Massive Gravity Model Research Articles

Supersymmetric backgrounds and black holes in N = 1 , 1 $$ \mathcal{N}=\left(1,\;1\right) $$ cosmological new massive supergravity

Using an off-shell Killing spinor analysis we perform a systematic investigation of the supersymmetric background and black hole solutions of the ${\cal N}=(1,1)$ Cosmological New Massive Gravity model. The solutions with a null Killing vector are the same pp-wave solutions that one finds in the ${\cal N}=1$ model but we find new solutions with a time-like Killing vector that are absent in the ${\cal N}=1$ case. An example of such a solution is a Lifshitz spacetime. We also consider the supersymmetry properties of the so-called rotating hairy BTZ black holes and logarithmic black holes in an $AdS_3$ background. Furthermore, we show that under certain assumptions there is no supersymmetric Lifshitz black hole solution.

Extended DBI massive gravity with generalized fiducial metric

We consider an extended model of DBI massive gravity by generalizing the fiducial metric to be an induced metric on the brane corresponding to a domain wall moving in five-dimensional Schwarzschild-Anti-de Sitter spacetime. The model admits all solutions of FLRW metric including flat, closed and open geometries while the original one does not. The background solutions can be divided into two branches namely self-accelerating branch and normal branch. For the self-accelerating branch, the graviton mass plays the role of cosmological constant to drive the late-time acceleration of the universe. It is found that the number degrees of freedom of gravitational sector is not correct similar to the original DBI massive gravity. There are only two propagating degrees of freedom from tensor modes. For normal branch, we restrict our attention to a particular class of the solutions which provides an accelerated expansion of the universe. It is found that the number of degrees of freedom in the model is correct. However, at least one of them is ghost degree of freedom which always present at small scale implying that the theory is not stable.

An alternative derivation of the minimal massive 3D gravity

By using the algebra of exterior forms and the first order formalism with constraints, an alternative derivation of the field equations for the minimal massive 3D gravity model is presented.

Generalized quadratic curvature, non-local infrared modifications of gravity and Newtonian potentials

Metric theories of gravity are studied, beginning with a general action that is quadratic in curvature and allows arbitrary inverse powers of the dʼAlembertian operator, resulting in infrared non-local extensions of general relativity. The field equations are derived in full generality and their consistency is checked by verifying the Bianchi identities. The weak-field limit is computed and a straightforward algorithm is presented to infer the post-Newtonian corrections directly from the action. This is then applied to various infrared gravity models including non-local dark energy and non-local massive gravity models. Generically, the Newtonian potentials are not identical and deviate from the behaviour at large distances. However, the former does not occur in a specific class of theories that does not introduce additional degrees of freedom in flat spacetime. A new non-local model within this class is proposed, defined by the exponential of the inverse dʼAlembertian. This model exhibits novel features, such as the weakening of the gravity in the infrared, suggesting de-gravitation of the cosmological constant.

Kaluza Klein reduction of supersymmetric Fierz-Pauli

We motivate the idea of constructing a supersymmetric model of New Massive Gravity without higher derivatives. We show how to construct explicitly the linerized, massive, off-shell, spin 2, three dimensional N = 1 supermultiplet. We comment about its massless limit.

Inhomogeneity simplified

We study models of translational symmetry breaking in which inhomogeneous matter field profiles can be engineered in such a way that black brane metrics remain isotropic and homogeneous. We explore novel Lagrangians involving square root terms and show how these are related to massive gravity models and to tensionless limits of branes. Analytic expressions for the DC conductivity and for the low frequency scaling of the optical conductivity in phenomenological models are derived, and the optical conductivity is studied in detail numerically. The square root Lagrangians are associated with linear growth in the DC resistivity with temperature and also lead to minima in the optical conductivity at finite frequency, suggesting that our models may capture many features of heavy fermion systems.

Matter coupling in 3D ‘minimal massive gravity’

The ‘minimal massive gravity’ model of massive gravity in three spacetime dimensions (which has the same anti-de Sitter (AdS) bulk properties as ‘topologically massive gravity’ but improved boundary properties) is coupled to matter. Consistency requires a particular matter source tensor, which is quadratic in the stress tensor. The consequences are explored for an ideal fluid in the context of asymptotically de Sitter (dS) cosmological solutions, which bounce smoothly from contraction to expansion. Various vacuum solutions are also found, including warped (A)dS, and (for special values of parameters) static black holes and an (A)dS vacuum.

Bianchi type I expanding universe in Weyl-invariant massive gravity

We will study the cosmological evolutions of a Weyl-invariant de Rham, Gabadadze, and Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity theory with a general fiducial metric. In the unitary gauge, this model is equivalent to a massive gauge field coupled to the dRGT massive gravity model. The massive gravity terms will serve as an effective cosmological constant for all metric spaces if the fiducial metric is treated as an auxiliary field. A further discussion will also be addressed on the bimetric theory. In particular, we will discuss the role played by the Weyl vector boson in Bianchi type I expanding space.

