Nonlinear gravitational Lagrangians (Q580758)

The authors extend the procedure of defining a symmetric tensor \(g_{\alpha \beta}\) as a part of the momentum conjugated to the dynamical connection \(\Gamma\), to the case of purely metric theories, with Lagrangian of the form \(L(R,g_{\alpha \beta},\phi^ A,\phi^ A,\mu)\), by assuming that the metric \(g_{\alpha \beta}\) entering in the Lagrangian may not be the correct gravitational field, which is instead defined by \[ \bar g^{\beta \nu}=(\partial L/\partial R_{\beta \nu})\quad | \det (\partial L/\partial R_{\rho \sigma})|^{-}. \] \(\phi^ A\) denotes an arbitrary set of external fields of any tensorial or spinorial character, which interact with metric field \(g_{\alpha \beta}.\) The proper geometrical description of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulation in relation to this problem are investigated. It is shown that, subject to certain regularity conditions, `Alternative gravitational theories' based on Lagrangian densities that depend nonlinearly on the Ricci tensor of the metric are equivalent, from the Hamiltonian point of view, to the standard Einstein theory for the new metric \(\bar g{}_{\alpha \beta}\). This procedure allows a precise interpretation of some known results about the Weyl theory and of some earlier calculations by Higgs in the metric-affine context.