Variational and conformal structure of nonlinear metric-connection gravitational Lagrangians

DOI10.1063/1.532744MaRDI QIDQ4701905zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Spiros Cotsakis, J. Miritzis, L. Querella

Publication date 21 November 1999

Published in Journal of Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9712025

zbMATH Keywords

Einstein field equationshigher-order theories of gravityalternative variational methodsconformal equivalence theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05)

Abstract: We examine the variational and conformal structures of higher order theories of gravity which are derived from a metric-connection Lagrangian that is an arbitrary function of the curvature invariants. We show that the constrained first order formalism when applied to these theories may lead consistently to a new method of reduction of order of the associated field equations. We show that the similarity of the field equations which are derived from appropriate actions via this formalism to those produced by Hilbert varying purely metric Lagrangians is not merely formal but is implied by the diffeomorphism covariant property of the associated Lagrangians. We prove that the conformal equivalence theorem of these theories with general relativity plus a scalar field, holds in the extended framework of Weyl geometry with the same forms of field and self-interacting potential but, in addition, there is a new `source term' which plays the role of a stress. We point out how these results may be further exploited and address a number of new issues that arise from this analysis.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(18)

• The Unexpected Resurgence of Weyl Geometry in late 20th-Century Physics
• Singular sources in gravity and homotopy in the space of connections
• Nonlinear connections and nearly autoparallel maps in general relativity
• Lagrangian density and local symmetries of inhomogeneous hyperconical universes
• On the (non-)uniqueness of the Levi-Civita solution in the Einstein-Hilbert-Palatini formalism
• Double gauge invariance and covariantly-constant vector fields in Weyl geometry
• First-order equivalent to Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian
• Symmetric variations of the metric and extrema of the action for pure gravity
• Sixth-order gravity and conformal transformations
• PALATINI APPROACH TO MODIFIED GRAVITY: f(R) THEORIES AND BEYOND
• A non-trivial connection for the metric-affine Gauss-Bonnet theory in \(D = 4\)
• Legendre transformation and dynamical structure of higher-derivative gravity
• Nonlinear gravitational Lagrangians revisited
• Comparing metric and Palatini approaches to vector Horndeski theory
• Mathisson–Papapetrou equations in metric and gauge theories of gravity in a Lagrangian formulation
• Higgs inflation and teleparallel gravity
• Conformally related metrics and Lagrangians and their physical interpretation in cosmology
• Inflation with R² term in the Palatini formulation

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