Indistinguishable macroscopic behaviour of Palatini gravities and general relativity

Li, B.; Mota, D.F.; Shaw, D.J.

Abstract

We show that, within some modified gravity theories, such as the Palatini models, the nonlinear nature of the field equations implies that the usual naïve averaging procedure (replacing the microscopic energy–momentum by its cosmological average) could be invalid. As a consequence, the relative motion of particles in Palatini theories is actually indistinguishable from that predicted by general relativity. Moreover, there is no WEP violation. Our new and most important result is that the cosmology and astrophysics, or put more generally, the behaviours on macroscopic scales, predicted by these two theories are the same, and as a result the naturalness problems associated with the cosmological constant are not alleviated. Palatini gravity does however predict alterations to the internal structure of particles and the particle physics laws, e.g., corrections to the hydrogen energy levels. Measurements of which place strong constraints on the properties of viable Palatini gravities.

Citation

Li, B., Mota, D., & Shaw, D. (2009). Indistinguishable macroscopic behaviour of Palatini gravities and general relativity. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 26(5), https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/26/5/055018

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 7, 2009
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: May 8, 2014
• Journal: Classical and Quantum Gravity
• Print ISSN: 0264-9381
• Electronic ISSN: 1361-6382
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/26/5/055018