Gravitational Cheshire effect: Nonminimally coupled scalar fields may not curve spacetime

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dc.creatorAyón-Beato, Eloy
dc.creatorMartínez, Cristián
dc.creatorTroncoso, Ricardo
dc.creatorZanelli, Jorge
dc.date2005-05-10
dc.date2005-06-07
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T04:18:19Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T04:18:19Z
dc.descriptionIt is shown that flat spacetime can be dressed with a real scalar field that satisfies the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation without curving spacetime. Surprisingly, this possibility arises from the nonminimal coupling of the scalar field with the curvature, since a footprint of the coupling remains in the energy-momentum tensor even when gravity is switched off. Requiring the existence of solutions with vanishing energy-momentum tensor fixes the self-interaction potential as a local function of the scalar field depending on two coupling constants. The solutions describe shock waves and, in the Euclidean continuation, instanton configurations in any dimension. As a consequence of this effect, the tachyonic solutions of the free massive Klein-Gordon equation become part of the vacuum.
dc.description8 pages, 1 figure, CECS style; small changes to match published version, title changed by journal
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0505086
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0505086
dc.identifierPhys.Rev. D71 (2005) 104037
dc.identifierdoi:10.1103/PhysRevD.71.104037
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/53130
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.titleGravitational Cheshire effect: Nonminimally coupled scalar fields may not curve spacetime
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