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Gauge Fixing in Higher Derivative Gravity

A. Bartoli·J. Julve·E. J. Sanchez
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Abstract

Linearized four-derivative gravity with a general gauge fixing term is considered. By a Legendre transform and a suitable diagonalization procedure it is cast into a second-order equivalent form where the nature of the physical degrees of freedom, the gauge ghosts, the Weyl ghosts, and the intriguing "third ghosts", characteristic to higher-derivative theories, is made explicit. The symmetries of the theory and the structure of the compensating Faddeev-Popov ghost sector exhibit non-trivial peculiarities.

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A. Bartoli, J. Julve, E. J. Sanchez. 1998-11-12. Gauge Fixing in Higher Derivative Gravity. https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381%2F16%2F7%2F310

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