Invisibility of antisymmetric tensor fields in the light of $F(R)$ gravity

TL;DR

This paper explains why massless antisymmetric tensor modes are not observed in our universe by proposing that higher curvature quantum degrees of freedom in F(R) gravity suppress their interactions with standard model fields.

Contribution

It introduces a mechanism within F(R) gravity models where higher curvature scalar degrees of freedom suppress antisymmetric tensor modes, explaining their invisibility.

Findings

Antisymmetric tensor modes have heavily suppressed couplings to standard model fields.

Higher curvature scalar degrees of freedom dominate in the early universe.

The model provides a natural explanation for the lack of observable antisymmetric tensor signatures.

Abstract

A natural question arises from observable signatures of scalar, fermion, and vector degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) in our Universe along with spin 2 symmetric tensor field in the form of gravity: why is our Universe is free of any perceptible signature of massless antisymmetric tensor modes? This work brings out a natural explanation of these phenomena through higher curvature quantum d.o.f. in the gravity sector that were dominant in the early universe. In the backdrop of a F(R) gravity model, we propose how the scalar d.o.f. associated with higher curvature term in the model can generate a heavily suppressed coupling between any antisymmetric massless modes and various standard model fields.