We introduce a special class of bimetric theories of quantized fields with preserved classical energy conditions. More precisely, we describe the missing anti-particles in our visible universe as being trapped in a spacetime patch with different metric such as the de-Sitter spacetime and negative energies. In order to stabilize these anti-states, time must go in the opposite direction to our visible universe, in agreement with the Feynman-Stückelberg interpretation of antiparticles. Since the energy scale of our observed universe is low, we do not need to worry about these highly energetic anti-particles except for compatibility issues regarding the restoration of classical energy conditions. However, at the quantum gravity scale, these anti-states play a crucial role in the cancellation of gravitational anomalies, along with other possible quantum anomalies that may emerge.
We provide an auxiliary field formulation of the full ghost-free bimetric theory which avoids the explicit presence of a square-root matrix in the action. This description always allows for a branch of solutions where the auxiliary fields can be integrated out to give back the ghost-free theory. For certain parameter regions the two formulations are dynamically equivalent, but in the general case another branch of solutions also exists. We show that this second branch, with certain restrictions on the parameters of the theory, is dynamically equivalent to Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity…
We put forward a two-dimensional nonlinear sigma model that couples (bosonic) matter fields to topological Horava gravity on a nonrelativistic worldsheet. In the target space, this sigma model describes classical strings propagating in a curved spacetime background, whose geometry is described by two distinct metric fields. We evaluate the renormalization group flows of this sigma model on a flat worldsheet and derive a set of beta-functionals for the bimetric fields. Imposing worldsheet Weyl invariance at the quantum level, we uncover a set of gravitational field equations that dictate the dy…
This review is dedicated to recent progress in the field of classical, interacting, massive spin-2 theories, with a focus on ghost-free bimetric theory. We will outline its history and its development as a nontrivial extension and generalisation of nonlinear massive gravity. We present a detailed discussion of the consistency proofs of both theories, before we review Einstein solutions to the bimetric equations of motion in vacuum as well as the resulting mass spectrum. We introduce couplings to matter and then discuss the general relativity and massive gravity limits of bimetric theory, which…
We consider the Hassan-Rosen bimetric field equations in vacuum when the two metrics share a single common null direction in a spherically symmetric configuration. By solving these equations, we obtain a class of exact solutions of the generalized Vaidya type parametrized by an arbitrary function. Besides not being asymptotically flat, the found solutions are nonstationary admitting only three global spacelike Killing vector fields which are the generators of spatial rotations. Hence, these are spherically symmetric bimetric vacuum solutions with the minimal number of isometries. The absence o…
We discuss the connection between Weyl$^2$ supergravity and superstrings and further discuss holography between 4-dimensional, ${\cal N}=4$ superconformal Weyl$^2$ supergravity and ${\cal N}=8$, higher spin-four theory on $AdS_5$. The Weyl$^2$ plus Einstein supergravity theory is a special kind of a bimetric gravity theory and consists of a massless graviton multiplet plus an additional massive spin-two supermultiplet. Here, we argue that the additional spin-two field and its superpartners originate from massive excitations in the open string sector; just like the ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills…
Ghost-free bimetric theory describes two nonlinearly interacting spin-2 fields, one massive and one massless, thus extending general relativity. We confront bimetric theory with observations of Supernovae type 1a, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the Cosmic Microwave Background in a statistical analysis, utilising the recently proposed physical parametrisation. This directly constrains the physical parameters of the theory, such as the mass of the spin-2 field and its coupling to matter. We find that all models under consideration are in agreement with the data. Next, we compare these results …
In this paper we investigate a particular ghost-free bimetric theory that exhibits the partially massless (PM) symmetry at quadratic order. At this order the global SO(1,4) symmetry of the theory is enhanced to SO(1,5). We show that this global symmetry becomes inconsistent at cubic order, in agreement with a previous calculation. Furthermore, we find that the PM symmetry of this theory cannot be extended beyond cubic order in the PM field. More importantly, it is shown that the PM symmetry cannot be extended to quartic order in any theory with one massless and one massive spin-2 fields.
