We study a large family of metric-affine theories with a projective symmetry, including non-minimally coupled matter fields which respect this invariance. The symmetry is straightforwardly realised by imposing that the connection only enters through the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor, even in the matter sector. We leave the connection completely free (including torsion), and obtain its general solution as the Levi-Civita connection of an auxiliary metric, showing that the torsion only appears as a projective mode. This result justifies the widely used condition of setting vanishing torsion in these theories as a simple gauge choice. We apply our results to some particular cases considered in the literature, including the so-called Eddington-inspired-Born–Infeld theories among others. We finally discuss the possibility of imposing a gauge fixing where the connection is metric compatible, and comment on the genuine character of the non-metricity in theories where the two metrics are not conformally related.
Exploring the characterization of singular black hole spacetimes, we study the relation between energy density, curvature invariants, and geodesic completeness using a quadratic gravity theory coupled to an anisotropic fluid. Working in a metric-affine approach, our models and solutions represent minimal extensions of general relativity (GR) in the sense that they rapidly recover the usual Reissner-Nordström solution from near the inner horizon outwards. The anisotropic fluid helps modify only the innermost geometry. Depending on the values and signs of two parameters on the gravitational and matter sectors, a breakdown of the correlations between the finiteness/divergence of the energy density, the behavior of curvature invariants, and the (in)completeness of geodesics is obtained. We find a variety of configurations with and without wormholes, a case with a de Sitter interior, solutions that mimic nonlinear models of electrodynamics coupled to GR, and configurations with up to four horizons. Our results raise questions regarding what infinities, if any, a quantum version of these theories should regularize.
In this article we construct cylindrical thin-shell wormholes in the context of global cosmic strings. We study the stability of static configurations under perturbations preserving the symmetry and we find that the throat tends to collapse or expand, depending only on the direction of the velocity perturbation.
4 December 2017 in The European Physical Journal C
We show that McVittie geometry, which describes a black hole embedded in a FLRW universe, not only solves the Einstein equations but also remains as a non-deformable solution of f(T) gravity. This search for GR solutions that survive in f(T) gravity is facilitated by a null tetrad approach. We also show that flat FLRW geometry is a consistent solution of f(T) dynamical equations not only for \(T=-6H^{2}\) but also for \(T=0\), which could be a manifestation of the additional degrees of freedom involved in f(T) theories.
We review the current status of the Lorentz covariance in teleparallel and modified teleparallel theories of gravity, and discuss the controversial features of the different approaches. We also revisit the issue of the remnant Lorentz gauge symmetries in gravity.
17 February 2015 in The European Physical Journal C
Null tetrads are shown to be a valuable tool in teleparallel theories of modified gravity. We use them to prove that Kerr geometry remains a solution for a wide family of \(f(T)\) theories of gravity.