Cosmological evolutions ofF(R)nonlinear massive gravity

Recently a new extended nonlinear massive gravity model has been proposed which includes the $F(R)$ modifications to dRGT model.We follow the $F(R)$ nonlinear massive gravity and study its implications on cosmological evolutions. We derive the critical points of the cosmic system and study the corresponding kinetics by performing the phase-plane analysis.

Instability in a minimal bimetric gravity model

We discuss in detail a particularly simple example of a bimetric massive gravity model which seems to offer an alternative to the standard cosmological model at background level. For small redshifts, its equation of state is $w(z)\approx-1.22_{-0.02}^{+0.02}-0.64_{-0.04}^{+0.05}z/(1+z)$. Just like $\Lambda$CDM, it depends on a single parameter, has an analytical background expansion law and fits the expansion cosmological data well. However, confirming previous results, we find that the model is unstable at early times at small scales and speculate over possible ways to cure the instability. In the regime in which the model is stable, we find that it fits the linear perturbation observations well and has a growth index of approximately $\gamma=0.47$.

On the Vainshtein mechanism in the minimal model of massive gravity

We reinvestigate the fate of the Vainhstein mechanism in the minimal model of dRGT massive gravity. As the latter is characterised by the complete absence of interactions in the decoupling limit, we study their structure at higher energies. We show that in static spherically symmetric configurations, the lowest energy scale of interactions is pushed up to the Planck mass. This fact points towards an absence of Vainshtein mechanism in this framework, but does not prove it. By resorting to the exact vacuum equations of motion, we show that there is indeed an obstruction that precludes any recovery of General Relativity under the conditions of stationarity and spherical symmetry. However, we argue that the latter are too restrictive and might miss some important physical phenomena. Indeed, we point outthat in generic non spherically symmetric or time-dependent situations, interactions arising at energies arbitrarily close to the energy scale of the decoupling limit reappear. This leads us to question whether the small degree of spherical symmetry breaking in the solar system can be sufficient to give rise to a successful Vainshtein mechanism.

Black holes in massive conformal gravity

We analyze the classical stability of Schwarzschild black hole in massive conformal gravity which was recently proposed for another massive gravity model. This model in the Jordan frame is conformally equivalent to the Einstein–Weyl gravity in the Einstein frame. The coupled linearized Einstein equation is decomposed into the traceless and trace equation when one chooses 6m2φ=δR. Solving the traceless equation exhibits unstable modes featuring the Gregory–Laflamme s-mode instability of five-dimensional black string, while we find no unstable modes when solving the trace equation. It is shown that the instability of the black hole in massive conformal gravity arises from the massiveness where the geometry of extra dimension trades for mass.

Deconstructing dimensions and massive gravity

We show that the ghost-free models of massive gravity and their multi-graviton extensions follow from considering higher dimensional General Relativity in Einstein–Cartan form on a discrete extra dimension, according to the dimensional deconstruction paradigm. We show that dimensional deconstruction is equivalent to a truncation of the Kaluza–Klein tower at the nonlinear level. Higher dimensional gravity is not recovered from a lower dimensional multi-graviton theory in the limit of a continuous extra dimension (infinite Kaluza–Klein tower) due to the appearance of a low strong coupling scale that depends on IR physics. This strong coupling scale, which is associated with the mass of the lowest Kaluza–Klein mode, controls the onset of the Vainshtein mechanism and is crucial to the theoretical and observational viability of the truncated theory.

Note on the nonuniqueness of the massive Fierz-Pauli theory and spectator fields

It is possible to show that there are three independent families of models describing a massive spin-2 particle via a rank-2 tensor. One of them contains the massive Fierz-Pauli model, the only case described by a symmetric tensor. The three families have different local symmetries in the massless limit and can not be interconnected by any local field redefinition. We show here, however, that they can be related with the help of a decoupled and nondynamic (spectator) field. The spectator field may be either an antisymmetric tensor ${B}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}}=\ensuremath{-}{B}_{\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\mu}}$, a vector ${A}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ or a scalar field $\ensuremath{\varphi}$, corresponding to each of the three families. The addition of the extra field allows us to formulate master actions which interpolate between the symmetric Fierz-Pauli theory and the other models. We argue that massive gravity models based on the Fierz-Pauli theory are not expected to be equivalent to possible local self-interacting theories built up on top of the two new families of massive spin-2 models. The approach used here may be useful to investigate dual (nonsymmetric) formulations of higher-spin particles.

