S-Dual Gravity in the Axial Gauge

TL;DR

This paper explores a gravity model with both original and dual fields, showing that their linear responses follow Einstein's equations and proposing a potential solution to the cosmological constant problem through dual sectors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel action with dual gravitational fields constrained by axial gauge conditions, and analyzes their implications for cosmology and matter coupling.

Findings

Linear response of metrics matches Einstein's equations

Stable dual cosmological solution exists with nonzero cosmological constants

Dual matter coupling offers new perspectives on the cosmological constant problem

Abstract

We investigate an action that includes simultaneously original and dual gravitational fields (in the first order formalism), where the dual fields are completely determined in terms of the original fields through axial gauge conditions and partial (non-covariant) duality constraints. We introduce two kinds of matter, one that couples to the original metric, and dual matter that couples to the dual metric. The linear response of both metrics to the corresponding stress energy tensors coincides with Einstein's equations. In the presence of nonvanishing standard and dual cosmological constants a stable solution with a time independent dual scale factor exists that could possibly solve the cosmological constant problem, provided our world is identified with the dual sector of the model.