Abstract
Einstein’s celebrated theory of gravitation can be presented in three forms: general relativity, teleparallel gravity, and the rarely considered before symmetric teleparallel gravity. Extending the latter, we introduce a new class of theories where a scalar field is coupled nonminimally to nonmetricity , which here encodes the gravitational effects like curvature in general relativity or torsion in teleparallel gravity. We point out the similarities and differences with analogous scalar-curvature and scalar-torsion theories by discussing the field equations, role of connection, conformal transformations, relation to theory, and cosmology. The equations for a spatially flat universe coincide with those of teleparallel dark energy, thus allowing us to explain accelerating expansion.
- Received 27 February 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.124025
© 2018 American Physical Society