Variations on the Goroff-Sagnotti operator

Abstract

The effect of modifying General Relativity with the addition of some higher dimensional operators, generalizations of the Goroff-Sagnotti operator, is discussed. We determine in particular, the general solution of the classical equations of motion, assuming it to be spherically symmetric, not necessarily static. Even in the non-spherically symmetric case, we present a necessary condition for an algebraically generic spacetime to solve the corresponding equations of motion. Some examples of an application of said condition are explicitly worked out.