Particle Content of Quadratic and $f(R_{\mu\nu\sigma \rho})$ Theories in $(A)dS$

Abstract

We perform a complete decoupling of the degrees of freedom of quadratic gravity and the generic $f (R_{\mu\nu\sigma \rho})$ theory about any one of their possible vacua, i.e. maximally symmetric solution, find the masses of the spin-2 and spin-0 modes in explicit forms.