De Sitter field equations from quadratic curvature gravity: A group theoretical approach

Abstract

In this paper, the linearized field equations related to the quadratic curvature gravity theory have been obtained in the four-dimensional de Sitter (dS) space–time. The massless spin-2 field equations have been written in terms of the Casimir operators of dS group making use of the ambient space notations. By imposing some simple constraints, arisen from group theoretical interpretation of the field equations, a new four-dimensional Gauss–Bonnet (GB-)like action has been introduced with the related field equations transforming according to the unitary irreducible representations (UIRs) of dS group. Since, the field equations transform according to the UIRs of dS group, the GB-like action, we just obtained, is expected to be a successful model of modified gravity. For more clarity, the gauge invariant field equations have been solved in terms of a gauge-fixing parameter [Formula: see text]. It has been shown that the solution can be written as the multiplication of a symmetric rank-2 polarization tensor and a massless minimally coupled scalar field on dS space. The Krein–Gupta–Bleuler quantization method has been utilized and the covariant two-point function has been calculated in terms of the massless minimally coupled scalar two-point function, using the ambient space notations. It has been written in terms of dS intrinsic coordinates from the ambient space counterpart. The two-point functions are dS invariant and free of any theoretical problems. It means that the proposed model is a successful model of modified gravity and it can produce significant results in the contexts of classical theory of gravity and quantum gravity toy models.