We present a comparative study of inflation in two theories of quadratic gravity with {\it gauged} scale symmetry: 1) the original Weyl quadratic gravity and 2) the theory defined by a similar action but in the Palatini approach obtained by replacing the Weyl connection by its Palatini counterpart. These theories have different vectorial non-metricity induced by the gauge field ($w_μ$) of this symmetry. Both theories have a novel spontaneous breaking of gauged scale symmetry, in the absence of matter, where the necessary scalar field is not added ad-hoc to this purpose but is of geometric origin and part of the quadratic action. The Einstein-Proca action (of $w_μ$), Planck scale and metricity emerge in the broken phase after $w_μ$ acquires mass (Stueckelberg mechanism), then decouples. In the presence of matter ($ϕ_1$), non-minimally coupled, the scalar potential is similar in both theories up to couplings and field rescaling. For small field values the potential is Higgs-like while for large fields inflation is possible. Due to their $R^2$ term, both theories have a small tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r\sim 10^{-3}$), larger in Palatini case. For a fixed spectral index $n_s$, reducing the non-minimal coupling ($ξ_1$) increases $r$ which in Weyl theory is bounded from above by that of Starobinsky inflation. For a small enough $ξ_1\leq 10^{-3}$, unlike the Palatini version, Weyl theory gives a dependence $r(n_s)$ similar to that in Starobinsky inflation, while also protecting $r$ against higher dimensional operators corrections.
In this paper we demonstrate how, using the coset construction, a theory can be systematically made Weyl invariant by gauging the scale symmetry. We show that an analog of the inverse Higgs constraint allows the elimination of the Weyl vector (gauge) field in favor of curvatures. We extend the procedure -- previously coined Ricci gauging -- and discuss its subtlety for the case of theories with higher derivatives of conformally variant fields.
We study quadratic gravity $R^2+R_{[μν]}^2$ in the Palatini formalism where the connection and the metric are independent. This action has a {\it gauged} scale symmetry (also known as Weyl gauge symmetry) of Weyl gauge field $v_μ= (\tildeΓ_μ-Γ_μ)/2$, with $\tildeΓ_μ$ ($Γ_μ$) the trace of the Palatini (Levi-Civita) connection, respectively. The underlying geometry is non-metric due to the $R_{[μν]}^2$ term acting as a gauge kinetic term for $v_μ$. We show that this theory has an elegant spontaneous breaking of gauged scale symmetry and mass generation in the absence of matter, where the necessa…
In the first part, we discuss the interplay between local scale invariance and metric-affine degrees of freedom from few distinct points of view. We argue, rather generally, that the gauging of Weyl symmetry is a natural byproduct of requiring that scale invariance is a symmetry of a gravitational theory that is based on a metric and on an independent affine structure degrees of freedom. In the second part, we compute the Nöther identities associated with all the gauge symmetries, including Weyl, Lorentz and diffeomorphisms invariances, for general actions with matter degrees of freedom, explo…
We construct a Weyl-invariant extension of topologically massive gravity which, remarkably, turns out to include topologically massive electrodynamics, with a Proca mass term, conformally coupled to a scalar field. The action has no dimensionful parameters, therefore, the masses are generated via symmetry breaking either radiatively in flat backgrounds or spontaneously in constant curvature backgrounds. The broken phase of the theory, generically, has a single massive spin-2 and a massive spin-1 excitation. Chiral gravity in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes does not arise as a low ener…
We extend a previous analysis on the derivation of the dilaton Wess-Zumino (WZ) action in $d=4$, based on the method of Weyl gauging, to $6$ dimensions. As in the previous case, we discuss the structure of the same action in dimensional regularization using 6-dimensional Weyl invariants, extracting the dilaton interactions in the most general scheme, with the inclusion of the local anomaly terms. As an application, we present the WZ action for the (2,0) tensor multiplet, which has been investigated in the past in the context of the $AdS_7/CFT_6$ holographic anomaly matching. We then extend to …
Pure $R^2$ gravity has been shown to be equivalent to Einstein gravity with non-zero cosmological constant and a massless scalar field. We show that the Palatini formulation of pure $R^2$ gravity is equivalent to Einstein gravity with non-zero cosmological constant as before but with no massless scalar field. This is an important new development because the massless scalar field is not readily identifiable with any known particle in nature or unknown particles like cold dark matter which are expected to be massive. We then include a non-minimally coupled Higgs field as well as fermions to disc…
We discuss locally Weyl (scale) covariant generalisations of gravitational theories using Riemann-Cartan-Weyl space-times in arbitrary dimensions. We demonstrate the procedure of Weyl gauging on two examples in particular: General relativity, and topologically massive gravity in three dimensions.
