Is there vacuum when there is mass? Vacuum and non-vacuum solutions for massive gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex relationship between vacuum and non-vacuum solutions in massive gravity, emphasizing how the choice of reference metric influences cosmological models and the role of matter in spacetime curvature.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the reference metric choice in massive gravity affects cosmological dynamics and shows that vacuum solutions can have rich structures influenced by the reference metric.

Findings

Vacuum solutions in massive gravity can have significant structure.

Matter content influences the evolution but can be overshadowed by the reference metric.

In some models, the graviton alone can curve spacetime without matter.

Abstract

Massive gravity is a theory which has a tremendous amount of freedom to describe different cosmologies; but at the same time the various solutions one encounters must fulfill some rather nontrivial constraints. Most of the freedom comes not from the Lagrangian, which contains only a small number of free parameters (typically 3 depending on counting conventions), but from the fact that one is in principle free to choose the background reference metric almost arbitrarily --- which effectively introduces a non-denumerable infinity of free parameters. In the current paper we stress that although changing the reference metric would lead to a different cosmological model, this does not mean that the dynamics of the universe can be entirely divorced from its matter content. That is, while the choice of reference metric certainly influences the evolution of the physically observable foreground metric, the effect of matter cannot be neglected. Nevertheless, the relation between matter and geometry can be significantly changed in some specific models; effectively since the graviton would be able to curve the spacetime by itself, without the need of matter. Thus, even the set of vacuum solutions for massive gravity can have significant structure. On the other hand, in some cases the effect of the reference metric could be so strong that no conceivable material content would be able to drastically affect the cosmological evolution.