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Title: Ostrogradsky in theories with multiple fields

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [1]
  1. Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States). CERCA, Department of Physics

We review how the (absence of) Ostrogradsky instability manifests itself in theories with multiple fields. It has recently been appreciated that when multiple fields are present, the existence of higher derivatives may not automatically imply the existence of ghosts. We discuss the connection with gravitational theories like massive gravity and beyond Horndeski which manifest higher derivatives in some formulations and yet are free of Ostrogradsky ghost. We also examine an interesting new class of Extended Scalar-Tensor Theories of gravity which has been recently proposed. We show that for a subclass of these theories, the tensor modes are either not dynamical or are infinitely strongly coupled. Among the remaining theories for which the tensor modes are well-defined one counts one new model that is not field-redefinable to Horndeski via a conformal and disformal transformation but that does require the vacuum to break Lorentz invariance. We discuss the implications for the effective field theory of dark energy and the stability of the theory. In particular we find that if we restrict ourselves to the Extended Scalar-Tensor class of theories for which the tensors are well-behaved and the scalar is free from gradient or ghost instabilities on FLRW then we recover Horndeski up to field redefinitions.

Research Organization:
Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0009946
OSTI ID:
1434604
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2016, Issue 06; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 71 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (55)

EFT of interacting spin-2 fields journal January 2020
A geometrical approach to degenerate scalar-tensor theories journal February 2017
On the (A)dS decoupling limits of massive gravity journal September 2018
Degenerate higher order scalar-tensor theories beyond Horndeski up to cubic order journal December 2016
Alive and well: mimetic gravity and a higher-order extension in light of GW170817 journal December 2018
A new scalar–tensor realization of Hořava–Lifshitz gravity journal March 2019
Horndeski theory and beyond: a review journal July 2019
Extended vector-tensor theories journal January 2017
Effective description of higher-order scalar-tensor theories journal May 2017
Higher derivative scalar-tensor theory through a non-dynamical scalar field journal March 2019
Spatially covariant gravity with velocity of the lapse function: the Hamiltonian analysis journal May 2019
Testing modified gravity at cosmological distances with LISA standard sirens journal July 2019
Vainshtein regime in scalar-tensor gravity: Constraints on degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor theories journal July 2019
Linear stability analysis of hairy black holes in quadratic degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor theories: Odd-parity perturbations journal July 2019
Two-form gauge theory dual to scalar-tensor theory journal October 2019
Perturbations of stealth black holes in degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor theories journal December 2019
Cosmological self-tuning and local solutions in generalized Horndeski theories journal January 2017
Vainshtein mechanism after GW170817 journal January 2018
Beyond Lovelock gravity: Higher derivative metric theories journal February 2018
Relativistic stars in degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor theories after GW170817 journal May 2018
Generalized instantaneous modes in higher-order scalar-tensor theories journal October 2018
Hamiltonian unboundedness vs stability with an application to Horndeski theory journal November 2018
Spatially covariant gravity: Perturbative analysis and field transformations journal May 2019
Dark Energy After GW170817: Dead Ends and the Road Ahead journal December 2017
Stability of Black Holes and the Speed of Gravitational Waves within Self-Tuning Cosmological Models journal June 2018
Hořava gravity at a Lifshitz point: A progress report journal February 2017
Gravity beyond general relativity journal November 2018
Dark energy and modified gravity in degenerate higher-order scalar–tensor (DHOST) theories: A review journal April 2019
Static spherically symmetric solutions in a subclass of Horndeski theories of gravity journal August 2018
Degenerate higher order scalar-tensor theories beyond Horndeski up to cubic order text January 2016
Dark Energy after GW170817: dead ends and the road ahead text January 2017
Vainshtein mechanism after GW170817 text January 2017
Stability of a black hole and the speed of gravity waves within self-tuning cosmological models text January 2017
Relativistic stars in degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor theories after GW170817 text January 2018
Static Spherically Symmetric solutions in a subclass of Horndeski theories of gravity text January 2018
Higher derivative scalar-tensor theory through a non-dynamical scalar field text January 2018
EFT of Interacting Spin-2 Fields text January 2019
Inequivalent Goldstone hierarchies for spontaneously broken spacetime symmetries journal March 2020
Gravitational positivity bounds journal November 2020
Effective loop quantum cosmology as a higher-derivative scalar-tensor theory journal October 2017
Beyond Horndeski interactions induced by quantum effects journal December 2021
Caustics for Spherical Waves text January 2016
An effective description of dark energy: from theory to phenomenology preprint January 2017
Mimetic gravity as DHOST theories text January 2018
Dark Energy and Modified Gravity in Degenerate Higher-Order Scalar-Tensor (DHOST) theories: a review text January 2018
Alive and well: mimetic gravity and a higher-order extension in light of GW170817 text January 2018
On the screening mechanism in DHOST theories evading gravitational wave constraints text January 2019
2-form gauge theory dual to scalar-tensor theory text January 2019
Perturbations of Stealth Black Holes in DHOST Theories text January 2019
New class of Proca interactions text January 2020
Ghost condensation and Ostrogradskian instability on low derivative backgrounds preprint January 2020
Quadratic DHOST theories revisited text January 2020
Perturbations and quasi-normal modes of black holes with time-dependent scalar hair in shift-symmetric scalar-tensor theories text January 2021
New effective theories of gravitation and their phenomenological consequences text January 2021
Cosmic structures in Ricci-inverse theories of gravity preprint January 2021

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