Black holes in $f(R)$-gravity are known to be unstable, especially the rotating ones. In particular, an instability develops that looks like the classical black hole bomb mechanism: the linearized modified Einstein equations are characterized by an effective mass that acts like a massive scalar perturbation on the Kerr solution in General Relativity, which is known to yield instabilities. In this note, we consider a special class of $f(R)$ gravity that has the property of being scale-invariant. As a prototype, we consider the simplest case $f(R)=R^2$ and show that, in opposition to the general case, static and stationary black holes are stable, at least at the linear level.
We show that Thurston geometries are solutions to a large class of 3D quadratic curvature theories, where New Massive Gravity, which was studied in arXiv:2104.00754, is a special case.
In this note, we evaluate the Weyl-invariant quadratic curvature tensors for the particular Weyl's gauge field constructed in the $3+1$-dimensional noncompact Weyl-Einstein-Yang-Mills model. We subsequently extend the model to its higher curvature version. Here, we also compute Weyl-invariant extension of topological Gauss-Bonnet term for this specific choice of vector field.
A 2D symmetric teleparallel gravity model is given by a generic 4-parameter action that is quadratic in the non-metricity tensor. Variational field equations are derived. A class of conformally flat solutions is given. We also discuss static and cosmological solutions.
The Israel equations for thin shells in General Relativity are derived directly from the least action principle. The method is elaborated for obtaining the equations for double layers in quadratic gravity from the least action principle.
We give an exact solution of the quadratic gravity in D dimensions. The solution is a plane fronted wave metric with a cosmological constant. This metric solves not only the full quadratic gravity field equations but also the linearized ones which include the linearized equations of the recently found critical gravity. A subset of the solutions change the asymptotic structure of the anti-de Sitter space due to their logarithmic behavior.
We present a simplified formulation of massive gravity where the Higgs fields have quadratic kinetic term. This new formulation allows us to prove in a very explicit way that all massive gravity theories considered so far inevitably have Boulware-Deser ghost in non-trivial fluctuations of background metric.
Partial results are obtained for Schwarzschild- like solutions in a gravity theory with action density (-g)^(1/2)[Rik^2+bR^2]. A seven parameter family of implicit solutions is found. A number of explicit solutions are also exhibited.
We continue our study of gravity described by the action density (-g)^(1/2)(R_ik^2+bR^2); and look for cosmological solutions of gravity coupled to dust, for the closed isotropic model. There is a solution that at t approaches zero has for the radius, a(t)=t/3^(1/2); in the absence of dust this solution holds for all time.
Perturbative solutions to the fourth-order gravity describing spherically-symmetric, static and electrically charged black hole in an asymptotically de Sitter universe is constructed and discussed. Special emphasis is put on the lukewarm configurations, in which the temperature of the event horizon equals the temperature of the cosmological horizon.
The Hawking radiation of static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat solutions in quadratic gravity, is here explored. The emitted fermions are governed by the Dirac equation in the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) context, that probes the spacetime (quantum) nature. The Hawking thermal spectrum is scrutinized out of the tunnelling method and the WKB procedure. The Hawking flux is shown to vanish for small black holes, for a precise combination of the GUP parameter and the coupling constants that drive the gravitational interaction in quadratic gravity, yielding absolutely stable…
More than three decades ago quadratic gravity was found to present a perturbative, renormalizable and asymptotically free theory of quantum gravity. Unfortunately the theory appeared to have problems with a spin-2 ghost. In this essay we revisit quadratic gravity in a different light by considering the case that the asymptotically free interaction flows to a strongly interacting regime. This occurs when the coefficient of the Einstein-Hilbert term is smaller than the scale $Λ_{\mathrm{QG}}$ where the quadratic couplings grow strong. Here QCD provides some useful insights. By pushing the analog…
We consider a recently proposed non-minimal matter coupling in massive gravity and multi-gravity. We argue that, when formulated in terms of unconstrained vielbeins, this matter coupling contains the primary constraints necessary to remove the Boulware-Deser ghost to all orders away from the decoupling limit.
