group of transformations, with only a simple modification of the Lagrangian functions. We find a special class of generalized Galileons for which the duality is a symmetry of the action. We further extend the duality to the case of vector fields and give the dual formulations of the Maxwell and Proca theories. We include arbitrary local couplings to matter fields and show that the duali…
We use generalized elastic positivity bounds to constrain the parameter space of multi-field spin-2 effective field theories. These generalized bounds involve inelastic scattering amplitudes between particles with different masses, which contain kinematic singularities even in the $t=0$ limit. We apply these bounds to the pseudo-linear spin-2 theory, the cycle spin-2 theory and the line spin-2 theory respectively. For the pseudo-linear theory, we exclude the remaining operators that are unconstrained by the usual elastic positivity bounds, thus excluding all the leading (or highest cutoff) int…
We systematically construct derivative self-interactions for massless and massive 2-forms. There exists a no-go theorem in the literature for constructing Galileon-like Lagrangians in four dimensions for the 2-form with gauge invariance, the Kalb-Rammond field. The presence of non-minimal couplings strongly relies on the contraction with divergenceless tensors. In four dimensions these are the Einstein tensor and the double dual Riemann tensor. Even though they are divergenceless on their own, their combination ceases to be. In the case of massless 2-forms we are not able to establish non-mini…
We derive new effective field theory (EFT) positivity bounds on the elastic $2\to2$ scattering amplitudes of massive spinning particles from the standard UV properties of unitarity, causality, locality and Lorentz invariance. By bounding the $t$ derivatives of the amplitude (which can be represented as angular momentum matrix elements) in terms of the total ingoing helicity, we derive stronger unitarity bounds on the $s$- and $u$-channel branch cuts which determine the dispersion relation. In contrast to previous positivity bounds, which relate the $t$-derivative to the forward-limit EFT ampli…
We introduce the Vainshtein mechanism which plays a crucial role in massive gravities, as well as in related theories such as Galileons and their extensions. This mechanism, also known as k-mouflage, allows to hide via non linear effects - typically for source distances smaller than a so-called Vainshtein radius which depends on the source and on the theory considered - some degrees of freedom whose effects are then only left important at large distances, e.g. for cosmology. It is introduced here in non linear Fierz-Pauli theories (massive gravities), including the dRGT theories, in their deco…
Assuming unitarity, locality, causality, and Lorentz invariance of the, otherwise unknown, UV completion, we derive a new set of constraints on the effective field theory coefficients for the most general, ghost-free Generalized Proca and Proca Nuevo massive vector models. For the Generalized Proca model, we include new interactions that had not been previously considered in the context of positivity bounds and find these additional terms lead to a widened parameter space for the previously considered interactions. Although, the Generalized Proca and Proca Nuevo models are inequivalent, we fin…
Recently a new model has been proposed to describe free massive spin-2 particles in $D$ dimensions in terms of a non symmetric rank-2 tensor $e_{μν}$ and a mixed symmetry tensor $B^{μ[αβ]}$. The model is invariant under linearized diffeomorphisms without Stueckelberg fields. It resembles a spin-2 version of the topologically massive spin-1 BF model (Cremmer-Scherk model). Here we apply the Dirac-Bergmann procedure in order to identify all Hamiltonian constraints and perform a complete counting of degrees of freedom. In $D=3+1$ we find 5 degrees of freedom corresponding to helicities $\pm{2}$, …
The theory of a single massive graviton has a cutoff much below its Planck scale, because the extra modes from the graviton multiplet involve higher derivative self-interactions, controlled by a scale convoluted from the small graviton mass. Generically, these correct the propagator by environmental effects. The resulting effective cutoff depends on the environmental parameters and the graviton mass. Requiring the theory to be perturbative down to ${\cal O}(1) mm$, we derive bounds on the graviton mass, corresponding to $\gtrsim {\cal O}(1) meV$ for the generic case, and somewhat weaker bounds…
For a low energy effective theory to admit a standard local, unitary, analytic and Lorentz-invariant UV completion, its scattering amplitudes must satisfy certain inequalities. While these bounds are known in the forward limit for real polarizations, any extension beyond this for particles with nonzero spin is subtle due to their non-trivial crossing relations. Using the transversity formalism (i.e. spin projections orthogonal to the scattering plane), in which the crossing relations become diagonal, these inequalities can be derived for 2-to-2 scattering between any pair of massive particles,…
