Bimetric Theory Research Articles

A general theory of linear cosmological perturbations: stability conditions, the quasistatic limit and dynamics

We analyse cosmological perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic background for scalar-tensor, vector-tensor and bimetric theories of gravity. Building on previous results, we propose a unified view of the effective parameters of all these theories. Based on this structure, we explore the viable space of parameters for each family of models by imposing the absence of ghosts and gradient instabilities. We then focus on the quasistatic regime and confirm that all these theories can be approximated by the phenomenological two-parameter model described by an effective Newton's constant and the gravitational slip. Within the quasistatic regime we pinpoint signatures which can distinguish between the broad classes of models (scalar-tensor, vector-tensor or bimetric). Finally, we present the equations of motion for our unified approach in such a way that they can be implemented in Einstein-Boltzmann solvers.

Publisher’s Note: Bimetric Theory of Fractional Quantum Hall States [Phys. Rev. X 7 , 041032 (2017)

Publisher’s Note: Bimetric Theory of Fractional Quantum Hall States [Phys. Rev. X <b>7</b> , 041032 (2017)

Cosmological perturbation and matter power spectrum in bimetric massive gravity

We discuss the linear perturbation equations with the synchronous gauge in a minimal scenario of the bimetric massive gravity theory. We find that the matter density perturbation and matter power spectrum are suppressed. We also examine the ghost and stability problems and show that the allowed deviation of this gravitational theory from the cosmological constant is constrained to be smaller than O(10−2) by the large scale structure observational data.

Stable cosmology in chameleon bigravity

The recently proposed chameleonic extension of bigravity theory, by including a scalar field dependence in the graviton potential, avoids several fine-tunings found to be necessary in usual massive bigravity. In particular it ensures that the Higuchi bound is satisfied at all scales, that no Vainshtein mechanism is needed to satisfy solar-system experiments, and that the strong coupling scale is always above the scale of cosmological interest all the way up to the early universe. This paper extends the previous work by presenting a stable example of cosmology in the chameleon bigravity model. We find a set of initial conditions and parameters such that the derived stability conditions on general flat Friedmann background are satisfied at all times. The evolution goes through radiation dominated, matter dominated, and de Sitter eras. We argue that the parameter space allowing for such a stable evolution may be large enough to encompass an observationally viable evolution. We also argue that our model satisfies all known constraints due to gravitational wave observations so far and thus can be considered as a unique testing ground of gravitational wave phenomenologies in bimetric theories of gravity.

Extending applicability of bimetric theory: chameleon bigravity

This article extends bimetric formulations of massive gravity to make the mass of the graviton to depend on its environment. This minimal extension offers a novel way to reconcile massive gravity with local tests of general relativity without invoking the Vainshtein mechanism. On cosmological scales, it is argued that the model is stable and that it circumvents the Higuchi bound, hence relaxing the constraints on the parameter space. Moreover, with this extension the strong coupling scale is also environmentally dependent in such a way that it is kept sufficiently higher than the expansion rate all the way up to the very early universe, while the present graviton mass is low enough to be phenomenologically interesting. In this sense the extended bigravity theory serves as a partial UV completion of the standard bigravity theory. This extension is very generic and robust and a simple specific example is described.

Slowly-rotating neutron stars in massive bigravity

We study slowly-rotating neutron stars in ghost-free massive bigravity. This theory modifies general relativity by introducing a second, auxiliary but dynamical tensor field that couples to matter through the physical metric tensor through non-linear interactions. We expand the field equations to linear order in slow rotation and numerically construct solutions in the interior and exterior of the star with a set of realistic equations of state. We calculate the physical mass function with respect to observer radius and find that, unlike in general relativity, this function does not remain constant outside the star; rather, it asymptotes to a constant a distance away from the surface, whose magnitude is controlled by the ratio of gravitational constants. The Vainshtein-like radius at which the physical and auxiliary mass functions asymptote to a constant is controlled by the graviton mass scaling parameter, and outside this radius, bigravity modifications are suppressed. We also calculate the frame-dragging metric function and find that bigravity modifications are typically small in the entire range of coupling parameters explored. We finally calculate both the mass-radius and the moment of inertia-mass relations for a wide range of coupling parameters and find that both the graviton mass scaling parameter and the ratio of the gravitational constants introduce large modifications to both. These results could be used to place future constraints on bigravity with electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observations of isolated and binary neutron stars.