We present a systematic procedure of finding the shock wave equation in anisotropic spacetime of quadratic gravity with Lagrangian ${\cal L}=R+ Λ+αR_{μνσρ}R^{μνσρ}+βR_{μν}R^{μν}+γR^2+{\cal L}_{\rm matter}$. The general formula of the butterfly velocity is derived. We show that the shock wave equation in the planar, spherical or hyperbolic black hole spacetime of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity is the same as that in Einstein gravity if space is isotropic. We consider the modified AdS spacetime deformed by the leading correction of the quadratic curvatures and find that the fourth order derivativ…
We construct new solutions of five-dimensional quadratic gravity as direct products of a constant curvature two-surface with a solution of three-dimensional new massive gravity with constant scalar curvature. These solutions could represent near-horizon limits of five-dimensional asymptotically flat black strings or black rings. A number of these non-asymptotically flat solutions are themselves black strings or rings. A by-product of our analysis is the construction of new solutions of four-dimensional quadratic gravity obtained by toroidal reduction of the five-dimensional solutions with flat…
The quadratic gravity constraints are reformulated in terms of the Newman-Penrose-like quantities. In such a frame language, the field equations represent a linear algebraic system for the Ricci tensor components. In principle, a procedure for the combination of the Ricci components with standard geometric identities can be applied in a similar way as in the case of general relativity. These results could serve in various subsequent analyses and physical interpretations of admitted solutions to quadratic gravity. Here, we demonstrate the utility of such an approach by explicitly proving genera…
We reassess the conclusion by Klusoň (J. High Energy Phys. 1007 (2010) 038) that the Hamiltonian formulation of the healthy extended Hořava-Lifshitz gravity does not present any problem.
We construct Horava-Lifshitz gravities that are invariant under anisotropic Weyl scaling. This construction is based on an extension of the group of symmetries of healthy extended Horava-Lifshitz gravity and RFDiff invariant Horava-Lifshitz gravity. We find their Hamiltonian formulation and determine their constraint structure.
Asymptotically Safe theories of gravity have recently received much attention. In this work we discuss a class of inflationary models derived from quantum-gravity modification of quadratic gravity according to the induced scaling around the non-Gaussian fixed point at very high energies. It is argued that the presence of a three dimensional ultraviolet critical surface generates operators of non-integer power of the type $R^{2-θ/2}$ in the effective Lagrangian, where $θ>0$ is a critical exponent. The requirement of a successful inflationary model in agreement with the recent Planck 2015 data p…
We investigate several quantum phenomena related to quadratic gravity after rewriting the general fourth-order action in a more convenient form that is second-order in derivatives and produces only first-class constraints in phase space. We find that a Higgs mechanism may occur in the conformally invariant subset of the general quadratic action if the theory is conformally coupled to a scalar field that acquires a non-zero vacuum expectation value and spontaneously breaks the conformal symmetry. Then, in the broken phase, the originally massless spin-2 ghost may absorb both the scalar and vect…
Standard methods for calculating the black hole entropy beyond general relativity are ambiguous when the horizon is non stationary. We fix these ambiguities in all quadratic curvature gravity theories, by demanding that the entropy be increasing at every time, for linear perturbations to a stationary black hole. Our result matches with the entropy formula found previously in holographic entanglement entropy calculations. We explicitly calculate the entropy increase for Vaidya-like solutions in Ricci-tensor gravity to show that (unlike the Wald entropy) the holographic entropy obeys a Second La…
In the present paper we investigate the conservative conditions in Quadratic Gravity. It is shown explicitly that the Bianchi identities lead to the conservative condition of the left-hand-side of the (gravitational) field equation. Therefore, the total energy-momentum tensor is conservative in the bulk (like in General Relativity). However, in Quadratic Gravity it is possible to have singular hupersurfaces separating the bulk regions with different behavior of the matter energy-momentum tensor or different vacua. They require special consideration. We derived the conservative conditions on su…
We provide new formulas for the energy of black hole solutions in the anti-de Sitter (AdS) sector of a generic gravity theory with curvature-squared terms. This is achieved by the addition of counterterms of the extrinsic type (\emph{Kounterterms}) which produces a finite variation of the total action. The procedure is compatible with the boundary conditions in asymptotically AdS spaces within the framework of Quadratic Curvature Gravity (QCG) theory. As a consequence, without resorting to background-substraction, or linearized methods, the conserved charges correctly reproduce the energy of s…
I review how "classical SUGRA" embeddability establishes positive energy E for D=3 topologically massive gravity (TMG), with or without a cosmological term, a procedure familiar from D=4 Einstein gravity (GR). It also provides explicit expressions for E. In contrast to GR, E is not manifestly positive, due to the peculiar two-term nature of TMG.
