Published February 3, 2017
| Version Submitted + Published
Journal Article
Open
Positivity of Curvature-Squared Corrections in Gravity
Abstract
We study the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) term as the leading higher-curvature correction to pure Einstein gravity. Assuming a tree-level ultraviolet completion free of ghosts or tachyons, we prove that the GB term has a nonnegative coefficient in dimensions greater than 4. Our result follows from unitarity of the spectral representation for a general ultraviolet completion of the GB term.
Additional Information
© 2017 American Physical Society. Received 18 August 2016; published 1 February 2017. We thank Brando Bellazzini and Matt Reece for useful discussions and comments. C. C. is supported by a Sloan Research Fellowship and a DOE Early Career Award under Grant No. DE-SC0010255. G. N. R. is supported by a Hertz Graduate Fellowship and a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1144469.Attached Files
Published - PhysRevLett.118.051601.pdf
Submitted - 1608.02942v1.pdf
Files
1608.02942v1.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 69674
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20160816-124613907
Related works
- Describes
- http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.02942 (URL)
Funding
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- DE-SC0010255
- Fannie and John Hertz Foundation
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- DGE-1144469
Dates
- Created
-
2016-08-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Caltech groups
- Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics
- Other Numbering System Name
- CALT-TH
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 2016-18