David Langlois

Degenerate higher derivative theories beyond Horndeski: evading the Ostrogradski instability

Theories with higher order time derivatives generically suffer from ghost-like instabilities, known as Ostrogradski instabilities. This fate can be avoided by considering degenerate Lagrangians, whose kinetic matrix cannot be inverted, thus leading to constraints between canonical variables and a reduced number of physical degrees of freedom. In this work, we derive in a systematic way the degeneracy conditions for scalar-tensor theories that depend quadratically on second order derivatives of a scalar field. We thus obtain a classification of all degenerate theories within this class of scalar-tensor theories. The quartic Horndeski Lagrangian and its extension beyond Horndeski belong to these degenerate cases. We also identify new families of scalar-tensor theories with the intriguing property that they are degenerate despite the nondegeneracy of the purely scalar part of their Lagrangian.

Hamiltonian analysis of higher derivative scalar-tensor theories

We perform a Hamiltonian analysis of a large class of scalar-tensor Lagrangians which depend quadratically on the second derivatives of a scalar field. By resorting to a convenient choice of dynamical variables, we show that the Hamiltonian can be written in a very simple form, where the Hamiltonian and the momentum constraints are easily identified. In the case of degenerate Lagrangians, which include the Horndeski and beyond Horndeski quartic Lagrangians, our analysis confirms that the dimension of the physical phase space is reduced by the primary and secondary constraints due to the degeneracy, thus leading to the elimination of the dangerous Ostrogradski ghost. We also present the Hamiltonian formulation for nondegenerate theories and find that they contain four degrees of freedom, as expected. We finally discuss the status of the unitary gauge from the Hamiltonian perspective.

Influence of heavy modes on perturbations in multiple field inflation

We investigate linear cosmological perturbations in multiple field inflationary models where some of the directions are light while others are heavy (with respect to the Hubble parameter). By integrating out the massive degrees of freedom, we determine the multi-dimensional effective theory for the light degrees of freedom and give explicitly the propagation matrix that replaces the effective sound speed of the one-dimensional case. We then examine in detail the consequences of a sudden turn along the inflationary trajectory, in particular the possible breakdown of the low energy effective theory in case the heavy modes are excited. Resorting to a new basis in field space, instead of the usual adiabatic/entropic basis, we study the evolution of the perturbations during the turn. In particular, we compute the power spectrum and compare with the result obtained from the low energy effective theory.

Degenerate higher order scalar-tensor theories beyond Horndeski up to cubic order

A bstractWe present all scalar-tensor Lagrangians that are cubic in second derivatives of a scalar field, and that are degenerate, hence avoiding Ostrogradsky instabilities. Thanks to the existence of constraints, they propagate no more than three degrees of freedom, despite having higher order equations of motion. We also determine the viable combinations of previously identified quadratic degenerate Lagrangians and the newly established cubic ones. Finally, we study whether the new theories are connected to known scalar-tensor theories such as Horndeski and beyond Horndeski, through conformal or disformal transformations.

Oscillatory features in the curvature power spectrum after a sudden turn of the inflationary trajectory

In the context of two-field inflation characterized by a light direction and a heavy direction, we revisit the question of the impact of the massive modes on the power spectrum produced after a turn in the inflationary trajectory. We consider in particular the resonant effect due to the background oscillations following a sharp turn. Working in the mass basis, i.e. in the basis spanned by the eigenvectors of the effective mass matrix for the perturbations, we provide an analytical estimate of the resonant effect, using the in-in formalism. In comparison with earlier estimates, we find the same the spectral dependence but a smaller amplitude. We also compute, again via the in-in formalism, the effect of the direct coupling between the light and heavy modes at the instant of the turn and confirm our previous results obtained via a different method.

Healthy degenerate theories with higher derivatives

In the context of classical mechanics, we study the conditions under which higher-order derivative theories can evade the so-called Ostrogradsky instability. More precisely, we consider general Lagrangians with second order time derivatives, of the form

Relativistic Stars in Beyond Horndeski Theories

L(ddotphi^a,dotphi^a,phi^a;dot q^i,q^i)

Effective description of higher-order scalar-tensor theories

with

Isocurvature modes in the CMB bispectrum

a = 1,cdots, n

Effective loop quantum cosmology as a higher-derivative scalar-tensor theory

and