We extend the results of antecedent literature on quadratic Metric-Affine Gravity by studying a new quadratic gravity action in vacuum which, besides the usual (non-Riemannian) Einstein-Hilbert contribution, involves all the parity even quadratic terms in torsion and non-metricity plus a Lagrangian that is quadratic in the field-strengths of the torsion and non-metricity vector traces. The theory result to be equivalent, on-shell, to a Vector-Tensor theory. We also discuss the sub-cases in which the contribution to the Lagrangian quadratic in the field-strengths of the torsion and non-metricit…
We perform the Hamiltonian analysis of non-linear massive gravity action studied recently in arXiv:1106.3344 [hep-th]. We show that the Hamiltonian constraint is the second class constraint. As a result the theory possesses an odd number of the second class constraints and hence all non physical degrees of freedom cannot be eliminated.
Following Mach's definition of mass and force in terms of space time measurement we build the conceptual structure of classical mechanics and show that it is remarkably similar to the results of Carnot and Clausius in thermodynamics. The analogy is extended to equality to derive the laws of gravity from the laws of thermodynamics.
In this paper, we study self-dual gravity in the Newman-Penrose formalism. We specify the self-dual solution space from the Newman-Unti solutions. We show that the asymptotic symmetries of the self-dual gravity are still the (extended) BMS symmetries. We transform the self-dual Taub-NUT solution into the Newman-Unti gauge in analytical form.
In this letter we consider the Einsteinian strengths and dynamical degrees of freedom for quadratic gravity. We show that purely metric quadratic gravity theories are much stronger in Einsteinian sense than the competitive quadratic gravity theories which admit torsion.
Without breaking Lorentz invariance, we investigate the speed of graviton in event GW150914 by using the modified dispersion relation from gravity's rainbow. The proper range of the parameter in the modified dispersion relation is determined by taking into account the gap between the speed of the graviton and that obtained from event GW150914.
Using the invariance of Quadratic Gravity in FLRW metric under the group of diffeomorphisms of the time coordinate, we rewrite the action $A$ of the theory in terms of the invariant dynamical variable $g(τ)\,.$ We propose to consider the path integrals $\int\,F(g)\,\exp\left\{-A \right\}dg$ as the integrals over the functional measure $μ(g)=\exp\left\{-A_{2} \right\}dg\,,\ $ where $A_{2}$ is the part of the action $A$ quadratic in $R\,.$ The rest part of the action stands in the exponent in the integrand as the "interaction" term. We prove the measure $μ(g)$ to be equivalent to the Wiener meas…
We study the cosmology of a quadratic metric-compatible torsionful gravity theory in the presence of a perfect hyperfluid. The gravitational action is an extension of the Einstein-Cartan theory given by the usual Einstein-Hilbert contribution plus all the admitted quadratic parity even torsion scalars and the matter action also exhibits a dependence on the connection. The equations of motion are obtained by regarding the metric and the metric-compatible torsionful connection as independent variables. We then consider a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker background, analyze the conservation la…
When describing gravity at high energies it is natural to introduce terms quadratic in the curvature as first corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action. Static, spherically symmetric classical solutions are studied in the case of the quantum-motivated $R+R^2+C^{μνρσ}C_{μνρσ}$ theory. In contrast with the case of General Relativity, where the metric is forced to be the Schwarzschild one, a large spectrum of solutions with different gravitational potentials has been found. It is shown how these solutions populate the parameter space of the theory, and some possible phenomenological implications…
It is a known fact that the Kerr-Schild type solutions in general relativity satisfy both exact and linearized Einstein field equations. We show that this property remains valid also for a special class of the Kerr-Schild metrics in arbitrary dimensions in generic quadratic curvature theory. In addition to the AdS-wave (or Siklos) metric which represents plane waves in an AdS background, we present here a new exact solution, in this class, to the quadratic gravity in D-dimensions which represents a spherical wave in an AdS background. The solution is a special case of the Kundt metrics belongi…
This short note is devoted to the Hamiltonian analysis of the normalized general relativity and recently proposed model of vacuum energy sequestering. The common property of these models is the presence of the global variables. We discuss the meaning of these global variables in the context of the canonical formalism and argue that their presence lead to the non-local form of the Hamiltonian constraint.
