Speaker
Description
Shortcomings of GR motivate the study of extended theories of gravity, while other fundamental interactions, successfully formulated as gauge theories, drive the development of a gauge theory of gravity. We will present a gauge-theoretic framework of gravity based on spontaneous symmetry breaking of the conformal group to the Lorentz group. The geometry can be defined from a connection and two vector fields reponsible for symmetry breaking. The theoretical setup of the framework is described, along with possible action densities that can be constructed. Applications of the framework are illustrated by the study of linearized theories around a Minkowski background, whose particle spectra can be calculated using the package PSALTer. The results include models with dynamical degrees of freedom equivalent to GR as well as models where additional degrees of freedom are found.