Gravitational Cherenkov Radiation from Extended Theories of Gravity

Abstract

We linearize the field equations for higher order theories of gravity that contain scalar invariants other than the Ricci scalar. We find that besides a massless spin-2 field (the standard graviton), the theory contains also spin-0 and spin-2 massive modes with the latter being, in general, ghost modes. The rate at which such particles would emit gravitational Cherenkov radiation is calculated for some interesting physical cases.

6 pages, to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett. A. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0911.3094, arXiv:1105.6193

References in corpus (4)

• Unified cosmic history in modified gravity: from F(R) theory to Lorentz non-invariant models
• Extended Theories of Gravity and their Cosmological and Astrophysical Applications
• Ghost Constraints on Modified Gravity
• Higher-order gravity and the cosmological background of gravitational waves

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Tests of Lorentz symmetry in the gravitational sector
• Signals for Lorentz violation in gravitational waves