2016/01/15 by Clifford Cheung, Grant N. Remmen · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/jhep04(2016)002
published as JHEP 1604:002,2016 · 19 pages, 3 figures; supplementary file with full scattering amplitude is attached separately
arxiv created 2016/01/15 · arxiv updated 2016/04/05
We derive new constraints on massive gravity from unitarity and analyticity of scattering amplitudes. Our results apply to a general effective theory defined by Einstein gravity plus the leading soft diffeomorphism-breaking corrections. We calculate scattering amplitudes for all combinations of tensor, vector, and scalar polarizations. The high-energy behavior of these amplitudes prescribes a specific choice of couplings that ameliorates the ultraviolet cutoff, in agreement with existing literature. We then derive consistency conditions from analytic dispersion relations, which dictate positivity of certain combinations of parameters appearing in the forward scattering amplitudes. These constraints exclude all but a small island in the parameter space of ghost-free massive gravity. While the theory of the "Galileon" scalar mode alone is known to be inconsistent with positivity constraints, this is remedied in the full massive gravity theory.