Higgs Mechanism for New Massive Gravity and Weyl Invariant Extensions of Higher Derivative Theories

Abstract

New Massive Gravity provides a non-linear extension of the Fierz-Pauli mass for gravitons in 2+1 dimensions. Here we construct a Weyl invariant version of this theory. When the Weyl symmetry is broken, the graviton gets a mass in analogy with the Higgs mechanism. In (anti)-de Sitter backgrounds, the symmetry can be broken spontaneously, but in flat backgrounds radiative corrections, at the two loop level, break the Weyl symmetry a la Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. We also construct the Weyl invariant extensions of some other higher derivative models, such as the Gauss-Bonnet theory (which reduces to the Maxwell theory in three dimensions) and the Born-Infeld type gravities.

9 pages, typos fixed, minor corrections, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Weyl-Invariant Higher Curvature Gravity Theories in n Dimensions
• Plebanski-Demianski solutions in Quadratic gravity with conformally coupled scalar fields
• Born-Infeld Gravity with a Massless Graviton in Four Dimensions
• Weyl-gauging of Topologically Massive Gravity
• Weyl-invariant Higher Curvature Gravity Theories in n Dimensions and Mass Generation by Symmetry Breaking
• The Ambiguity in the Definition and Behavior of the Gravitational and Cosmological `Coupling Constants' in the Theory of Induced Gravity
• Topologically Massive Gravity: Anyon Scattering, Weyl-Gauging and Causality