Oscillating spin-2 dark matter

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 extensions of the framework that straightforwardly implement the clockwork mechanism for gravity.

Cosmology of Bigravity

This article discusses cosmology, bimetric gravity and their possible interplay.

Superdense Stellar Configurations in the Bimetric Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravity

Models of static spherically-symmetric stellar configurations are discussed within the framework of the Bimetric scalar-tensor theory of gravity. The latter, in addition to the metric tensor and the scalar field, contains a background metric tensor as an absolute variable of the theory. The simplest variant of the theory with a constant coupling parameter and with a zero cosmological function is considered. The analysis includes both the white dwarfs and neutron stars. It is shown that, depending on the value of the theory parameter, the corresponding masses can be notably larger than those in general relativity.

Strong Constraints on Cosmological Gravity from GW170817 and GRB 170817A.

The detection of an electromagnetic counterpart (GRB 170817A) to the gravitational-wave signal (GW170817) from the merger of two neutron stars opens a completely new arena for testing theories of gravity. We show that this measurement allows us to place stringent constraints on general scalar-tensor and vector-tensor theories, while allowing us to place an independent bound on the graviton mass in bimetric theories of gravity. These constraints severely reduce the viable range of cosmological models that have been proposed as alternatives to general relativistic cosmology.

Heavier and darker

The ghost‐free massive spin‐2 field of bimetric theory turns out to be an amusing dark matter candidate. I review the theoretical foundations of bimetric theory, and outline the qualities and phenomenology of heavy spin‐2 dark matter.

Massive graviton dark matter with environment dependent mass: A natural explanation of the dark matter-baryon ratio

We propose a scenario that can naturally explain the observed dark matter-baryon ratio in the context of bimetric theory with a chameleon field. We introduce two additional gravitational degrees of freedom, the massive graviton and the chameleon field, corresponding to dark matter and dark energy, respectively. The chameleon field is assumed to be non-minimally coupled to dark matter, i.e., the massive graviton, through the graviton mass terms. We find that the dark matter-baryon ratio is dynamically adjusted to the observed value due to the energy transfer by the chameleon field. As a result, the model can explain the observed dark matter-baryon ratio independently from the initial abundance of them.

Bimetric Theory of Fractional Quantum Hall States

We present a bimetric low-energy effective theory of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states that describes the topological properties and a gapped collective excitation, known as Girvin-Macdonald-Platzman (GMP) mode. The theory consist of a topological Chern-Simons action, coupled to a symmetric rank two tensor, and an action \`a la bimetric gravity, describing the gapped dynamics of the spin-$2$ GMP mode. The theory is formulated in curved ambient space and is spatially covariant, which allows to restrict the form of the effective action and the values of phenomenological coefficients. Using the bimetric theory we calculate the projected static structure factor up to the $k^6$ order in the momentum expansion. To provide further support for the theory, we derive the long wave limit of the GMP algebra, the dispersion relation of the GMP mode, and the Hall viscosity of FQH states. We also comment on the possible applications to fractional Chern insulators, where closely related structures arise. Finally, it is shown that the familiar FQH observables acquire a curious geometric interpretation within the bimetric formalism.

MOND as a regime of quantum gravity

We propose that there is a regime of quantum gravity phenomena, for the case that the cosmological constant is small and positive, which concerns phenomena at temperatures below the deSitter temperature, or length scales larger than the horizon. We observe that the standard form of the equivalence principle does not apply in this regime; we consider instead that a weakened form of the equivalence principle might hold in which the ratio of gravitational to inertial mass is a function of environmental and global parameters. We consider possible principles to determine that function. These lead to behaviour that, in the limit of hbar to zero and the speed of light is taken to infinity, reproduces the modifications of Newtonian dynamics first proposed by Milgrom. Thus MOND is elucidated as coding the physics of a novel regime of quantum gravity phenomena. We propose also an effective description of this regime in terms of a bi-metric theory, valid in the approximation where the metric is static. This predicts a new effect, which modifies gravity for radial motions.

