Scalar fields nonminimally coupled to pp waves

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.71.084004· OSTI ID:20709075

Ayon-Beato, Eloy ^[1]; Hassaiene, Mokhtar ^[2]

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1. Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS), Casilla 1469, Valdivia (Chile)
2. Instituto de Matematica y Fisica, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca (Chile)

Here, we report pp waves configurations of three-dimensional gravity for which a scalar field nonminimally coupled to them acts as a source. In absence of self-interaction the solutions are gravitational plane waves with a profile fixed in terms of the scalar wave. In the self-interacting case, only power-law potentials parameterized by the nonminimal coupling constant are allowed by the field equations. In contrast with the free case the self-interacting scalar field does not behave like a wave since it depends only on the wave-front coordinate. We address the same problem when gravitation is governed by topologically massive gravity and the source is a free scalar field. From the pp waves derived in this case, we obtain at the zero topological mass limit, new pp waves solutions of conformal gravity for any arbitrary value of the nonminimal coupling parameter. Finally, we extend these solutions to the self-interacting case of conformal gravity.

• OSTI ID: 20709075
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 71; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COUPLING
COUPLING CONSTANTS
FIELD EQUATIONS
GRAVITATION
MASS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
POTENTIALS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SCALAR FIELDS
SCALARS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TOPOLOGY