The gravitational field outside a spatially compact stationary source in a generic fourth-order theory of gravity

Abstract

By applying the symmetric and trace-free formalism in terms of the irreducible Cartesian tensors, the metric for the external gravitational field of a spatially compact stationary source is provided in F(X, Y, Z) gravity, a generic fourth-order theory of gravity, where X := R is Ricci scalar, Y := RμνRμν is Ricci square, and Z := RμνρσRμνρσ is Riemann square. A new type of gauge condition is proposed so that the linearized gravitational field equations of F(X, Y, Z) gravity are greatly simplified, and then, the stationary metric in the region exterior to the source is derived. In the process of applying the result, integrations are performed only over the domain occupied by the source. The multipole expansion of the metric potential in F(X, Y, Z) gravity for a spatially compact stationary source is also presented. In the expansion, the corrections of F(X, Y, Z) gravity to General Relativity are Yukawa-like ones, dependent on two characteristic lengths. Two additional sets of mass-type source multipole moments appear in the corrections and the salient feature characterizing them is that the integrations in their expressions are always modulated by a common radial factor related to the source distribution.