The diphoton channel at lepton colliders, $e^+e^- (μ^+μ^-) \to γγ$, has a remarkable feature that the leading new physics contribution comes only from dimension-eight operators. This contribution is subject to a set of positivity bounds, derived from the fundamental principles of Quantum Field Theory, such as unitarity, locality, analyticity and Lorentz invariance. These positivity bounds are thus applicable to the most direct observable -- the diphoton cross section. This unique feature provides a clear, robust, and unambiguous test of these principles. We estimate the capability of various f…
The problem of accounting for the quantum degrees of freedom in passing from massive higher-spin potentials to massless ones and its inverse, the "fattening" of massless tensor potentials of helicity $\pm h$ to their massive $s = |h|$ counterparts, are solved - in a perfectly ghost-free approach - using "string-localized fields". This approach allows to overcome the Weinberg-Witten impediment against the existence of massless $|h| \geq 2$ energy-momentum tensors, and to qualitatively and quantitatively resolve the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity concerning, e.g., very light gravitons, i…
Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；CEA（法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；Institut de Physique Théorique（理论物理研究所）；Université de Genève（日内瓦大学）；IJCLab（伊夫林-居里实验室）
In order to understand the confining decoupling solution of the Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge, we consider the massive Yang-Mills model which is defined by just adding a gluon mass term to the Yang-Mills theory with the Lorentz-covariant gauge fixing term and the associated Faddeev-Popov ghost term. First of all, we show that massive Yang-Mills model is obtained as a gauge-fixed version of the gauge-invariantly extended theory which is identified with the gauge-scalar model with a single fixed-modulus scalar field in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. This equivalence i…
We discuss the analytic continuation of the gluon propagator from the Euclidean region to the complex squared-momentum plane towards the Minkowski region from a viewpoint of gluon confinement. For this purpose, we investigate the massive Yang-Mills model with one-loop quantum corrections, which is to be identified with a low-energy effective theory of the Yang-Mills theory in the sense that the confining decoupling solution for the Euclidean gluon and ghost propagators of the Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge obtained by numerical simulations on the lattice are reproduced with good accurac…
The consistency of the EFT of two interacting spin-2 fields is checked by applying forward limit positivity bounds on the scattering amplitudes to exclude the region of parameter space devoid of a standard UV completion. We focus on two classes of theories that have the highest possible EFT cutoff, namely those theories modelled on ghost-free interacting theories of a single massive spin-2 field. We find that the very existence of interactions between the spin-2 fields implies more stringent bounds on all the parameters of the EFT, even on the spin-2 self-interactions. This arises for two reas…
We calculate the cubic order terms in a covariant theory that gives a nonlinear completion of the Fierz-Pauli massive spin-2 action. The resulting terms have specially tuned coefficients guarantying the absence of a ghost at this order in the decoupling limit. We show in this limit that: (1) The quadratic theory propagates helicity-2, 1, and helicity-0 states of massive spin-2. (2) The cubic terms with six derivatives -- which would give ghosts on local backgrounds -- cancel out automatically. (3) There is a four-derivative cubic term for the helicity-0 field, that has been known to be ghost-f…
We classify states saturating a double or a single supersymmetric positivity bound of a four-dimensional N=4 supersymmetry. The massive four-dimensional double-bound states (Bogomolny states) are shown to form a light-like representation of ten-dimensional supersymmetry. The single-bound states form a massive representation (centrino multiplet) of a four-dimensional supersymmetry. The first component of the centrino multiplet is identified with extreme black holes with regular horizon which have one quarter of unbroken supersymmetry. The centrino multiplet includes a massive spin 3/2 state, th…
We study two-to-two scattering amplitudes of a scalar particle of mass $m$. For simplicity, we assume the presence of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry and that the particle is $\mathbb{Z}_2$ odd. We consider two classes of amplitudes: the fully nonperturbative ones and effective field theory (EFT) ones with a cut-off scale $M$. Using the primal numerical method which allows us to impose full non-linear unitarity, we construct novel bounds on various observables in $2 \leq d \leq 4$ space-time dimensions for both classes of amplitudes. We show that our bounds are much stronger than the ones obtained by …
