Energy conditions in modified gravity

Abstract

We consider generalized energy conditions in modified theories of gravity by taking into account the further degrees of freedom related to scalar fields and curvature invariants. The latter are usually recast as generalized {\it geometrical fluids} that have different meanings with respect to the standard matter fluids generally adopted as sources of the field equations. More specifically, in modified gravity the curvature terms are grouped in a tensor $H^{ab}$ and a coupling $g(\Psi^i)$ that can be reorganized in effective Einstein field equations, as corrections to the energy-momentum tensor of matter. The formal validity of such inequalities does not assure some basic requirements such as the attractive nature of gravity, so that the energy conditions have to be considered in a wider sense.