Newman-Penrose formalism in quadratic gravity

Abstract

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 traceless 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 proving general propositions restricting the spacetime geometry under assumptions on a specific algebraic type of curvature tensors.