Exploring Cartan gravity with dynamical symmetry breaking

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/31/9/095004zbMATH Open1294.83081arXiv1302.1103OpenAlexW3105913636MaRDI QIDQ4979686FDOQ4979686

Authors: Hans F. Westman, Tom G. Zlosnik 

Publication date: 19 June 2014

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

Abstract: It has been known for some time that General Relativity can be regarded as a Yang-Mills-type gauge theory in a symmetry broken phase. In this picture the gravity sector is described by an $SO(1,4)$ or $SO(2,3)$ gauge field $A_{phantomabmu}^a$ and Higgs field $V^a$ which acts to break the symmetry down to that of the Lorentz group $SO(1,3)$. This symmetry breaking mirrors that of electroweak theory. However, a notable difference is that while the Higgs field $Phi$ of electroweak theory is taken as a genuine dynamical field satisfying a Klein-Gordon equation, the gauge independent norm $V^{2}equivet{a}_{ab}{V}^a{V}^b$ of the Higgs-type field $V^a$ is typically regarded as non-dynamical. Instead, in many treatments $V^a$ does not appear explicitly in the formalism or is required to satisfy $V^2=mathrmconst.eq0$ by means of a Lagrangian constraint. As an alternative to this we propose a class of polynomial actions that treat both the gauge connection $A_{phantomabmu}^a$ and Higgs field $V^a$ as genuine dynamical fields with no ad-hoc constraints imposed. The resultant equations of motion consist of a set of first-order partial differential equations. We show that for certain actions these equations may be cast in a second-order form, corresponding to a scalar-tensor model of gravity. One simple choice leads to the extensively studied Peebles-Ratra rolling quintessence model. Another choice yields a scalar-tensor symmetry broken phase of the theory with positive cosmological constant and an effective mass $M$ of the gravitational Higgs field ensuring the constancy of $V^2$ at low energies and agreement with empirical data if $M$ is sufficiently large. More general cases are discussed corresponding to variants of Chern-Simons modified gravity and scalar-Euler form gravity, each of which yield propagating torsion.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1302.1103

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zbMATH Keywords

symmetry breakingKlein-Gordon equationCartan geometrygauge gravityCartan gravityYang-Mills-type gauge

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Wave equation (35L05) Special connections and metrics on vector bundles (Hermite-Einstein, Yang-Mills) (53C07) Quantum field theory on curved space or space-time backgrounds (81T20) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05) Dynamical systems in other branches of physics (quantum mechanics, general relativity, laser physics) (37N20)

Cited In (6)

• DYNAMICALLY BROKEN ANTI-DE SITTER ACTION FOR GRAVITY
• Comments on the symmetry breaking condition in MacDowell–Mansouri action
• A first-order approach to conformal gravity
• Gravity and unification: a review
• On the covariance of teleparallel gravity theories
• Superconducting and antiferromagnetic phases of space-time

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