2017/01/04 by Spyridon Talaganis, Talaganis, Spyridon, Ali Teimouri +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Differential Geometry Research #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1701.01009
openalex publication_date 2017/01/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Typically higher-derivative theories are unstable. Instabilities manifest themselves from extra propagating degrees of freedom, which are unphysical. In this paper, we will investigate an infinite derivative field theory and study its true dynamical degrees of freedom via Hamiltonian analysis. In particular, we will show that if the infinite derivatives can be captured by a Gaussian kinetic term, i.e. exponential of entire function, then it is possible to prove that there are only finite number of dynamical degrees of freedom. We will further extend our investigation into infinite derivative theory of gravity, and in particular concentrate on ghost free and singularity free theory of gravity, which has been studied extensively in the Lagrangian approach. Here we will show from the Hamiltonian perspective that there are only finite number of degrees of freedom.