FLRW solution in bimetric theory of gravitation

We have derived FLRW line-element in Bimetric Theory of Gravitation (BTG) by solving Rosen’s field equations, and it is concluded that the geometry of our model in BTG is agreed with the geometry of FLRW model in GR. It is also realized that for the large value of t, the deceleration parameter q in our model admits the value which is close to the value at present epoch predicted by the observations of [44-48].This This shows that our FLRW model in BTG is found to be in an accelerating phase at present epoch which is not the case in GR. Other geometrical and physical aspects to the model are also studied.

Dipolar dark matter as an effective field theory

Dipolar Dark Matter (DDM) is an alternative model motivated by the challenges faced by the standard cold dark matter model to describe the right phenomenology at galactic scales. A promising realisation of DDM was recently proposed in the context of massive bigravity theory. The model contains dark matter particles, as well as a vector field coupled to the effective composite metric of bigravity. This model is completely safe in the gravitational sector thanks to the underlying properties of massive bigravity. In this work we investigate the exact decoupling limit of the theory, including the contribution of the matter sector, and prove that it is free of ghosts in this limit. We conclude that the theory is acceptable as an Effective Field Theory below the strong coupling scale.

Classification and asymptotic structure of black holes in bimetric theory

We study general properties of static and spherically symmetric bidiagonal black holes in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory. In particular, we explore the behaviour of the black hole solutions both at the common Killing horizon and at the large radii. The former study leads to a new classification for black holes within the bidiagonal ansatz. The latter study shows that, among the great variety of the black hole solutions, the only solutions converging to Minkowski, Anti-de Sitter and de Sitter spacetimes at large radii are those of General Relativity, i.e., the Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-Anti-de Sitter and Schwarzschild-de Sitter solutions.

Narrowing down the possible explanations of cosmic acceleration with geometric probes

Recent re-calibration of the Type Ia supernova (SNe Ia) magnitude-redshift relation combined with cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data have provided excellent constraints on the standard cosmological model. Here, we examine particular classes of alternative cosmologies, motivated by various physical mechanisms, e.g. scalar fields, modified gravity and phase transitions to test their consistency with observations of SNe Ia and the ratio of the angular diameter distances from the CMB and BAO. Using a model selection criterion for a relative comparison of the models (the Bayes Factor), we find moderate to strong evidence that the data prefer flat ΛCDM over models invoking a thawing behaviour of the quintessence scalar field. However, some exotic models like the growing neutrino mass cosmology and vacuum metamorphosis still present acceptable evidence values. The bimetric gravity model with only the linear interaction term as well as a simplified Galileon model can be ruled out by the combination of SNe Ia and CMB/BAO datasets whereas the model with linear and quadratic interaction terms has a comparable evidence value to standard ΛCDM. Thawing models are found to have significantly poorer evidence compared to flat ΛCDM cosmology under the assumption that the CMB compressed likelihood provides an adequate description for these non-standard cosmologies. We also present estimates for constraints from future data and find that geometric probes from oncoming surveys can put severe limits on non-standard cosmological models.

Post-Newtonian parameter γ and the deflection of light in ghost-free massive bimetric gravity

We consider the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) limit of ghost-free massive bimetric gravity with two mutually non-interacting matter sectors coupled to the two metrics. Making use of a gauge-invariant differential decomposition of the metric perturbations, we solve the field equations up to the linear PPN order for a static, point-like mass source. From the result we derive the PPN parameter $\gamma$ for spherically symmetric systems, which describes the gravitational deflection of light by visible matter. By a comparison to its value measured in the solar system we obtain bounds on the parameters of the theory. We further discuss the deflection of light by dark matter and find an agreement with the observed light deflection by galaxies. We finally speculate about a possible explanation for the observed distribution of dark matter in galactic mergers such as Abell 520 and Abell 3827.

Unusual square roots in the ghost-free theory of massive gravity

A crucial building block of the ghost free massive gravity is the square root function of a matrix. This is a problematic entity from the viewpoint of existence and uniqueness properties. We accurately describe the freedom of choosing a square root of a (non-degenerate) matrix. It has discrete and (in special cases) continuous parts. When continuous freedom is present, the usual perturbation theory in terms of matrices can be critically ill defined for some choices of the square root. We consider the new formulation of massive and bimetric gravity which deals directly with eigenvalues (in disguise of elementary symmetric polynomials) instead of matrices. It allows for a meaningful discussion of perturbation theory in such cases, even though certain non-analytic features arise.