arXiv subjects

Alain Maltais-Gosselin

Publications and source records attributed to Alain Maltais-Gosselin.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Towards a causal effective thermodynamics of scalar-tensor gravity

The thermal analogy between the effective fluid of scalar-tensor gravity and Eckart's irreversible thermodynamics is extended to the causal Israel-Stewart model, adopting the minimal ansatz of promoting the heat flux density to a timelike vector. This choice yields analytically manageable constitutive equations, allowing for the first consistent decoupling of the effective temperature $\mathcal{T}$ and the effective thermal conductivity $\mathcal{K}$ of scalar-tensor gravity. Crucially, this new framework preserves the interpretation of general relativity as the equilibrium state approached via a dynamical relaxation process in the vanishing-$\mathcal {KT}$ limit. This new causal formalism is applied to cosmology.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

New interpretation of the Minkowski limit of $R^2$ gravity

It is well-established that the Minkowski limit of pure $f(R)=R^2$ gravity breaks down, unlike that of full Starobinsky theory $f(R)=R+αR^2$. We provide a novel interpretation of this phenomenon using the recent thermal analogy between scalar-tensor gravity and Eckart's relativistic dissipative fluids. In this framework, we show that approaching the Minkowski background corresponds to a diverging effective ``gravitational temperature''. This perspective naturally rephrases the strong coupling problem as a thermal singularity, demonstrating that $R^2$ gravity departs infinitely far from General Relativity rather than recovering it.

gr-qc↗