Generalized massive gravity in arbitrary dimensions and its Hamiltonian formulation

We extend the four-dimensional de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity model to a general scalar massive-tensor theory in arbitrary dimensions, coupling a dRGT massive graviton to multiple scalars and allowing for generic kinetic and mass matrix mixing between the massive graviton and the scalars, and derive its Hamiltonian formulation and associated constraint system. When passing to the Hamiltonian formulation, two different sectors arise: a general sector and a special sector. Although obtained via different ways, there are two second class constraints in either of the two sectors, eliminating the BD ghost. However, for the special sector, there are still ghost instabilities except for the case of two dimensions. In particular, for the special sector with one scalar, there is a ``second BD ghost''.

Thermodynamics of the Apparent Horizon in FRW Universe with Massive Gravity

Applying Clausius relation with energy-supply defined by the unified first law of thermodynamics formalism to the apparent horizon of a massive gravity model in cosmology proposed lately, the corrected entropic formula of the apparent horizon is obtained with the help of the modified Friedmann equations. This entropy-area relation, together with the identified Misner-Sharp internal energy, verifies the first law of thermodynamics for the apparent horizon with a volume change term for consistency. On the other hand, by means of the corrected entropy-area formula and the Clausius relation δQ = T d S, where the heat Bow δQ is the energy-supply of pure matter projecting on the vector ξ tangent to the apparent horizon and should be looked on as the amount of energy crossing the apparent horizon during the time interval dt and the temperature of the apparent horizon for energy crossing during the same interval is 1/(2πr̃A), the modified Friedmann equations governing the dynamical evolution of the universe are reproduced with the known energy density and pressure of massive graviton. The integration constant is found to correspond to a cosmological term which could be absorbed into the energy density of matter. Having established the correspondence of massive cosmology with the unified first law of thermodynamics on the apparent horizon, the validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics is also discussed by assuming the thermal equilibrium between the apparent horizon and the matter field bounded by the apparent horizon. It is found that, in the limit Hc → 0, which recovers the Minkowski reference metric solution in the fiat case, the generalized second law of thermodynamics holds if α3 + 4α4 < 0. Without this condition, even for the simplest model of dRGT massive cosmology with α3 = α4 = 0, the generalized second law of thermodynamics could be violated.

Evidence for and obstructions to nonlinear partially massless gravity

Non-linear partially massless (PM) gravity, if it exists, is a theory of massive gravity in which the graviton has four propagating degrees of freedom. In PM gravity, a scalar gauge symmetry removes one of the five modes of the massive graviton. This symmetry ties the value of the cosmological constant to the mass of the graviton, which in turn can be kept small in a technically natural way. Thus PM gravity could offer a compelling solution to the old cosmological constant problem. In this work we look for such a theory among the known ghost-free massive gravity models with a de Sitter reference metric. We find that despite the existence of strong supporting evidence for the existence of a PM theory of gravity, technical obstructions arise which preclude its formulation using the standard massive gravity framework.

Self-duality from new massive gravity holography

The holographic renormalization group (RG) flows in certain self-dual two dimensional QFT’s models are studied. They are constructed as holographic duals to specific New Massive 3d Gravity (NMG) models coupled to scalar matter with “partially self-dual” superpotentials. The standard holographic RG constructions allow us to derive the exact form of their β-functions in terms of the corresponding NMG’s domain walls solutions. By imposing invariance of the free energy, the central function and of the anomalous dimensions under specific matter field’s duality transformation, we have found the conditions on the superpotentials of two different NMG’s models, such that their dual 2d QFT’s are related by a simple strong-weak coupling transformation.

Equivalence principle violation in weakly Vainshtein-screened systems

Massive gravity, galileon and braneworld models that modify gravity to explain cosmic acceleration utilize the nonlinear field interactions of the Vainshtein mechanism to screen fifth forces in high density regimes. These source-dependent interactions cause apparent equivalence principle violations. In the weakly-screened regime violations can be especially prominent since the fifth forces are at near full strength. Since they can also be calculated perturbatively, we derive analytic solutions for illustrative cases: the motion of massive objects in compensated shells and voids and infall toward halos that are spherically symmetric. Using numerical techniques we show that these solutions are valid until the characteristic scale becomes comparable to the Vainshtein radius. We find a relative acceleration of more massive objects toward the center of a void and a reduction of the infall acceleration that increases with the mass ratio of the halos which can in principle be used to test the Vainshtein screening mechanism.

Acausality of massive gravity.

We show, by analyzing its characteristics, that the ghost-free, 5 degree of freedom, Wess-Zumino massive gravity model admits superluminal shock wave solutions and thus is acausal. Ironically, this pathology arises from the very constraint that removes the (sixth) Boulware-Deser ghost mode.