A first-order approach to conformal gravity

DOI10.1088/1361-6382/AA944FzbMATH Open1381.83113arXiv1601.00567OpenAlexW3106134941MaRDI QIDQ4601780FDOQ4601780

Authors: Hans F. Westman, Tom G. Zlosnik 

Publication date: 24 January 2018

Published in: Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We investigate whether a spontaneously-broken gauge theory of the group $SU(2,2)$ may be a genuine competitor to General Relativity. The basic ingredients of the theory are an $SU(2,2)$ gauge field $A_{mu}$ and a Higgs field $W$ in the adjoint representation of the group with the Higgs field producing the symmetry breaking $SU(2,2)ightarrowSO(1,3)imesSO(1,1)$. The action for gravity is polynomial in $A_{mu},W$ and the field equations are first-order in derivatives of these fields. The new $SO(1,1)$ symmetry in the gravitational sector is interpreted in terms of an emergent scale symmetry and the recovery of conformalized General Relativity and fourth-order Weyl conformal gravity as limits of the theory- following imposition of Lagrangian constraints- is demonstrated. Maximally symmetric spacetime solutions to the full theory are found and stability of the theory around these solutions is investigated; it is shown that regions of the theory's parameter space describe perturbations identical to that of General Relativity coupled to a massive scalar field and a massless one-form field. The coupling of gravity to matter is considered and it is shown that actions for all fields are naturally gauge-invariant, polynomial in fields and yield first-order field equations; no auxiliary fields are introduced. Familiar Yang-Mills and Klein-Gordon type Lagrangians are recovered on-shell in the General-Relativistic limit of the theory. In this formalism, the General-Relativistic limit and the breaking of scale invariance appear as two sides of the same coin and it is shown that the latter generates mass terms for Higgs and spinor fields.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1601.00567

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zbMATH Keywords

modified gravityfirst-order approachconformal gravitygauge gravityspontaneously-broken gauge theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) Symmetry breaking in quantum theory (81R40) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in quantum field theory (81T13) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05)

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Cited In (11)

• First-order minisuperspace model for the Faddeev formulation of gravity
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Exploring Cartan gravity with dynamical symmetry breaking
• Gravity and unification: a review
• An integrable geometrical foundation of gravity
• On the covariance of teleparallel gravity theories
• First-order representation of the Faddeev formulation of gravity
• First-order action and Euclidean quantum gravity
• Generalized cosmological constant from gauging Maxwell-conformal algebra
• Toward understanding the conformal gravity
• \( \mathcal{N} = 2\) extended Macdowell-Mansouri supergravity

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