Schr\"odinger-like Dilaton Gravity

Abstract

We investigate possibilities for a Schr\"odinger-like gravity with the dynamical critical exponent $z=2$, where the action only contains the first-order time derivative. The Horava gravity always admits such a relevant deformation because the full $(d+1)$ dimensional diffeomorphism of the Einstein gravity is replaced by the foliation preserving diffeomorphism. The dynamics is locally trivial or topological in the pure gravity case, but we can construct a dynamical field theory with a $z=2$ dispersion relation by introducing a dilaton degree of freedom. Our model provides a classical starting point for the possible quantum dilaton gravity which may be applied to a membrane quantization.