We consider a particular set of ghost-free interactions for three spin-2 fields in which we freeze out the dynamics of the metric tensor that couples to the matter sector. Integrating out the non-dynamical degrees of freedom in vacuum results in a ghost-free bimetric theory. In the presence of the matter source, which we treat as a small perturbation, the equations for the non-dynamical field can be solved perturbatively for its vierbein. This results in ghost-free bimetric theory in vierbein formulation with a modified matter coupling. To lowest order in matter perturbations, we precisely obt…
We provide a novel model of gravity by using adjoint frame fields in four dimensions. It has a natural interpretation as a gravitational theory of a complex metric field, which describes interactions between two real metrics. The classical solutions establish three appealing features. The spherical symmetric black hole solution has an additional hair, which includes the Schwarzschild solution as a special case. The de Sitter solution is realized without introducing a cosmological constant. The constant flat background breaks the Lorentz invariance spontaneously, although the Lorentz breaking e…
We explore spacetime symmetries and topologies of the two metric sectors in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory. We show that, in vacuum, the two sectors can either share or have separate spacetime symmetries. If stress-energy tensors are present, a third case can arise, with different spacetime symmetries within the same sector. This raises the question of the best definition of spacetime symmetry in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory. We emphasize the possibility of imposing ansätze and looking for solutions having different Killing vector fields or different isometries in the two sectors, which has gain…
Numerical integration of the field equations in bimetric relativity is necessary to obtain solutions describing realistic systems. Thus, it is crucial to recast the equations as a well-posed problem. In general relativity, under certain assumptions, the covariant BSSN formulation is a strongly hyperbolic formulation of the Einstein equations, hence its Cauchy problem is well-posed. In this paper, we establish the covariant BSSN formulation of the bimetric field equations. It shares many features with the corresponding formulation in general relativity, but there are a few fundamental differenc…
Ghost-free bimetric gravity is an extension of general relativity, featuring a massive spin-2 field coupled to gravity. We parameterize the theory with a set of observables having specific physical interpretations. For the background cosmology and the static, spherically symmetric solutions (for example approximating the gravitational potential of the solar system), there are four directions in the parameter space in which general relativity is approached. Requiring that there is a working screening mechanism and a nonsingular evolution of the Universe, we place analytical constraints on the p…
Ghost-free bimetric gravity is a theory of two interacting spin-2 fields, one massless and one massive, in addition to the standard matter particles and fields, thereby generalizing Einstein's theory of general relativity. To parameterize the theory, we use five observables with specific physical interpretations. We present, for the first time, observational constraints on these parameters that: (i) apply to the full theory, (ii) are consistent with a working screening mechanism (i.e., restoring general relativity locally), (iii) exhibit a continuous, real-valued background cosmology (without …
The ghost-free bimetric theory describes interactions of gravity with another spin-2 field in terms of two Lorentzian metrics. However, if the two metrics do not admit compatible notions of space and time, the formulation of the initial value problem becomes problematic. Furthermore, the interaction potential is given in terms of the square root of a matrix which is in general nonunique and possibly nonreal. In this paper we prove that the reality of the square root matrix leads to a classification of the allowed metrics in terms of the intersections of their null cones. Then, the requirement …
We show that, in four-dimensional spacetimes with an arbitrary Einstein metric, with and without a cosmological constant, perturbative dynamical degrees of freedom in generic quadratic-curvature gravity can be decoupled into massless and massive parts. The massive part has the structure identical to, modulo the over-all sign, the non-Fierz-Pauli-type massive gravity, and a further decomposition into the spin-2 and spin-0 sectors can be done. The equivalence at the level of equations of motion allows us to translate various observational bounds on the mass of extra fields into constraints on th…
We give a basic introduction to ghost-free nonlinear theories involving massive spin-2 fields, focussing on bimetric theory. After motivating the construction of such models from field theoretical considerations, we review the linear theories for massive and massless spin-2 fluctuations propagating on maximally symmetric backgrounds. The structure of general nonlinear spin-2 interactions is explained before we specialise to the ghost-free case. We review the maximally symmetric solutions of bimetric theory, its mass spectrum and the parameter limit which brings the theory close to general rela…
We derive the full perturbative equations of motion for the most general background solutions in ghost-free bimetric theory in its metric formulation. Clever field redefinitions at the level of fluctuations enable us to circumvent the problem of varying a square-root matrix appearing in the theory. This greatly simplifies the expressions for the linear variation of the bimetric interaction terms. We show that these field redefinitions exist and are uniquely invertible if and only if the variation of the square-root matrix itself has a unique solution, which is a requirement for the linearised …
We study generalisations of ghost-free bimetric theory which involve more than two spin-2 fields. The consistent interactions can enter in the form of two different couplings and in the majority of this work we concentrate on the simpler one. The corresponding action involves one metric coupled to $N$ tensor fields which do not interact with each other. We derive maximally symmetric solutions to the multimetric equations of motion and identify the mass eigenstates in the linearised theory around these backgrounds. Our results are then applied to the problem of singling out multimetric models w…
The origin of the graviton from string theory is well understood: it corresponds to a massless state in closed string spectra, whose low-energy effective action, as extracted from string scattering amplitudes, is that of Einstein-Hilbert. In this work, we explore the possibility of such a string-theoretic emergence of ghost-free bimetric theory, a recently proposed theory that involves two dynamical metrics, that around particular backgrounds propagates the graviton and a massive spin-2 field, which has been argued to be a viable dark matter candidate. By choosing to identify the latter with a…
Vacuum polarization of scalar fields in the background of a long throat is investigated. The field is assumed to be both massive or massless, with arbitrary coupling to the scalar curvature, and in a thermal state at an arbitrary temperature. Analytical approximation for $\left< φ^2 \right>_{ren}$ is obtained.
This contribution presents properties of the second quantized not only fermion fields but also boson fields, if the second quantization of both kinds of fields origins in the description of the internal space of fields with the ''basis vectors'' which are the superposition of odd (when describing fermions) or even (when describing bosons) products of the Clifford algebra operators $γ^a$'s. The tensor products of the ''basis vectors'' with the basis in ordinary space forming the creation operators manifest the anticommutativty (of fermions) or commutativity (of bosons) of the ''basis vectors'',…
We show that the coherent oscillations of a spin-2 field from bimetric theory can easily account for the observed dark matter abundance. We obtain the equation of motion for the field in a cosmological setting and discuss in detail the phenomenology of the model. The framework is testable in precision measurements of oscillating electric charge in atomic clocks, using atomic spectroscopy and in dedicated resonant mass detectors as well as in axion-like-particles experiments, which therefore provide a new window to probe and test gravity itself. We also comment on possible multimetric extension…
In a recent paper we quantized the interaction of gravity with a Yang-Mills and Higgs field and obtained as a result a gravitational wave equation in a globally hyperbolic spacetime. Assuming that the Cauchy hypersurfaces are compact we proved a spectral resolution for the wave equation by applying the method of separation of variables. In this paper we extend the results to the case when the Cauchy hypersurfaces are non-compact by considering a Gelfand triplet and applying the nuclear spectral theorem.
