On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime
Abstract We study the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime with two approaches. By rewriting the theory a la Stueckelberg, and implementing Lorentz-like gauges to the metric perturbations, we confirm that the pure theory propagates one scalar degree of freedom, while the full theory c...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)039 |
| _version_ | 1797276039422935040 |
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| author | Anamaria Hell Dieter Lüst George Zoupanos |
| author_facet | Anamaria Hell Dieter Lüst George Zoupanos |
| author_sort | Anamaria Hell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We study the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime with two approaches. By rewriting the theory a la Stueckelberg, and implementing Lorentz-like gauges to the metric perturbations, we confirm that the pure theory propagates one scalar degree of freedom, while the full theory contains two tensor modes in addition. We then consider the degrees of freedom by directly examining the metric perturbations. We show that the degrees of freedom of the full theory match with those obtained with the manifestly covariant approach. In contrast, we find that the pure R 2 gravity has no degrees of freedom. We show that a similar discrepancy between the two approaches appears also in a theory dual to the three-form, and appears due to the Lorentz-like gauges, which lead to the fictitious modes even after the residual gauge redundancy has been taken into account. At first sight, this implies a discontinuity between the full theory and the pure case. By studying the first-order corrections of the full R 2 gravity beyond the linear regime, we show that at high-energies, both scalar and tensor degrees of freedom become strongly coupled. This implies that the apparent discontinuity of pure and full R 2 gravity is just an artefact of the perturbation theory, and further supports the absence of degrees of freedom in the pure R 2 gravity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:22:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d841961ae2e4d5fb3343fd0e359ab67 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:22:37Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d841961ae2e4d5fb3343fd0e359ab672024-03-05T17:29:36ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792024-02-012024213610.1007/JHEP02(2024)039On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetimeAnamaria Hell0Dieter Lüst1George Zoupanos2Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of TokyoArnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenMax-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut)Abstract We study the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime with two approaches. By rewriting the theory a la Stueckelberg, and implementing Lorentz-like gauges to the metric perturbations, we confirm that the pure theory propagates one scalar degree of freedom, while the full theory contains two tensor modes in addition. We then consider the degrees of freedom by directly examining the metric perturbations. We show that the degrees of freedom of the full theory match with those obtained with the manifestly covariant approach. In contrast, we find that the pure R 2 gravity has no degrees of freedom. We show that a similar discrepancy between the two approaches appears also in a theory dual to the three-form, and appears due to the Lorentz-like gauges, which lead to the fictitious modes even after the residual gauge redundancy has been taken into account. At first sight, this implies a discontinuity between the full theory and the pure case. By studying the first-order corrections of the full R 2 gravity beyond the linear regime, we show that at high-energies, both scalar and tensor degrees of freedom become strongly coupled. This implies that the apparent discontinuity of pure and full R 2 gravity is just an artefact of the perturbation theory, and further supports the absence of degrees of freedom in the pure R 2 gravity.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)039Classical Theories of GravityGauge SymmetryNonperturbative EffectsScale and Conformal Symmetries |
| spellingShingle | Anamaria Hell Dieter Lüst George Zoupanos On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime Journal of High Energy Physics Classical Theories of Gravity Gauge Symmetry Nonperturbative Effects Scale and Conformal Symmetries |
| title | On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| title_full | On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| title_fullStr | On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| title_short | On the degrees of freedom of R 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| title_sort | on the degrees of freedom of r 2 gravity in flat spacetime |
| topic | Classical Theories of Gravity Gauge Symmetry Nonperturbative Effects Scale and Conformal Symmetries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)039 |
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