Fully Covariant Van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov Discontinuity, and Absence Thereof

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dc.creatorPorrati, M.
dc.date2002-03-01
dc.date2002-04-12
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:34:12Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:34:12Z
dc.descriptionIn both old and recent literature, it has been argued that the celebrated van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov (vDVZ) discontinuity of massive gravity is an artifact due to linearization of the true equations of motion. In this letter, we investigate that claim. First, we exhibit an explicit -albeit somewhat arbitrary- fully covariant set of equations of motion that, upon linearization, reduce to the standard Pauli-Fierz equations. We show that the vDVZ discontinuity still persists in that non-linear, covariant theory. Then, we restrict our attention to a particular system that consistently incorporates massive gravity: the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model. DGP is fully covariant and does not share the arbitrariness and imperfections of our previous covariantization, and its linearization exhibits a vDVZ discontinuity. Nevertheless, we explicitly show that the discontinuity does disappear in the fully covariant theory, and we explain the reason for this phenomenon.
dc.descriptionInconsequential mistakes in Eqs. (12,13,20) corrected. 10 pages, Latex. To appear in Physics Letters B
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0203014
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0203014
dc.identifierPhys.Lett.B534:209-215,2002
dc.identifierdoi:10.1016/S0370-2693(02)01656-8
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/179393
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleFully Covariant Van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov Discontinuity, and Absence Thereof
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