Quartet-metric/multi-component gravity: scalar graviton as emergent dark substance

Abstract

In the general frameworks of an earlier introduced quartet-metric/multi-component gravity, a theory of a massive scalar graviton supplementing the massless tensor one is consistently deduced. The peculiarities of the scalar-graviton field compared to the canonical scalar one are demonstrated. The light scalar graviton is treated as an emergent dark substance of the Universe: dark matter and/or dark energy depending on the solution. The case with scalar graviton as dark energy responsible for the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe is studied in more detail. In particular, it is shown that due to an attractor solution for the light scalar graviton there naturally emerges at the classical level a tiny nonzero effective cosmological constant, even in the absence of the Lagrangian one. The prospects of going beyond LCDM model per scalar graviton are shortly indicated.