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Main Authors: Ganz, Alexander, Spinelli, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.19101
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author Ganz, Alexander
Spinelli, Marco
author_facet Ganz, Alexander
Spinelli, Marco
contents We revisit the framework of Newer General Relativity, defined by all independent quadratic invariants of the non-metricity tensor, including the unique quadratic parity-violating term. We analyze linear perturbations around a flat FLRW background and find that the theory generically exhibits ghost instabilities and/ or propagates more degrees of freedom than in the Minkowski limit, signalling strong coupling. There are two notable exceptions: the Symmetric Teleparallel Equivalent of General Relativity (STEGR) and the transverse-diffeomorphism-invariant gravity subclass, both of which are supplemented by the parity-violating operator. However, since the parity-violating term explicitly breaks (transverse) diffeomorphism invariance, we show, using both the Dirac-Bergmann procedure and the Cartan-Kuranishi algorithm, that the parity-violating extension of STEGR propagates eight degrees of freedom at the fully non-linear level.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_19101
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ghost instabilities and strong coupling in quadratic non-metricity theories
Ganz, Alexander
Spinelli, Marco
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Theory
We revisit the framework of Newer General Relativity, defined by all independent quadratic invariants of the non-metricity tensor, including the unique quadratic parity-violating term. We analyze linear perturbations around a flat FLRW background and find that the theory generically exhibits ghost instabilities and/ or propagates more degrees of freedom than in the Minkowski limit, signalling strong coupling. There are two notable exceptions: the Symmetric Teleparallel Equivalent of General Relativity (STEGR) and the transverse-diffeomorphism-invariant gravity subclass, both of which are supplemented by the parity-violating operator. However, since the parity-violating term explicitly breaks (transverse) diffeomorphism invariance, we show, using both the Dirac-Bergmann procedure and the Cartan-Kuranishi algorithm, that the parity-violating extension of STEGR propagates eight degrees of freedom at the fully non-linear level.
title Ghost instabilities and strong coupling in quadratic non-metricity theories
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.19101