A new approach to modifying theories of gravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel perspective on gravity theories inspired by Continuum Mechanics, proposing new gravitational actions that are simple, natural, and potentially experimentally testable.

Contribution

It presents a new approach to modifying gravity theories by incorporating anisotropic effects inspired by Continuum Mechanics, leading to models with testable predictions.

Findings

New gravitational actions formulated based on anisotropy principles

Models are simple, natural, and generalize existing theories

Potential for experimental determination of model parameters

Abstract

We propose a new point of view for interpreting Newton's and Einstein's theories of gravity. By taking inspiration from Continuum Mechanics and its treatment of anisotropies, we formulate new gravitational actions for modified theories of gravity. These models are simple and natural generalisations with many interesting properties. Above all, their precise form can, in principle, be determined experimentally.