Infrared Modified Gravity with Dynamical Torsion

Understand

We continue the recent study of the possibility of constructing a consistent infrared modification of gravity by treating the vierbein and connection as independent dynamical fields.

• We present the generalized Fierz--Pauli equation that governs the propagation of a massive spin-2 mode in a model of this sort in the backgrounds of arbitrary torsionless Einstein manifolds.
• We show explicitly that the number of propagating degrees of freedom in these backgrounds remains the same as in flat space-time.
• This generalizes the recent result that the Boulware--Deser phenomenon does not occur in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter backgrounds.