Cosmological perturbations in Horava-Lifshitz theory without detailed balance

Abstract

In the Horava-Lifshitz theory of quantum gravity, two conditions -- detailed balance and projectability -- are usually assumed. The breaking of projectability simplifies the theory, but it leads to serious problems with the theory. The breaking of detailed balance leads to a more complicated form of the theory, but it appears to resolve some of the problems. Sotiriou, Visser and Weinfurtner formulated the most general theory of Horava-Lifshitz type without detailed balance. We compute the linear scalar perturbations of the FRW model in this form of HL theory. We show that the higher-order curvature terms in the action lead to a gravitational effective anisotropic stress on small scales. Specializing to a Minkowski background, we study the spin-0 scalar mode of the graviton, using a gauge-invariant analysis, and find that it is stable in both the infrared and ultraviolet regimes for $0\le \xi \le 2/3$. However, in this parameter range the scalar mode is a ghost.

Comments: Some typos were corrected. Verison appeared in Phys. Rev. D81, 024009 (2010)