Nonlocal gravity with worldline inversion symmetry

Abstract

We construct a quadratic curvature theory of gravity whose graviton propagator around the Minkowski background respects wordline inversion symmetry, the particle approximation to modular invariance in string theory. This symmetry automatically yields a corresponding gravitational theory that is nonlocal, with the action containing infinite order differential operators. As a consequence, despite being a higher order derivative theory, it is ghost-free and has no degrees of freedom besides the massless spin-$2$ graviton of Einstein's general relativity. By working in the linearised regime we show that the point-like singularities that afflict the (local) Einstein's theory are smeared out.

16 pages, 1 figure

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Impulsive waves in ghost free infinite derivative gravity in anti-de Sitter spacetime
• Light bending by a slowly rotating source in quadratic theories of gravity