2,118 research outputs found
Gauge Symmetry and Consistent Spin-Two Theories
We study Lagrangians with the minimal amount of gauge symmetry required to
propagate spin-two particles without ghosts or tachyons. In general, these
Lagrangians also have a scalar mode in their spectrum. We find that, in two
cases, the symmetry can be enhanced to a larger group: the whole group of
diffeomorphisms or a enhancement involving a Weyl symmetry. We consider the
non-linear completions of these theories. The intuitive completions yield the
usual scalar-tensor theories except for the pure spin-two cases, which
correspond to two inequivalent Lagrangians giving rise to Einstein's equations.
A more constructive self-consistent approach yields a background dependent
Lagrangian.Comment: 7 pages, proceedings of IRGAC'06; typo correcte
Comment on `Strong coupling in extended Horava-Lifshitz gravity'
We show that, contrary to the claim made in arXiv:0911.1299, the extended
Horava gravity model proposed in arXiv:0909.3525 does not suffer from a strong
coupling problem. By studying the observational constraints on the model we
determine the bounds on the scale of the ultraviolet modification for which the
proposal yields a phenomenologically viable, renormalizable and weakly coupled
model of quantum gravity.Comment: A footnote discussing the absence of fine-tuning is adde
The good, the bad and the ugly .... of Horava gravity
I review the good, the bad and the ugly of the non-projectable versions of
Horava gravity. I explain how this non-relativistic theory was constructed and
why it was touted with such excitement as a quantum theory of gravity. I then
review some of the issues facing the theory, explaining how strong coupling
occurs and why this is such a problem for both phenomenology and the question
of renormalisability. Finally I comment on possible violations of Equivalence
Principle, and explain why these could be an issue for Blas et al's "healthy
extension". This paper was presented as a talk at PASCOS 2010 in Valencia.Comment: 7 page
Testing Lorentz invariance of dark matter
We study the possibility to constrain deviations from Lorentz invariance in
dark matter (DM) with cosmological observations. Breaking of Lorentz invariance
generically introduces new light gravitational degrees of freedom, which we
represent through a dynamical timelike vector field. If DM does not obey
Lorentz invariance, it couples to this vector field. We find that this coupling
affects the inertial mass of small DM halos which no longer satisfy the
equivalence principle. For large enough lumps of DM we identify a (chameleon)
mechanism that restores the inertial mass to its standard value. As a
consequence, the dynamics of gravitational clustering are modified. Two
prominent effects are a scale dependent enhancement in the growth of large
scale structure and a scale dependent bias between DM and baryon density
perturbations. The comparison with the measured linear matter power spectrum in
principle allows to bound the departure from Lorentz invariance of DM at the
per cent level.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figure
Bigravity and Lorentz-violating Massive Gravity
Bigravity is a natural arena where a non-linear theory of massive gravity can
be formulated. If the interaction between the metrics and is
non-derivative, spherically symmetric exact solutions can be found. At large
distances from the origin, these are generically Lorentz-breaking bi-flat
solutions (provided that the corresponding vacuum energies are adjusted
appropriately). The spectrum of linearized perturbations around such
backgrounds contains a massless as well as a massive graviton, with {\em two}
physical polarizations each. There are no propagating vectors or scalars, and
the theory is ghost free (as happens with certain massive gravities with
explicit breaking of Lorentz invariance). At the linearized level, corrections
to GR are proportional to the square of the graviton mass, and so there is no
vDVZ discontinuity. Surprisingly, the solution of linear theory for a static
spherically symmetric source does {\em not} agree with the linearization of any
of the known exact solutions. The latter coincide with the standard
Schwarzschild-(A)dS solutions of General Relativity, with no corrections at
all. Another interesting class of solutions is obtained where and are
proportional to each other. The case of bi-de Sitter solutions is analyzed in
some detail.Comment: 25 pages. v3 Typos corrected, references added. v4 Introduction
extende
Cosmological constraints on Lorentz violating dark energy
The role of Lorentz invariance as a fundamental symmetry of nature has been
lately reconsidered in different approaches to quantum gravity. It is thus
natural to study whether other puzzles of physics may be solved within these
proposals. This may be the case for the cosmological constant problem. Indeed,
it has been shown that breaking Lorentz invariance provides Lagrangians that
can drive the current acceleration of the universe without experiencing large
corrections from ultraviolet physics. In this work, we focus on the simplest
model of this type, called ThetaCDM, and study its cosmological implications in
detail. At the background level, this model cannot be distinguished from
LambdaCDM. The differences appear at the level of perturbations. We show that
in ThetaCDM, the spectrum of CMB anisotropies and matter fluctuations may be
affected by a rescaling of the gravitational constant in the Poisson equation,
by the presence of extra contributions to the anisotropic stress, and finally
by the existence of extra clustering degrees of freedom. To explore these
modifications accurately, we modify the Boltzmann code CLASS. We then use the
parameter inference code Monte Python to confront ThetaCDM with data from
WMAP-7, SPT and WiggleZ. We obtain strong bounds on the parameters accounting
for deviations from LambdaCDM. In particular, we find that the discrepancy
between the gravitational constants appearing in the Poisson and Friedmann
equations is constrained at the level 1.8%.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Quantum technologies for fundamental (HE) physics
In this brief contribution I will highlight some directions where the
developments in the frontier of (quantum) metrology may be key for fundamental
high energy physics (HEP). I will focus on the detection of dark matter and
gravitational waves, and introduce ideas from atomic clocks and magnetometers,
large atomic interferometers and detection of small fields in electromagnetic
cavities. Far from being comprehensive, this contribution is an invitation to
everyone in the HEP and quantum technologies communities to explore this
fascinating topic.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of The European Physical Society
Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP2023), 21-25 August 2023, Hamburg,
Germany. Comments welcome
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