In this thesis, we studied the Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG) in two perspectives. Firstly, by using real scalar and abelian gauge fields, we built the Weyl-invariant extension of TMG which unifies cosmological TMG and Topologically Massive Electrodynamics (TME) with a Proca mass term. Here, we have demonstrated that the presence of (Anti)-de Sitter spaces as the background solution, spontaneously breaks the local Weyl symmetry, whereas the radiative corrections at two-loop level breaks the symmetry in flat vacuum. The breaking of Weyl symmetry fixes all the dimensionful parameters and pr…
We consider $f(R)$ gravity and Born-Infeld-Einstein (BIE) gravity in formulations where the metric and connection are treated independently and integrate out the metric to find the corresponding models solely in terms of the connection, the archetypical treatment being that of Eddington-Schrödinger (ES) duality between cosmological Einstein and Eddington theories. For dimensions $D\ne2$, we find that this requires $f(R)$ to have a specific form which makes the model Weyl invariant, and that its Eddington reduction is then equivalent to that of BIE with certain parameters. For $D=2$ dimensions,…
H. Weyl's proposal of 1918 for generalizing Riemannian geometry by local scale gauge (later called {\em Weyl geometry}) was motivated by mathematical, philosophical and physical considerations. It was the starting point of his unified field theory of electromagnetism and gravity. After getting disillusioned with this research program and after the rise of a convincing alternative for the gauge idea by translating it to the phase of wave functions and spinor fields in quantum mechanics, Weyl no longer considered the original scale gauge as physically relevant. About the middle of the last centu…
We explore the cosmological viability of a theory of gravity defined by the Lagrangian $f(\mathcal{R})=\mathcal{R}^{n\left(\mathcal{R}\right)}$ in the Palatini formalism, where $n\left(\mathcal{R}\right)$ is a dimensionless function of the Palatini scalar curvature $\mathcal{R}$ that interpolates between general relativity when $n\left(\mathcal{R}\right)=1$ and a locally scale-invariant and superficially renormalizable theory when $n\left(\mathcal{R}\right)=2$. We refer to this model as asymptotically Weyl-invariant gravity (AWIG). We analyse perhaps the simplest possible implementation of AWI…
We consider the construction of gauge theories of gravity that are invariant under local conformal transformations. We first clarify the geometric nature of global conformal transformations, in both their infinitesimal and finite forms, and the consequences of global conformal invariance for field theories, before reconsidering existing approaches for gauging the conformal group, namely auxiliary conformal gauge theory and biconformal gauge theory, neither of which is generally accepted as a complete solution. We then demonstrate that, provided any matter fields belong to an irreducible repres…
Non-invertible Symmetries in Weyl Fermions, and Applications to Fermion-Boundary Scattering Problem
Department of Physics, Nanjing University（南京大学物理系）；School of Quantum and Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学量子学院和理论科学研究所）
General Relativity is usually formulated as a theory with gauge invariance under the diffeomorphism group, but there is a 'dilaton' formulation where it is in addition invariant under Weyl transformations, and a 'unimodular' formulation where it is only invariant under the smaller group of special diffeomorphisms. Other formulations with the same number of gauge generators, but a different gauge algebra, also exist. These different formulations provide examples of what we call 'inessential gauge invariance', 'symmetry trading' and 'linking theories'; they are locally equivalent, but may differ…
It is well known that the geometrical framework of Riemannian geometry that underlies general relativity and its torsionful extension to Riemann-Cartan geometry can be obtained from a procedure known as gauging the Poincare algebra. Recently it has been shown that gauging the centrally extended Galilei algebra, known as the Bargmann algebra, leads to a geometrical framework that when made dynamical gives rise to Horava-Lifshitz gravity. Here we consider the case where we contract the Poincare algebra by sending the speed of light to zero leading to the Carroll algebra. We show how this algebra…
We propose a novel theory of gravity that by construction is renormalizable, evades Ostragadsky's no-go theorem, is locally scale-invariant in the high-energy limit, and equivalent to general relativity in the low-energy limit. The theory is defined by a pure f(R) = R^n action in the Palatini formalism, where the dimensionless exponent n runs from a value of two in the high-energy limit to one in the low-energy limit. We show that the proposed model contains no obvious cosmological curvature singularities. The viability of the proposed model is qualitatively assessed using several key criteria…
Consequences of gauging exact $Z_k^C$ center symmetries in several simple $SU(N)$ gauge theories, where $k$ is a divisor of $N$, are investigated. Models discussed include: the $SU(N)$ gauge theory with $N_f$ copies of Weyl fermions in self-adjoint single-column antisymmetric representation, the well-discussed adjoint QCD, QCD-like theories in which the quarks are in a two-index representation of $SU(N)$, and a chiral $SU(N)$ theory with fermions in the symmetric as well as in anti-antisymmetric representations but without fundamentals. Mixed 't Hooft anomalies between the 1-form $Z_k^C$ symme…
Abstract We present the construction of the first-order $D=4$, $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity action by gauging the Maxwell-Weyl superalgebra. The four-form lagrangian is constructed by using the curvatures of the algebra and the local scale invariance of the action is achieved through the introduction of a compensating scalar field. Finally, we find the generalized Einstein equation with a coordinate dependent cosmological term.
