Gravitational Physics
Causality and hyperbolicity in Lovelock gravity
Speaker: Giuseppe Papallo (University of Cambridge)
Date: Friday 11 November 2016
Time: 11.15
Venue: Chart Room (N/3.23)
Lovelock theories are a natural generalisation of General Relativity in higher dimensions. The equations of motion for these theories are, as in GR, second order in the metric. However, these equations are non-linear in the highest derivatives, giving rise to several novel phenomena (superluminal signals, shock formation…). The main question we want to answer is whether these theories are a sensible alternative to GR or should be discarded. With this question in mind, I will discuss some general properties of Lovelock theories, their causal structure and illustrate some pathologies.