13–24 Mar 2017
Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University
Europe/Berlin timezone

Recent progress in higher-derivative gravity theories

17 Mar 2017, 14:00
1h
02.430 (Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University)

02.430

Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University

Staudingerweg 9 / 2nd floor, 55128 Mainz

Speaker

Prof. Ilya Shapiro (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora)

Description

Recently there were some advances in the higher-derivative gravity theories and my purpose is to give the brief survey of our results. First of all, it was shown that the theory with six or more derivatives in the action, which has only complex ghost-like poles, has a unitary S-matrix in the Lee-Wick sense. Second, it was shown that in this class of theories the magnitudes of the masses of the ghost-like states can not be reduced by a gravitational version of the see-saw mechanism. Third, even if the masses are huge, there may be a chance to design an indirect texts for higher derivatives from the astrophysical observations.
Overview or Regular Talk? Regular: 45 min.

Primary author

Prof. Ilya Shapiro (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora)

Presentation materials