Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: We investigate a systematic formulation of vector-tensor theories based on the effective field theory (EFT) approach. The input of our EFT is that the spacetime symmetry is spontaneously broken by the existence of a preferred timelike direction in accordance with the cosmological principle. After clarifying the difference of the symmetry breaking pattern from the conventional EFT of inflation/dark energy, we find an EFT description of vector-tensor theories around the cosmological background. This approach not only serves as a unified description of vector-tensor theories but also highlights universal differences between the scalar-tensor theories and the vector-tensor theories. The theories having different symmetry breaking patterns are distinguished by a phenomenological function and consistency relations between the EFT coefficients. We study the linear cosmological perturbations within our EFT framework and discuss the characteristic properties of the vector-tensor theories in the context of dark energy. In particular, we compute the effective gravitational coupling and the slip parameter for the matter density contrast in terms of the EFT coefficients.
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Exploring physics in the strong gravity regime with modified gravity, Extended theories of gravity from fundamental physics and their observational tests, G2244436429, G2336639787, G3573876883, Exploring fundamental variables of gravity through early universe observations, Probing Modified Gravity and Non-Abelian Gauge Fields by Gravitational Waves, Gravity and cosmology beyond general relativity, G7909253532, G8157362042
OpenAlex ID: W3211980691