We provide a brief overview of what is known about Quadratic Gravity, which includes terms quadratic in the curvatures in the fundamental action. This is proposed as a renormalizeable UV completion for quantum gravity which continues to use the metric as the fundamental dynamical variable. However, there are unusual field-theoretic consequences because the propagators contain quartic momentum dependence. At the present stage of our understanding, Quadratic Gravity continues to be a viable candidate for a theory of quantum gravity.
Quadratic gravity presents us with a renormalizable, asymptotically free theory of quantum gravity. When its couplings grow strong at some scale, as in QCD, then this strong scale sets the Planck mass. QCD has a gluon that does not appear in the physical spectrum. Quadratic gravity has a spin-2 ghost that we conjecture does not appear in the physical spectrum. We discuss how the QCD analogy leads to this conjecture and to the possible emergence of general relativity. Certain aspects of the QCD path integral and its measure are also similar for quadratic gravity. With the addition of the Einste…
We present commutation relations depending on the rainbow functions which are slightly different from the well-known results. However, the advantage of these new commutation relations are compatible with the calculation of the Hawking temperature in the rainbow Schwarzschild black hole.
We discuss the choice of the Lagrangian in the Poincaré gauge theory of gravity. Drawing analogies to earlier de Sitter gauge models, we point out the possibility of deriving the Einstein-Cartan Lagrangian {\it without} cosmological term from a {\it modified} quadratic curvature invariant of {\it topological} type.
In this paper we will study the complete equations of motion for a ghost free quadratic curvature infinite derivative gravity. We will argue that within the scale of non-locality, Schwarzschild-type singular metric solution is not {\it permissible}. Therefore, Schwarzschild-type vacuum solution which is a prediction in Einstein-Hilbert gravity may {\it not} persist within the region of non-locality. We will also show that just quadratic curvature gravity, without infinite derivatives, always allows Schwarzschild-type singular metric solution.
We discuss locally Weyl (scale) covariant generalisation of quadratic curvature gravity theory in three dimensions using Riemann-Cartan-Weyl space-times. We show that this procedure of Weyl gauging yields a consistent generalisation for a particular class of quadratic curvature gravity theories which includes the New Massive Gravity theory.
We analyse the evolution of the rotational type cosmological perturbation in a gravity with general quadratic order gravitational coupling terms. The result is expressed independently of the generalized nature of the gravity theory, and is simply interpreted as a conservation of the angular momentum.
We write the equation of geodesic deviations in the spacetime of $pp$-waves in terms of the Newman-Penrose scalars and apply it to study gravitational waves in quadratic curvature gravity. We show that quadratic curvature gravity $pp$-waves can have a transverse helicity-0 polarization mode and two transverse helicity-2 general relativity-like wave polarizations. A concrete example is given in which we analyze the wave polarizations of an exact impulsive gravitational wave solution to quadratic curvature gravity.
We reply to the comment "A note on the innocuous implications of a minimum length in quantum gravity" by P.H. Frampton [Class. Quantum Grav. 26 (2009) 018001, arXiv:arXiv:0808.0283] on our paper "Dangerous implications of a minimum length in quantum gravity" [Class. Quantum Grav. 25 (2008) 195013, arXiv:0803.0749].
