Weyl transverse gravity (WTDiff) and the cosmological constant

Abstract

Scale invariant (transverse) gravitational theories are introduced. They are invariant under pure metric rescalings (i.e. the matter fields are inert under those). This symmetry forbids the presence of a cosmological constant. Those theories are not invariant under the full set of diffeomorphisms, but only with respect to those locally characterized by the fact that their generator is transverse $\pd_\a \xi^\a=0$.