We use the superconformal method to construct a new formulation for pure off-shell D=5, N=2 Poincaré supergravity and present its internal gauging. The main difference between the traditional formulation and our new formulation is the choice of the Dilaton Weyl Multiplet as the background Weyl Multiplet and the choice of a Linear compensating Multiplet. We do not introduce an external vector multiplet to gauge the theory, but instead use the internal vector of the Dilaton Weyl Multiplet. We show that the corresponding on-shell theory is Einstein-Maxwell supergravity. We believe that this gaugi…
We analyse the behaviour of the MacDowell-Mansouri action with internal symmetry group $\mathrm{SO}(4,1)$ under the covariant Hamiltonian formulation. The field equations, known in this formalism as the De Donder-Weyl equations, are obtained by means of the graded Poisson-Gerstenhaber bracket structure present within the covariant formulation. The decomposition of the internal algebra $\mathfrak{so}(4,1)\simeq\mathfrak{so}(3,1)\oplus\mathbb{R}^{3,1}$ allows the symmetry breaking $\mathrm{SO}(4,1)\to\mathrm{SO}(3,1)$, which reduces the original action to the Palatini action without the topologi…
We construct the Weyl multiplets of N=2 conformal supergravity in five dimensions. We show that there exist two different versions of the Weyl multiplet, which contain the same gauge fields but differ in the matter field content: the Standard Weyl multiplet and the Dilaton Weyl multiplet. At the linearized level we obtain the transformation rules for the Dilaton Weyl multiplet by coupling it to the multiplet of currents corresponding to an on-shell vector multiplet. We construct the full non-linear transformation rules for both multiplets by gauging the D=5 superconformal algebra F^2(4). We sh…
Weyl conformal geometry may play a role in early cosmology where effective theory at short distances becomes conformal. Weyl conformal geometry also has a built-in geometric Stueckelberg mechanism: it is broken spontaneously to Riemannian geometry after a Weyl gauge transformation (of "gauge fixing") while Stueckelberg mechanism re-arranges the degrees of freedom, conserving their number ($n_{df}$). The Weyl gauge field ($ω_μ$) of local scale transformations acquires a mass after absorbing a compensator (dilaton), decouples, and Weyl connection becomes Riemannian. Mass generation has thus a dy…
The De Donder-Weyl (DW) covariant Hamiltonian formulation of Palatini first-order Lagrangian of vielbein (tetrad) gravity and its precanonical quantization are presented. No splitting into the space and time is required in this formulation. Our recent generalization of Dirac brackets is used to treat the second class primary constraints appearing in the DW Hamiltonian formulation and to find the fundamental brackets. Quantization of the latter yields the representation of vielbeins as differential operators with respect to the spin connection coefficients, and the Dirac-like precanonical Schrö…
We derive an interacting quintessence model on the framework of a recently introduced new class of geometrical scalar-tensor theories of gravity formulated on a Weyl-Integrable geometry, where the gravitational sector is described by both a scalar and a tensor metric field. By using a Palatini variational principle we construct a scalar-tensor action invariant under the Weyl symmetry group of the background geometry, which in the Einstein-Riemann frame leads to a gravitoelectromagnetic theory. We use the gauge freedom of the theory and the fact that the Weyl scalar field couples with matter fi…
In the framework of ordinary-derivative approach, conformal gravity in space-time of dimension six is studied. The field content, in addition to conformal graviton field, includes two auxiliary rank-2 symmetric tensor fields, two Stueckelberg vector fields and one Stueckelberg scalar field. Gauge invariant Lagrangian with conventional kinetic terms and the corresponding gauge transformations are obtained. One of the rank-2 tensor fields and the scalar field have canonical conformal dimension. With respect to these fields, the Lagrangian contains, in addition to other terms, a cubic potential. …
We discuss the effective field theory for spacetime symmetry breaking from the local symmetry point of view. By gauging spacetime symmetries, the identification of Nambu-Goldstone (NG) fields and the construction of the effective action are performed based on the breaking pattern of diffeomorphism, local Lorentz, and (an)isotropic Weyl symmetries as well as the internal symmetries including possible central extensions in nonrelativistic systems. Such a local picture distinguishes, e.g., whether the symmetry breaking condensations have spins and provides a correct identification of the physical…
We argue that two-dimensional dilaton gravity models can all be derived from an analog of Jacobson's covariant version of the first law of thermodynamics. We then specialize to the JT gravity model and couple it to massless fermions. This model is exactly soluble in quantum field theory, and we present a new derivation of that result. The field theory model violates two principles one might want to impose on a quantum theory of gravity describing the near horizon region of an extremal charged black hole in four dimensions: finiteness of the entropy for finite causal diamonds, and the absence o…
Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs) pertinent to some emergent low energy phenomena of condensed matter lattice models in 2+1 and 3+1D are explored. Many of our field theories are highly-interacting without free quadratic analogs. Some of our bosonic TQFTs can be regarded as the continuum field theory formulation of Dijkgraaf-Witten twisted discrete gauge theories. Other bosonic TQFTs beyond the Dijkgraaf-Witten description and all fermionic spin TQFTs are either higher-form gauge theories where particles must have strings attached, or fermionic discrete gauge theories obtained by gaugi…
