The gravitational field outside a spatially compact stationary source in a generic fourth-order theory of gravity

TL;DR

This paper derives the external gravitational field for a stationary source in a generic fourth-order gravity theory, revealing Yukawa-like corrections to General Relativity and new multipole moments influenced by the source distribution.

Contribution

It provides a simplified linearized field solution and multipole expansion for $F(X,Y,Z)$ gravity, a novel fourth-order theory, including Yukawa-like modifications and additional multipole moments.

Findings

Yukawa-like corrections depend on two characteristic lengths.

New mass-type multipole moments are introduced.

The external metric is expressed with integrations over the source domain.

Abstract

By applying the symmetric and trace-free formalism in terms of the irreducible Cartesian tensors, the metric for the external gravitational field of a spatially compact stationary source is provided in $F(X,Y,Z)$ gravity, a generic fourth-order theory of gravity, where $X:=R$ is Ricci scalar, $Y:=R_{\mu\nu}R^{\mu\nu}$ is Ricci square, and $Z:=R_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}R^{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}$ is Riemann square. A new type of gauge condition is proposed so that the linearized gravitational field equations of $F(X,Y,Z)$ gravity are greatly simplified, and then, the stationary metric in the region exterior to the source is derived. In the process of applying the result, integrations are performed only over the domain occupied by the source. The multipole expansion of the metric potential in $F(X,Y,Z)$ gravity for a spatially compact stationary source is also presented. In the expansion, the corrections of $F(X,Y,Z)$ gravity to General Relativity are Yukawa-like ones, dependent on two characteristic lengths. Two additional sets of mass-type source multipole moments appear in the corrections and the salient feature characterizing them is that the integrations in their expressions are always modulated by a common radial factor related to the source distribution.