Fierz-Pauli theory reloaded: from a theory of a symmetric tensor field to linearized massive gravity

Understand

Modifying gravity at large distances by means of a massive graviton may explain the observed acceleration of the Universe without Dark Energy.

• The standard paradigm for Massive Gravity is the Fierz-Pauli theory, which, nonetheless, displays well known flaws in its massless limit.
• The most serious one is represented by the vDVZ discontinuity, which consists in a disagreement between the massless limit of the Fierz-Pauli theory and General Relativity.
• Our approach is based on a field theoretical treatment of Massive Gravity: General Relativity, in the weak field approximation, is treated as a gauge theory of a symmetric rank-2 tensor field.